Some AP's have had their curriculum diluted in recent years. My DD took Psychology in 11th grade in 2024. It was very information heavy, so there's hundreds of terms to memorize. This past year, her AP Psych teacher told her that 30% of the material had been removed from the syllabus.

Some AP's are not getting easier and that is down the the face that the material is already challenging (AP Physics (in its various forms) / Calculus BC / Chinese / other non-Romance languages).

What we discovered was that the admissions people at Oxford and Cambridge Universities were aware of this shift and they changed their admissions criteria accordingly. To get an offer you still need an academic interview / testing / a solid application and references, but you also need a MINIMUM of 5 AP exams at 5 in relevant subjects. It used to be very recently that 3 exams at 5 were the minimum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of privates don't offer APs. It really simplifies things a lot for kids and reduces stress. I'm glad my kid doesn't have to deal with it. Worth the cost of tuition. And if I hear another smug parent go on and on about how special their kid is because they took 15+ APs - it is diminishing marginal returns at some point.

My public school kid didn’t find AP’s that stressful.

My child's private school limits APs. The APs she is taking now are her easiest classes in her four years of school. The curriculum and assignments are simple. She has high A's in all of those classes. That is why private schools don't like them. They are dumbed down and teach to the test.

AP/College Board is a business. They are offering more and more useless AP classes and schools are offering them to look competitive compared to other schools. But the AP classes themselves are easier than the honors and advanced classes they replaced. Good universities are not going to give you transcript credit for those basic AP classes; they are just warmups. Nevertheless kids are stuck if their school offers the AP bc now it feels like you have to take AP Sem or HUG or APES or whatever when you probably would have learned a lot more in a rigorous elective. So annoying. Why are we sending our tax dollars to College Board for this stuff?!
BUT College AOs know the true rigor of the high schools in their region. If the school doesn’t offer those junk APs and only offers a few top ones (or none), it is should not hurt the applicant.

Anonymous wrote:Folks,

I'd love to hear about kids being accepted without taking/submitting any AP test results.

My child's school doesn't offer AP classes, and they have no interest in taking any. They've taken the ACT and are happy with the result, so not "test optional" and will submit their score. But absent some compelling reason to take an AP test, they'd like to pass on it. So, some "real world" examples or feedback from this cycle would be great.

Thanks and good luck to everyone out there!

A) If the school does not offer any AP classes, then most colleges will not expect AP test scores. If the school offers “Honors” or “Advanced” classes instead of AP, then colleges will look to see if the applicant took those or not.

B) EXCEPTION: Some schools, such as mine, do not offer any AP classes or Honors or Advanced classes, BUT they do let students sit the AP exams at school. In that case, the stronger academic students generally would take some AP tests. The school reported the school-wide distribution of AP test results for tests taken through Junior year on their School Profile. If this is your situation, then sitting some AP exams probably will be expected by colleges.

Aside: That said, AP scores in DC’s stronger subjects could boost DC’s admissions odds if the scores are 4s and 5s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of privates don't offer APs. It really simplifies things a lot for kids and reduces stress. I'm glad my kid doesn't have to deal with it. Worth the cost of tuition. And if I hear another smug parent go on and on about how special their kid is because they took 15+ APs - it is diminishing marginal returns at some point.

Real privates don’t offer them at all. They are useless. Ironically, if you have a child applying to medical school some will ask, and have, “Why did you not take the full sequence of your science at X college/university, your AP high school science program was better than your colleges?”

This does not happen.

That said the second poster in the thread has it right. If they are the highest rigor classes at your HS you need to take them along with the exam. If your HS doesn’t offer them you are fine not taking them. It is all about taking advantage of what is available to your child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of privates don't offer APs. It really simplifies things a lot for kids and reduces stress. I'm glad my kid doesn't have to deal with it. Worth the cost of tuition. And if I hear another smug parent go on and on about how special their kid is because they took 15+ APs - it is diminishing marginal returns at some point.

My public school kid didn’t find AP’s that stressful.

While your kid was having a blast taking AP tests mine was out enjoying the beautiful May weather, participating in extra-curriculars, learning how to think rather than take a test, and probably getting into a better college than your nerd.

Holy insecurity, Batman!

Nope. Pot. Kettle. Black.

Anonymous wrote:Standard line from every school is they look for students who take advantage of every opportunity available and take the most advanced classes available. If the school does not offer AP classes they won't expect a student to have taken them.

Yes, this is generally true but it really also depends on what schools the OP is looking at. University of Alabama , for instance, it's probably less of a thing for admission there. For scholarships, GPA and test score is all that matters there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of privates don't offer APs. It really simplifies things a lot for kids and reduces stress. I'm glad my kid doesn't have to deal with it. Worth the cost of tuition. And if I hear another smug parent go on and on about how special their kid is because they took 15+ APs - it is diminishing marginal returns at some point.

Real privates don’t offer them at all. They are useless. Ironically, if you have a child applying to medical school some will ask, and have, “Why did you not take the full sequence of your science at X college/university, your AP high school science program was better than your colleges?”

That's a really weird thing to ask. Generally if a premed uses AO credit, they will be expected to make up for that with more advanced courses in the subject area. So if they place out of two semesters of bio via AP, they will be expected to take two more semesters of bio (e.g. microbio, biochem)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of privates don't offer APs. It really simplifies things a lot for kids and reduces stress. I'm glad my kid doesn't have to deal with it. Worth the cost of tuition. And if I hear another smug parent go on and on about how special their kid is because they took 15+ APs - it is diminishing marginal returns at some point.

My public school kid didn’t find AP’s that stressful.

While your kid was having a blast taking AP tests mine was out enjoying the beautiful May weather, participating in extra-curriculars, learning how to think rather than take a test, and probably getting into a better college than your nerd.

Holy insecurity, Batman!

Give Oxford and Cambridge actually require 5 AP's at 5 in the exams, I think those pooh-poohing their significance must have very narrow horizons.