Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:51
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.
The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.
Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.
Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?
It's not commonly offered, so no.
Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?
I think you may be asking the PP who raised this example, but as it's not commonly offered, it's not generally expected for admissions, and so it is irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.
Not being expected for admissions has nothing to do with how rigorous a course is.
Sure. My apologies for being confusing. The thread is about what is required for a most rigorous designation. That course would not be involved in that designation because it just isn't there.
Rigorous social sciences would include APUSH and AP Euro, somewhat AP World and AP macro/micro. Not AP Human Geo or AP Psych.
If we are talking about what moves the needle for rigorous schedule, AP African American Studies isn't even in the discussion because most high schools do not offer that course. It's not going to hurt, but not relevant for the purpose of this thread.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:45
Subject: Re:Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
My kid was just working on an honors college application (ASU Barrett) that wanted to know all the AP courses she had taken and for each one, whether she had taken the exam, and if so her score, and if not why not.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:45
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:2 AP classes in math, English, science, history. 1 AP in language. That is plenty and better than 1 in each core subject then a much of BS ones like psych, geography, economics, etc.
And your source for that is....your own useless opinion? There's nothing BS about psychology, geography or economics as subject areas.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:44
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.
The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.
Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.
Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?
It's not commonly offered, so no.
Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?
I think you may be asking the PP who raised this example, but as it's not commonly offered, it's not generally expected for admissions, and so it is irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.
Not being expected for admissions has nothing to do with how rigorous a course is.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:43
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
2 AP classes in math, English, science, history. 1 AP in language. That is plenty and better than 1 in each core subject then a much of BS ones like psych, geography, economics, etc.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:43
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.
The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.
Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.
Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?
It's not commonly offered, so no.
Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?
I think you may be asking the PP who raised this example, but as it's not commonly offered, it's not generally expected for admissions, and so it is irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:41
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:There is so much competition about taking max APs. Does it really matter?
It is not a competition. My kids took between 8-9 APs, in all 5 core subjects before they applied. And graduated with 11-12 APs.
Helped to boost GPA (helped with admissions and $$$ merit scholarship), earned enough college credits that they could have finished a semester early OR as my kids did, it allowed them to do a double major which opens up more employment opportunities for them - all of this was paid for by the college.
Allowed my kids to specialize in their own fields but also get a wonderful well-rounded education. It does not matter if the knowledge was gained in HS or college - my kids got to learn more and free up time in college to go for even more learning, exposure, skill building.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:40
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.
The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.
Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.
Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?
It's not commonly offered, so no.
Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:38
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.
The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.
Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.
Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?
It's not commonly offered, so no.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:37
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.
The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.
Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.
That's a useless generalization. If the top students at a high school are taking 12-18 APs, and the university is asking for maximum rigor, then your child would need to take the maximum rigor to compete.
My point is that this is a myth, with one exception, schools that place significant emphasis in their admissions algorithm on rank or decile/quartile by weighted GPA. Most demanding is a bar or threshold, not a race to the most compared to peers.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:36
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Demonstate rigor for admissions, Applicable credits help graduate early, Saves on course tuition fee, etc
+1 If your child does well, that is. My friend complained that her kid did among the most APs in her HS (18 I think), but since she got a 3 on two of them (4s and 5s), she didn't get into as elite universities as another kid who did "only" 12 APs but got 4s/5s in all of them. My friend's kid still got into a great school though, just not the HYPS she was hoping for....
Nonsense. This is not why the kid didn't get into the Ivies. Good grades and advanced courses are only a small portion of what top universities require. They want a "special factor", which is usually demonstrated in stellar ECs and tied together in the essays and letters of rec.
Unless you're the admissions officer for that kid's file, you don't know why the kid was rejected. Getting a 3 on two exams could certainly disqualify an applicant at a HYPS university, where other successful applicants get all 4s/5s.
But you don't need to report a 3.
If your transcript says AP XYZ and you are reporting all of your scores, except for the ones you did poorly in, the AOs are going to figure that out.
Or at least wonder why you took HS class AP XYZ and didn't take the exam or didn't report your score on the exam. There's no answer to that question that reflects positively on the applicant.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:35
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.
The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.
Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.
Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:33
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.
The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.
Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.
That's a useless generalization. If the top students at a high school are taking 12-18 APs, and the university is asking for maximum rigor, then your child would need to take the maximum rigor to compete.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:32
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Demonstate rigor for admissions, Applicable credits help graduate early, Saves on course tuition fee, etc
+1 If your child does well, that is. My friend complained that her kid did among the most APs in her HS (18 I think), but since she got a 3 on two of them (4s and 5s), she didn't get into as elite universities as another kid who did "only" 12 APs but got 4s/5s in all of them. My friend's kid still got into a great school though, just not the HYPS she was hoping for....
Nonsense. This is not why the kid didn't get into the Ivies. Good grades and advanced courses are only a small portion of what top universities require. They want a "special factor", which is usually demonstrated in stellar ECs and tied together in the essays and letters of rec.
Unless you're the admissions officer for that kid's file, you don't know why the kid was rejected. Getting a 3 on two exams could certainly disqualify an applicant at a HYPS university, where other successful applicants get all 4s/5s.
But you don't need to report a 3.
If your transcript says AP XYZ and you are reporting all of your scores, except for the ones you did poorly in, the AOs are going to figure that out.
Anonymous
01/05/2026 12:26
Subject: Do all these APs really pay off/matter?
My kids got some college credit, which was very nice. But they didn't use their scores for admission.