AP Tests | Admission Assurance

High school students interested in gaining admission to top colleges should be taking the most rigorous curriculum possible at their high school. If the high school offers AP courses in all five of the major subjects, they should be taking the AP courses in all five of those subjects. But what if a high school doesn’t happen to offer an AP course in, say, Spanish? Should the student then not take that AP course? If they want to stand out from the competitive applicant pool, they should consider taking the course themselves through a program like Aventa Learning, The Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University, or K12 Inc. That’s right — students should augment their high school studies by pursuing learning outside of the classroom. Don’t let your high school not offering AP Spanish stop you from learning a language you love. And colleges will love that.

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Colleges want to know that students love learning. What better way to demonstrate that than taking courses in addition to the regular, most rigorous school curriculum. It shows you weren’t challenged enough, that you want to learn so much more. And that’s wonderful! You should be sure to take the courses you take outside of the classroom as seriously as you do the courses you take at your high school. When you take the AP exams in the course(s) not offered at your high school, those scores matter, too.

And what happens if you take the test and you think you did really badly right after? If you think you got a 1 or a 2, you should cancel it! You have up until June 15th to do so with the College Board and this must be done in writing. If you cancel the score, the test won’t count towards your AP average (which decides your AP designation).

And what if you’re a student who got 6 5′s, 2 4′s, and a 2? Would you want colleges seeing that one 2? No! It’s an outlier. Hide it…you can…even after you find out the score! For $12 a school, you can withhold that score from being submitted to schools. It has to be hidden from each school so you have to pay $12 to the College Board for Yale, $12 to the College Board for Penn, and $12 to the College Board for Duke to ensure that each school cannot see this outlier score. Just don’t reference the colleges you would like your AP scores sent to in May. Always wait as, this way, there won’t be a chance colleges get the scores. Unfortunately, that score will still impact your AP average since you didn’t cancel the score shortly after the exam and instead waited for it to be scored.

We hope these AP test tips have proven helpful to you. For more information on AP courses, check out our newsletter on AP Tests, our blog on AP Exams, and our blog on College Placement.

A new college admissions trend may well be burgeoning as more students are taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses online than ever before. While the rise in online AP course participants may not yet be statistically significant, with budget cuts saddling high schools across the nation, some are choosing not to offer AP courses and AP Exams. Why’s that? Well, AP courses are often smaller. Not every student is equipped to take AP Exams. And some high schools just don’t have the budget for that.

According to the “Wall Street Journal,” “The courses…can be expensive for schools to offer because they are often smaller than average, making it hard to justify keeping them amid teacher layoffs and cutbacks in sports and arts programs that serve more students. Some schools also pay the $87 fee for a student to take an AP exam, and scholarships are often available for kids who can’t afford the fees. For students in districts facing budget cuts, online courses are becoming an increasingly popular option. Courses require students to log on, and teachers are available by email, phone, online discussions or instant messaging. After completing the course, students take the AP exam in school like other students.”

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Will more students soon turn to taking AP courses online?

Let’s not get carried away here as only 0.5% of AP courses are currently completed online, according to the “Wall Street Journal.” While taking AP courses online may not benefit students who are easily distracted on the Internet, for students who like to keep their own pace in courses, it may well be ideal. As budget cuts continue to hamper schools across the nation, we would not be surprised if more students turned to taking AP courses online. Maybe even soon enough, high school students will be taking AP courses not offered at their high school to complement the AP courses that are offered at their school. They’ll try to take more AP courses than their classmates to succeed in the competitive college admissions process.

Check out the “Wall Street Journal” article by Sue Shellenbarger on AP Exams. And check out our newsletter on AP Exams as an important factor in college admissions or our blog on college placement.

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