We heard from one of the families we work with recently with a question about whether to sit for a specific Advanced Placement exam or not, considering what a poor job her daughter’s teacher was doing. As an educator, my gut response is to take every exam seriously and prepare accordingly. However, AP exams stand apart from every other assessment high schoolers encounter on their road to college, and four strong reasons make the case for sitting–and studying for–every AP exam you can:
1. Excellence is its own reward.
Advanced Placement classes represent the highest level of academic rigor most schools offer, and thus are filled with students used to scoring at the far right end of the bell curve. When you’re that competitive, you play to win.
2. Colleges care more than ever about great AP scores.
Obviously, top grades in AP classes is a necessary yet not sufficient signal of academic achievement for highly selective schools. However, in an test optional environment where admissions offices are desperate for objective data to put GPA in context, AP scores can carry greater weight.
3. Colleges generally don’t care bout low AP scores.
Almost every higher ed institution considers scores within the context of Score Choice, meaning that you only need to share the scores that you want them to see. Score Choice makes the decision to sit for an AP exam easy to make when students have everything to gain (see #4) and nothing to lose. Noe that prospective applicants to schools like Georgetown or Yale may want to consult with a college rep for more guidance on their stricter score reporting policies.
4. AP credits can save you tons of money.
Most colleges and universities offer college credit and/or advanced course placement for AP scores as low as a 3. With the average cost of tuition, room, and board per year at a 4-year private school coming in around $56,628, wouldn’t knocking a semester or full year off the bill be worth some extra study? (My own daughter earned a full year of college credit without even knowing it!)
In case the point is not crystal clear, students should absolutely take their AP exams as seriously as possible. Parents and caretakers might consider supporting their teens through the intense study this requires with patience, understanding, and lots of extra treats!
Mike Bergin