Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[Poohforyou]

Question from a 2018 grad mom.....my daughter just signed up to take her AP stats test, she is also taking AP lang right now but she believes paying to take the AP test for that class is a waste because no college will accept that credit anyway. Does anyone know if she is right? Is just taking the course and getting an A in it good enough for her college applications or is she missing the boat not taking the actual AP test? I have no idea. I'd love to save $90 but not at the expense of her actually needing that credit.

I wouldn't make a blanket statement that no college will accept a specific AP score. If you have some ideas of possible schools check their websites for what they accept and the minimum score.

 

[sksjasams]

Woo hoo! Glad to hear someone I "know" got in. It was a no for ds but we had a strong hunch it would be. Congrats to your ds' friend.

Sorry for your DS's disappointment...it was def. worth the try. Otherwise, he might have always wondered. I'm sure he will have plenty of open doors in his future.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Question from a 2018 grad mom.....my daughter just signed up to take her AP stats test, she is also taking AP lang right now but she believes paying to take the AP test for that class is a waste because no college will accept that credit anyway. Does anyone know if she is right? Is just taking the course and getting an A in it good enough for her college applications or is she missing the boat not taking the actual AP test? I have no idea. I'd love to save $90 but not at the expense of her actually needing that credit.

I think the answer is, it depends. Different college will accept different things. I do know that at DS' high school, if you don't take the test, it doesn't count as an AP class. It will show up as honors on your transcript instead.

 

[sksjasams]

Question from a 2018 grad mom.....my daughter just signed up to take her AP stats test, she is also taking AP lang right now but she believes paying to take the AP test for that class is a waste because no college will accept that credit anyway. Does anyone know if she is right? Is just taking the course and getting an A in it good enough for her college applications or is she missing the boat not taking the actual AP test? I have no idea. I'd love to save $90 but not at the expense of her actually needing that credit.

Welcome Kellydelly! You have quite a year ahead of you!

As Poohforyou said, you really need to look up the individual schools she is interested in as far as whether or not they will give credit for that course and what score is needed for credit. You also need to take into consideration how good of teacher she had, how well she did in the class and how good of test taker she is. At my DS's school, taking the AP exam is required if you take the class, so we didn't need to make this decision.

As far as admissions, it's my understanding the AP exam/score will not matter. Just taking the AP class and doing well in it shows rigor, which is what they are looking for.

 

[sksjasams]

Question from a 2018 grad mom.....my daughter just signed up to take her AP stats test, she is also taking AP lang right now but she believes paying to take the AP test for that class is a waste because no college will accept that credit anyway. Does anyone know if she is right? Is just taking the course and getting an A in it good enough for her college applications or is she missing the boat not taking the actual AP test? I have no idea. I'd love to save $90 but not at the expense of her actually needing that credit.

I just wanted to add, I looked up all six colleges my DS applied to and all six of them give credit for AP English Language. Five award credit if you score at least a 3, and one awards credit if you score at least a 4. You can easily google 'school name ap credit' to find each school's policy. Seems like it might be worth taking the exam.

 

[aprilgail]

I think the answer is, it depends. Different college will accept different things. I do know that at DS' high school, if you don't take the test, it doesn't count as an AP class. It will show up as honors on your transcript instead.

If you don't take AP test you don't even get honors credit in our school- you get just regular class credit and your grade is not weighed at all.

 

[robinb]

Woo hoo! Glad to hear someone I "know" got in. It was a no for ds but we had a strong hunch it would be. Congrats to your ds' friend.

That's a bummer . I'm sorry to hear it was a 'no' for your DS.

 

[robinb]

If you don't take AP test you don't even get honors credit in our school- you get just regular class credit and your grade is not weighed at all.

At my DD's school you still get AP credit even if you don't take the exam. My DD is only taking 2 out of 3 AP exams but is skipping her AP French 5 exam.

 

[bethbuchall]

If you don't take AP test you don't even get honors credit in our school- you get just regular class credit and your grade is not weighed at all.

Ours, too, but the school actually covers the cost of all the AP exams. That has saved us a lot of money, and we don't have to try to decide if taking the exam is "worth it." They didn't do this when my oldest went through. I know that when my daughter did, at least some years of her exams were covered. All of them are now.

My son took Language last year. That one does count for courses at several of the schools that he applied to. He's taking Lit this year, and that one is only good as an elective credit at one school.

 

[Kellydelly]

I just checked two of her choices: Michigan State and University of Michigan, and it looks like State does accept the AP credit if the test score is high enough, but I am not sure if Michigan does (looks like maybe not). I will call the high school tomorrow and find out if her counselor can clarify for me how AP works at her school. Thanks for all the responses!

 

[Poohforyou]

Wow, it's crazy that some schools don't give AP weighting and credit if a student doesn't take the exam. They did all the class work so I really don't understand that. My daughter didn't want to take one AP exam this year but I convinced her to because of the college credit. She'd still get the AP credit from her high school.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

At my DD's school you still get AP credit even if you don't take the exam. My DD is only taking 2 out of 3 AP exams but is skipping her AP French 5 exam.

It is the same at my DD's school. You still get AP credit even if you don't take the exam. This applies to all students. She is a dual enrollment student, so her situation is a little different. Most of her classes junior and senior have been dual enrollment with the community college (although they are taught at her HS). Some of the dual enrollment classes also count as AP classes. She has chosen only to take AP exams for classes that are not part of her dual enrollment program because she gets college credit for the dual enrollment/AP classes without the exam.

 

[mamacatnv]

DS' friend got into MIT! It's not even my kid and I am excited, lol. He had the opportunity to go to a snazzy private school, but decided to choose the local public school. I teach in the local elementary school and my kids attend the local schools. So proud of him for proving the local naysayers wrong!

Ohhhh how very exciting! I just texted DD (She is in NYC) asking about a couple of her friends who applied.

Sorry your DS did not get in.

This kid is brilliant. DS does well in school, but nobody compares to this kid and everyone knows it. He could be a snob about it, but he's not. He is such a nice kid! He contributes a lot to both the school community and the town. I have never met anyone who doesn't like him.

So good to see a hard working, smart kid achieve the dream school.

Question from a 2018 grad mom.....my daughter just signed up to take her AP stats test, she is also taking AP lang right now but she believes paying to take the AP test for that class is a waste because no college will accept that credit anyway. Does anyone know if she is right? Is just taking the course and getting an A in it good enough for her college applications or is she missing the boat not taking the actual AP test? I have no idea. I'd love to save $90 but not at the expense of her actually needing that credit.

Like others have said, look at the specific websites for the information, they will tell you what score is needed to be "accepted for credit" and many will also provide a list of what classes that AP credit can be applied towardsl.

I wouldn't make a blanket statement that no college will accept a specific AP score. If you have some ideas of possible schools check their websites for what they accept and the minimum score.

This

Sorry for your DS's disappointment...it was def. worth the try. Otherwise, he might have always wondered. I'm sure he will have plenty of open doors in his future.

I'm sorry for your DS but agree here, he will never wonder what if......

Ours, too, but the school actually covers the cost of all the AP exams. That has saved us a lot of money, and we don't have to try to decide if taking the exam is "worth it." They didn't do this when my oldest went through. I know that when my daughter did, at least some years of her exams were covered. All of them are now.

My son took Language last year. That one does count for courses at several of the schools that he applied to. He's taking Lit this year, and that one is only good as an elective credit at one school.

Wish our school covered AP exams. Ugh, I have forked out a bundle in AP and IB testing fee's. I do not believe my DD "has" to take the tests to maintain the weighting and AP designation as she opted to not take the AP Economics test, in her words "I don't want to have to study for that one along with all the other ones"

Wow, it's crazy that some schools don't give AP weighting and credit if a student doesn't take the exam. They did all the class work so I really don't understand that. My daughter didn't want to take one AP exam this year but I convinced her to because of the college credit. She'd still get the AP credit from her high school.

When my son was in high school his district required the test for the weighting and the AP designation. The district as a whole had dismal test results in AP, they just wanted to make the US News and World Reports "Best High School" listings.

So far all the AP tests DD has taken she has scored 4's on and all the schools we are looking at will give some sort of credit. She has several IB as well as two AP tests coming up. I hope she does well as its a nice cushion to use towards some of those redundant classes when she gets to college.

 

[mamacatnv]

Just heard from DD - No MIT for the Nerd Herd
Several friends are still waiting on schools, the next "biggie" is Berkeley - 3 in her friends group applied.

 

[Poohforyou]

Anyone else have a senior who applied to Case Western? They're emailing decision notifications begin at 8pm est tonight.

 

[robinb]

Wow, it's crazy that some schools don't give AP weighting and credit if a student doesn't take the exam. They did all the class work so I really don't understand that. My daughter didn't want to take one AP exam this year but I convinced her to because of the college credit. She'd still get the AP credit from her high school.

My DD's school does does not have a weighted GPA so her AP classes count the same as a regular class. Her GPA and class ranking would have been a lot higher if she didn't challenge herself with honors and AP classes . On top of it, the English department does not teach to the AP tests ... an amusing little fact I learned after my DD got straight A's in AP Lang Comp and failed the AP exam . I made sure her AP Calc and AP Environmental Science teachers are teaching to the test this year (as is her AP French 5 teacher, but my DD is skipping that one).

 

[Poohforyou]

My DD's school does does not have a weighted GPA so her AP classes count the same as a regular class. Her GPA and class ranking would have been a lot higher if she didn't challenge herself with honors and AP classes . On top of it, the English department does not teach to the AP tests ... an amusing little fact I learned after my DD got straight A's in AP Lang Comp and failed the AP exam . I made sure her AP Calc and AP Environmental Science teachers are teaching to the test this year (as is her AP French 5 teacher, but my DD is skipping that one).

Wow, that's kind of crazy and doesn't give a lot of incentive to so many kids. Our school gives 5 extra points for honors and 8 for AP. Good for your daughter for pushing herself anyway.

I know all about teachers not teaching to the AP test. Dd had that last year in physics. She ended up with a 3 but that isn't high enough for the schools she applied to.

 

[mamacatnv]

My DD's school does does not have a weighted GPA so her AP classes count the same as a regular class. Her GPA and class ranking would have been a lot higher if she didn't challenge herself with honors and AP classes . On top of it, the English department does not teach to the AP tests ... an amusing little fact I learned after my DD got straight A's in AP Lang Comp and failed the AP exam . I made sure her AP Calc and AP Environmental Science teachers are teaching to the test this year (as is her AP French 5 teacher, but my DD is skipping that one).

No weighting? That really sucks, then in reality other than personal drive, there is no real incentive for the kids to challenge themselves. This is just another reason that AP programs across the country are tricky, and why more and more schools don't take the credits - there is no curriculum or standards. My DD takes AP as well as IB classes - the IB is a set curriculum where the AP is developed by the individual schools. Some are much better developed than others.

 

[robinb]

No weighting? That really sucks, then in reality other than personal drive, there is no real incentive for the kids to challenge themselves.

I do think my DD's honors/AP classes have helped get her accepted at colleges (even though there were a couple of B's along the way).

 

[sksjasams]

I do think my DD's honors/AP classes have helped get her accepted at colleges (even though there were a couple of B's along the way).

Absolutely! And that's the hitch...you need to have the advanced level classes if your school offers them because it shows rigor and strength of schedule. Most colleges look at unweighted GPA.