What’s the Real Deal with AP Exams?
By Quetzal Mama • February 20, 2015
Copyright Roxanne
Ocampo 2015
It’s AP exam
season! It's a big deal. These exams are only administered once per year, in May. This means, if you neglect to organize a
test-taking strategy, you could be hindering your admission profile. Here are key points you need to know.
First point: A student does not need to be enrolled/completed an AP
class in order to register/take the exam.
Students may attend a charter school that doesn't offer AP courses for
their students. Or, they may be home
schooled. Or, they simply do not wish to
take the coursework in order to take the exam.
Some kids are just that brilliant, seriously (I've met them!). However, these students are pretty rare. Certainly, there are strategies students can
implement if they do not attend a school that offers a comprehensive AP program.
Second point: Students may take an AP exam at any time
during their high school career.
However, in order for an AP Exam score(s) to be listed on a student’s college application (in their senior year),
the student must have completed the exams on or before May of their junior year. Key language:
"listed on a student’s
college application." Since the
exams are only administered each May, if they have not taken an exam(s) by
their junior year, they will not have exam scores to list on their fall college
applications. In addition to taking AP
exams for competitiveness, students will also want to strategize AP exams in
order to bypass significant coursework as a freshman at their
future college. #lowertuitionfees #savemoney
Third point: Most students are unaware of the importance
of these exams. Many do not realize that
their peers who are admitted to the most selective colleges are taking, on
average, 7-9 AP exams. Yep. My own kids took 10. Students may also receive recognition from
the College Board by receiving specific scores on their exams, and by taking a
certain # of exams (AP Scholar Awards).
To better
understand how students’ AP exam scores are used in consideration by selective
colleges, let’s put this into context. I’m
pasting below stats on UCLA’s most recently admitted class (2014).
You can see that more than 75% of admitted students took anywhere
between 16 to more than 19 semesters of Honors or AP courses. With 2 semesters equaling one year, these
students took approximately 8-10 AP, IB, or honors courses. This graph is also a strong representation of
what other highly competitive schools will seek. The students I coach typically
take 7 to 10 AP courses and are gaining admission to the most selective
colleges.
UCLA
Admitted Freshman Class (2014)
|
||
# of Semesters
|
Admit Rate
|
% of All Admits
|
Above 19
|
37.62%
|
59.28%
|
16-19
|
19.74%
|
18.04%
|
Keep
in mind that AP exams are only part of the overall admission
profile. To learn more about other
strategies to pad your academic profile, see my other tips in this college
admissions blog. If you enjoyed this article, like it!
