Students who took AP courses this year already know that the AP exams will be radically different from what they’d expected to take this spring. Instead of 3 hours, they’ll each be just 45 minutes. They’ll be online. And they will be offered at exactly the same time for all students around the world, meaning West Coast kids will take exams at 9 am that East Coast students will take at noon – and some students in Europe and Asia will take them at crazy hours of the night and morning.
Because the school year has been so interrupted, many students have asked us if they should still take the AP exams. We say YES. There’s just no downside! It’s 45 minutes of your day. Most colleges – in fact ALL of the colleges we’ve met with or heard from over the last 6 weeks (and we spend a LOT of time meeting with colleges…!) will continue to offer college credit for successful AP exam scores.
For juniors wondering if their AP exam scores will impact their college admissions – here’s the deal. NOT ONE COLLEGE requires you to submit your AP scores. If you do well, you should submit them. If you don’t do well, don’t submit them! It’s all good. Some colleges give credit for a score of 3, others only for 4s and 5s. You can worry about that later, when you’re deciding where to go. For now, there’s just no reason not to make an effort to take the AP exams if you’re already registered.
In fact, there are a BUNCH of tutoring and test prep companies that are working overtime to provide lots of help and guidance for you through the AP exam process this year. Take advantage of these FREE resources:
- ArborBridge – here’s their AP Survival Guide
- Compass Education – they’re giving a webinar on Thursday to help you prepare for this new test format (Plus lots of other info like how will exams be scored? What happens if people cheat? And other questions you’re probably asking yourself)
- Our friends at PCH Tutors, whose founder I interviewed last Thursday on the first of our weekly live-streamed College Chat series, offers an AMAZING array of AP study materials for 24 different AP courses at the bottom of this post. Download the ones you’ll be taking and let’s do some last-minute AP exam prep!
This video gives you a little bit more explanation about sending test scores – AP exams, SAT/ACT and subject test scores. Please note that the video below was made before many colleges began to announce test-optional policies for the Class of 2021.
As always, if you think you’d like a little extra help or guidance as you move through your college search and application process, please feel free to reach out.