I took the AP Biology test?

Question

I scored really low on my AP Biology test...actually I failed. I got a 1. Is this going to ruin my chance of getting into a state school? I had my scores sent there and now I regret it.

Other than that I'm a good high school student. I take many college level courses. I've gotten A's and B's in them. I have lots of extra curriculars and a part-time job. My SAT score was 1649 but I'm going to retake it in the fall.

Is my AP going to ruin everything?

Answer 1

The AP won't ruin anything. You won't get college credit for the course, and you'll probably have to take it again in college. Don't fret though; AP classes generally give credit at the most basic level in the subject area. This is to say AP biology will, if you had earned credit, would be recognized as biology I (usually 101).

The only thing i can think that would really ruin any chances of admission is if you fail the course (the score on the AP does not impact the grade of the course, and that's because the AP's are scored after final grades are in, generally speaking), and if you retake the course again and fail the course again. In other words, unless if you mess up terribly, you will have little problem getting into your school.

Answer 2

I'm not completely positive but i don't think passing or failing ap tests really affect admission. Well there not "suposed to"...but you know how that goes...

Answer 3

I am not sure how American colleges look at subpar AP exam grades, but I'd advocate extreme caution. I would suggest you cancel your AP exam grade so that the college wouldn't get to see it - and retake the exam itself (but not the course) next year. If you have already sent your score, no sense in worrying, just retake the exam next year, even if the new score won't arrive in time you might still get credit if you do well.

Frankly speaking, I would strongly doubt the quality of an AP class grade if it is very different from the actual AP exam grade. Sure there might be individual circumstances, but given that the AP exam is administered in the same way everywhere but an AP course isn't, I'd tend to trust the exam grade more. I'm not an admissions officer, and I admit I am pretty much indoctrinated in the 'the exam alone reigns supreme' idea, but it is hard to justify a poor exam grade with a good course grade if you go by common sense.

But in general, APs aren't supposed to hurt, only help - yet an exam grade that is far below a course grade does introduce uncertainty and doubt into your overall application somewhat. Hence in short: don't report the grade.

Good luck.

Answer 4

No. Calm down... you'll be fine when you apply (then get into) the state school of your choice. Yes, the school will see that you've scored a one, but they'll look more closely at how you did throughout the course of the year in that class (on your transcript).

The score (1-5) only really matter when you want to get credit for that class in college.

p.s. How'd you get your score already? Are you on the west coast? (I took the AP Bio test this year too, I can't wait for my result)