Why You Absolutely NEED to Take Your AP Exams

Look, I get it: Collegeboard is a monopoly, making AP Exams expensive and kinda scammy.  They take a lot of time to study for, and most Universities won’t take your score as credit unless you get a 5 on the exam.

Seems like a lot of trouble for not much gain.  

But taking your AP Exams is vital.  Every time I see a student in my class that intends to take the course but not the AP Exam, I have them moved to a non-AP class.  

If you have no intention of taking the AP Exam for the AP class you are in, you should not be in AP.  There are other classes you can take that will hurt you far less than not taking your AP Exam.  Don’t worry, I’ll cover those options at the end.

What Colleges See When You Don’t Take Your AP Exam

Okay, so you plan to go to college and have stacked your schedule full of AP courses, but then you don’t take the exams.  You have good extracirriculars, fantastic letters of recommendation, and some work experience under your belt.  Colleges will be salavating over you.  

Right?

Wrong!

Colleges and universities care about one thing and one thing only: will you complete your degree on time and contribute to their quest to increase their ranking.  That is it.  Everything in your college application is designed to show them you have the drive and interest to finish a degree.

Contrary to popular belief, graduating college isn’t a factor of how creative you are or how good you actually are at your subject.  Getting a bachelor’s degree is all about following directions, taking tests, and persevering through boring background content.  

Now if taking tests is vital to getting through college on time, then avoiding tests you should have/ could have taken starts to look really bad.  

Colleges look at AP Exams as being equivalent to final exams.  So if you are going to spend all that time on a course and then skip the final… it doesn’t look good.  It looks like you are either bad at tests (and you know it) or you quit when things get difficult.  Both of those are bad from the college’s perspective.  

If you are bad at tests, how will you pass all the tests you need to graduate?  Will you drop out?  Are you worth that risk?

And if you avoid difficult or boring tasks, will you drop half your classes each semester?  If it takes you 6 years to graduate that hurts the college’s ranking.  That’s no good….

Every student I have had that took AP Exams, didn’t take the tests, and then applied to college was rejected from their top choices.  You are simply too much of a risk for them.

What Colleges See When You Fail Your AP Exam

Getting a 1 on your AP Exam is actually better for you than if you don’t take it at all.

High school is designed to help you figure out how to study and get ready for college.  Colleges know this, and so you have some leeway to figure things out.  

Colleges actually really like to see growth in your AP scores.  So if your first few exams are 1s and 2s, but then junior or senior year you start getting 3s and 4s, that looks really good.  It tells colleges you struggled and then persevered and figured it out.  That is a fantastic trait!

Conversely, if you start out strong and then get a couple of poor scores here or there, the college will assume you probably had a bad day.  Especially if the grade you got in the AP exam was high.  Everyone has bad days, so they aren’t held against you much.

How Not Taking Your AP Exam Hurts Your School

AP classes are highly regulated.  AP teachers are ranked, high schools are ranked, and the AP denotation can be pulled.

If your school is running an AP class and no one takes the AP exam, they can lose their AP designation.  Soon your school may not have AP classes, which makes it harder for students who want to go to college.

If that spiral continues, your school could wind up in trouble of losing its credentials.  

College Board doesn’t care if you pass the AP exam, only that you take it.

But I’m Not Going to College and Don’t Care About My School

Then don’t take the AP class.

Most high schools run a non-AP version of their AP classes for people who don’t intend to take the exam.  

And if you are not going to college, do you need that course anyway?  You might be better off taking a trade course or doing a work-study.  Take the things you need for your intended profession.  Don’t waste your time on AP.

What If I Can’t Afford My Exam?

Schools, college board, and colleges are all invested in you taking your exams.  If you can’t afford your exam talk to your guidance counselor.  There are scholarships available to pay for your test.

I Want to Go To College But Don’t Want to Feed Collegeboard

Okay, understandable.

Don’t take AP courses, take dual credit and community college courses.  

You don’t actually have to have a high school diploma to take community college courses.  With a little gumption, you can work with your high school to take courses with them in the morning and then go to the community college in the afternoon.  You can also take courses after school and in the summer.

Most high schools are happy to take community college equivalents as required high school courses.  And colleges see you succeeding in a college environment while still following the rules, which makes them happy.

Bottom Line

If you take AP classes, you need to take the AP exam.  Period.

If you don’t want to take the AP exam there are other things you can do, but don’t take the AP class. 

If you want me to write a post on how to graduate high school early with an associate’s degree, let me know in the comments below.  

What AP classes are you taking and how do you plan to study for the exams?  Let me know in the comments below.  And don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share.

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