May is approaching, and that can mean only one thing.
Horse racing? NBA Playoffs? Mother’s Day? The answer is "yes" to each of those, but this piece will discuss something equally, if not more thrilling - AP Exams!
I’m not much of a horse guy although I do try and catch the Derby and Preakness each year. As for the NBA, the Heat’s playoff hopes departed long ago, around the same time Santa did, and besides the games begin way too late in the evening. As for Mother’s Day, it’s one of the most important calendar events, especially for Hallmark. Seriously, treat your Mom well (and your wife!), especially on Mother’s Day.
Why do I bring up all these distractions when our focus is on AP exams? Because it’s symbolic of the mentality that many students apply to the AP season and AP courses in general. An AP course is an opportunity for a student to not only boost his or her weighted GPA with a strong grade, but it’s also a way to earn college credit if (big IF) by scoring a 3, 4 or 5 on the AP exam in May.
Some students work hard all year long in an AP course and make all kinds of excuses to avoid taking the AP exam. Bad move! Admissions committees don’t like to see that. Other students don’t properly prepare for the exam because they’re distracted by other events like those mentioned above, not to mention Prom, end of school, spring football, cheerleader tryouts, senioritis, etc. If you’re a solid performer day-to-day in your AP class, you should be expected to earn a good grade on the exam. But this does not happen automatically. Instead it requires preparation.
Many AP teachers offer prep classes on weekends about one month prior to the exam date. Don’t miss these classes! If your teacher doesn’t do this, ask him to reconsider.
Andy and I always harp on families of college-bound kids to research how generous they are with their financial aid. You can save money through AP credits, too!
When selecting colleges and universities, be sure to research how they treat AP credits. Many schools will award actual credits toward graduation depending on your score, whereas others will allow the student to place out of entry-level courses. If it’s the former, then you can lower your total cost of attendance with a strong AP score. Some schools will only accept scores of 4 or 5, whereas others will accept a 3. This information is readily available on each school’s website.
Students should take advantage of the AP Program and its benefits. It pains me to see a student with excellent grades but no AP courses on his transcript. College admissions offices will view this student as an underachiever, one who does not rise to the challenge. On the flip side, some students overburden themselves with too many AP courses than they can handle, resulting in poor performance. Sometimes the school guidance offices encourage students to load up on APs, since AP enrollment looks good for the school. Earning a ‘C’ in an AP course is NOT like earning an ‘B’ in a regular course, even if the impact on your GPA is the same. If you cannot earn a ‘B’ or ‘A’ in an AP course, then you should not enroll in that class.
Final word: for those students taking AP exams in May, good luck! And just remember, no matter how well you do, your mother will still love you, so treat her well come Mother’s Day.
-Pete
P.S. We've got three workshops on "The Dirty Little Secrets About College Financial Aid" this week - Wednesday the 16th, Thursday the 17th and Saturday the 19th. The workshops are 100% free and teach you how to lower your out of pocket cost of college by thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars per year! They are free but limited by room size, so register today online: http://www.CollegePlanningAdvice.com!
- Peter "College Pete" Ratzan
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