If you’re a prospective or an enrolled McDaniel student who is taking AP tests this week and/or next, I want to take a moment to wish you the very best of luck on your exams!
I took a total of six AP tests throughout high school, so I know that you’ve put a lot of work into studying for these tests and that you are likely very tired and very stressed out about them at this point. I want you to know that because you’ve worked hard both in and out of class, you will do fine.
At McDaniel, each score of 4 or 5 you get on an AP test will give you four college credits. Certain AP tests will even help you place out of requirements. For example a 4 or 5 on AP Language and Composition or a 5 on AP Lit will allow you to test out of the first year composition requirement and allow you to dive into what you’re really interested in sooner. I also know a lot of students who have placed out of math and science requirements for getting 4s or 5s on math and science AP tests.
Additionally, the extra college credits will give you what I like to call a “buffer.” If you ever find yourself needing to drop a class for whatever reason, having AP credits will prevent you from getting behind as a result of dropping that class.
If you’re applying to college in the fall (or even the fall after that), remember that even if you don’t get a qualifying score of a 4 or 5 on your test, the fact that you’ve taken an AP class (or several) will demonstrate that you’ve challenged yourself in high school and will help your high school transcript stand out just a little bit more. (But you don’t need to take any AP classes to be admitted to McDaniel; I know plenty of people who haven’t.) In fact, you don’t even need to submit your scores to McDaniel as part of the admissions process.
If you are an enrolled student, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the free AP score report the College Board will send to any college of your choosing and make sure you send it here! This will show the college all of your AP test scores (unless you canceled any) and will save you some trouble and some money in the future. I have some friends who took AP tests and never bothered to send their scores here, and I have no clue why they wouldn’t.
Again, best of luck these next couple of weeks! You’ve heard this before, but eat well, get plenty of sleep, and don’t study or cram too much. (Trust me–these things help!) Stay calm, and remember that college is nothing like AP tests–and that’s something to look forward to!
Leave a Reply