AP GRADE REPORTING
To report the AP exam or not to report the AP exam, that is this week’s question.
Starting on May 4, over 2 million students will take almost 4 million AP exams. After taking one of the many various exams, there are usually three ways a student will feel: Great! Good. And Awful.
If you think you did great or good, congratulations!
If you’re sure you didn’t do well and scored a 1 or a 2, or you’re not sure how you did, you can withhold or cancel your score.
Because AP grades are released in July, any request for changes in reporting must be received by June 15 of the year in which you took the exam.
Note that it’s not likely that any one AP grade you submit, no matter how low, will fatally wound you.
Canceling vs. Withholding
Canceling AP scores
Canceling an AP score permanently means you’ll never, ever see the grade and it’s deleted from your record forever.
The option to cancel a score helps a number of students. Some of those students took an AP course but found that the class didn’t cover all the information on the test or they didn’t study for the test as much as they should have. (And this happens more than we’d like to think.) This option also encourages the risk takers, the students who take an AP exam in a subject they might not have taken the class for. (They’re the ones who study a lot on their own).
To stop a score or scores from being sent to the college indicated on your AP registration answer sheet, you must send the College Board a Score Cancellation Form – filled out correctly with your parent/guardian’s signature — and mail or fax it to the address on the form by June 15 of the year in which you took the exam.
Keep in mind, if you make a request for a score cancellation before you get your score, your exam will not be scored, and a score for that exam will never be available.
Withholding AP scores
Withholding a score means you may have one or more scores withheld from the colleges you indicated on your answer sheet. This gives you the chance to see your scores before the colleges.
You may later release the score to that college by sending AP Services a signed written request.
What we suggest to the students we work with at International College Counselors is to not send your scores to any colleges before the beginning of July.
Our reasoning is as follows: with your test, as explained to our education consultants by an AP representative, you only get to send your scores to one school free, any others are $15. In other words, if you choose to withhold your scores from all the colleges until you see them, you’re only “losing” $15. Many students can think of the $15 as “insurance”. It’s easy to see your scores and then send them in if you want to.
You can withhold a score if you already sent them in, but if you took them this year, we recommend waiting until early July. Sometime during the first two weeks of July, scores for the 2015 exams can be viewed online at apscore.org.
To withhold a score, you must notify the College Board by sending them a Score Withholding Form – filled out correctly with your parent/guardian’s signature — and mail or fax it to the address on the form by June 15 of the year in which you took the exam.
Note that unlike a canceled score, a request to withhold a grade does not permanently delete your grade. A withheld AP grade will be sent to your high school. It will count in your AP average and affect AP scholar designations. This means you can choose the scores that work to your advantage and feel confident taking some extra AP exams.
Make sure you keep a copy of all your correspondence with the College Board.
Additional Information
Before July, make sure you sign up for a College Board account. Use the same information on your College Board account and your AP answer sheet or they just may think you are two different people.