Testing I couldn't take AP test; what's the probable aftermath?

[Anshul23]

I am a high school graduate from India ( GPA of 4.8 out of 5), and I am planning to go for a physics major.I got an admit at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a good scholarship and all but I recently found that most of my friends in the States had already taken an AP exam which I didn't give. Now how does it affect my academic life in college, both in a good and bad way? Should everyone take an AP exam? Does it help in getting into research faster or makes you application more appealing to an Ivy grad school since you were able to skip some classes and take higher level classes (also will it cost me more time and money to first go through basic classes , then the advanced ones all in the four years of undergrad) etc.? Please help me out.

 

[jtbell]

The main purpose of taking an AP exam is to let you skip the corresponding university-level course if you get a high enough score. Frankly, I recommend doing this only for courses that are not in your major field. In your case, even if you had taken the AP physics exam, I would have recommended taking the introductory calculus-based physics course at UMass anyway. Different schools do things differently in that course. Professors teaching the upper-level courses will know the UMass intro course and teach their courses accordingly.

So I wouldn't worry about not having taken the AP physics exam. Just take the UMass intro physics course and do as well as you can in it. Your previous experience with AP physics will be beneficial in that respect.

 

[Anshul23]

The main purpose of taking an AP exam is to let you skip the corresponding university-level course if you get a high enough score. Frankly, I recommend doing this only for courses that are not in your major field. In your case, even if you had taken the AP physics exam, I would have recommended taking the introductory calculus-based physics course at UMass anyway. Different schools do things differently in that course. Professors teaching the upper-level courses will know the UMass intro course and teach their courses accordingly.

So I wouldn't worry about not having taken the AP physics exam. Just take the UMass intro physics course and do as well as you can in it. Your previous experience with AP physics will be beneficial in that respect.

Thank you so much sir, would definitely follow up on your advice. Have a wonderful day! :)