Last Updated on October 1, 2026
Quick answer: Submitting AP scores is usually optional, and most applications let you self-report the scores you choose. Scores of 4 and 5 generally help, especially in subjects tied to your intended major. A 3 depends on the subject and the colleges on your list, and lower scores are often best left off.
Submitting AP Scores to Colleges: Factors to Consider
If you’re a rising senior, you’ve been thinking about the way you present academically to colleges. One of the most common questions students ask is whether submitting AP scores will improve an application or hold it back. If this question is on your mind, it’s probably because you have one or more scores below a 5 that you’re not sure would help your case in front of admissions officers.
Submitting AP scores isn’t a simple yes-or-no decision. [1] How competitive are the colleges you’re looking at? Exactly what kind of scores are you debating sending or not sending? Do you have other academic metrics that can showcase your prowess in the classroom to admissions officers? We have gone over everything you need to consider below in order to answer the question.
How Do Your AP Scores Compare?
Sometimes, and probably very often, high school students are quite hard on themselves. This might lead them to thinking that a 3 and even a 4 is a bad score on the AP and therefore not worth sending. But this may not be the case! First of all, a 4 is a great score, and you should definitely send in any AP score that is a 4 and a 5 without too much second guessing. When it comes to 3s, you have to put it in perspective and take a look at the subject that you got a 3 in. Is this a subject where the exam was particularly difficult for all students that year? You can take a look at the average scores and the score distributions for all AP test takers on the College Board’s website to find out the answer. If it turns out that very few students received 4s and 5s, a 3 in that case is not a bad score at all and you should submit it!
Submitting AP Scores With or Without SAT or ACT Scores
There are a few situations to consider here. If your SAT/ACT score is high then you should definitely send it to colleges. In this case, it might be enough to skip submitting your AP score. At the same time, if you’ve done well in, say, the SAT or ACT math section, and your AP Calc score is a 3, you might send in both to show your math ability and that AP Calc is simply a demanding subject. On the other hand, if you are applying test-optional and not submitting your SAT/ACT score, then we do recommend submitting your AP score. This way, admissions officers can consider your academic skills in ways beyond your SAT/ACT score.
Which Colleges Are You Applying To?
Whether you are submitting AP scores also depends on the competitiveness of the colleges you’re applying to. [2] Here’s the thing: a 3 at a reach school won’t be looked at the same way as a 3 at a safety school. When you apply to an Ivy League school, for example, you’re up against a far higher number of students who may have received 5s in the same subjects. However, at a large public university with a high acceptance rate or a lower-ranked liberal arts college, the chances that you’re right in the median with an AP score below 4 is far higher. So use your discretion and include your AP score where you think it might not hinder your chances at admission.
Other Factors to Weigh Before Submitting AP Scores
Your score, your testing plan, and your college list are the biggest pieces of the decision, but they are not the only ones. How your exam score lines up with your course grade, whether you took the class at school or studied on your own, and how the subject connects to your intended major can all tip the balance. Consider each of these questions for every score you are unsure about, rather than making one rule for all of your exams.
It also helps to look at your AP record as a whole. A group of scores across several subjects tells admissions officers more than any single exam, so a pattern of 4s and 5s can easily carry one 3. If most of your results are in one area, such as the sciences, think about whether those scores support the academic interests you describe elsewhere in your application.
Is Your Grade Higher in the Class on Your Transcript?
Sometimes, students perform better in an AP-level course at school than they do in the exam itself. If you’ve done well in the class and you have an A, you should use that to your advantage and submit both, so schools can see you’ve done well in the actual course. According to our Former Admissions Officers, with test optional policies in place, schools are looking even more clearly for evidence that the student can do the work, especially at highly competitive schools. So grades and APs take on a bigger weight since readers will likely be mentally projecting what it looks like an SAT/ACT score would be. At the same time, if you have an A in the course at school but a 2 in the exam itself, we recommend leaving the test score off and letting the A speak for itself.
Did You Self-Study?
Since AP scores are self-reported, if you self-studied for an AP exam and you didn’t do as well as you had hoped, it’s totally fine to not report that score. Colleges are likelier to notice that a certain AP score is missing if the class is included in your transcript from school. Therefore, in such cases, don’t worry about sending it in. Then the question around submitting your AP scores is a no-brainer if you have a 2 or 1 in a self-studied exam. [3]
Is the Class Related to Your Major?
Finally, an AP score might be a good way to let colleges know that you’re equipped to take on the subject you hope to major in at college. For example, admissions officers will be looking for AP Physics and AP Calc scores from students who want to be engineers, AP Lit or AP Lang scores from prospective English majors, AP Psych scores from future psychologists, and so on. If you’ve taken the AP class and you have the AP score, you should generally submit it, especially if it is a 3 or higher.
When thinking about submitting your AP scores, carefully weigh your options. Take a look at which subject it is for, where you’re applying, and whether you can replace it with other scores. Most importantly, remember that your score may be better than you think. Good luck!
How Submitting AP Scores Works: Self-Reporting and Official Reports
For most colleges, submitting AP scores happens in two separate steps. First, many applications include a testing section where you can self-report your AP results. Yale, for example, says applicants may include the scores of their choosing in the testing section of the application, and it encourages students who have completed AP coursework to include them. [4] At colleges that require the SAT or ACT, AP scores add context to your academic record but do not replace those tests, so read each school’s standardized testing policy carefully.
Second, official score reports come from College Board. When you designate a college, it receives your entire score report from every AP Exam you have taken unless you have requested that scores be withheld or canceled. College Board recommends sending scores no later than July of your senior year, and some colleges will not accept AP scores after you arrive on campus, so check each college’s deadline. [1] Colleges use official scores for credit and placement, and you can look up each school’s policy with College Board’s AP credit search tool. [2]
To put a score in context, look at the score distributions College Board publishes for every subject, which show the percentage of students who earned each score. [5] If only a small share of test takers earned a 4 or 5 in your subject, a 3 may be worth including.
A Quick Decision Guide
- 4s and 5s: Include them, especially in subjects related to your intended major.
- 3s: Include them when the subject is demanding for most students, when you are applying test-optional, or when the colleges on your list admit many students with similar scores.
- 1s and 2s: Leave them off in most cases, particularly for self-studied exams or courses where your class grade tells a better story.
When a decision still feels close, talk it through with your school counselor or an AP teacher who knows your work. They can tell you how students from your school with similar scores have presented them, and whether a particular result fits the story the rest of your application tells.
If you are still planning your schedule, our guide to choosing your AP courses can help you pick classes that fit your interests and goals.
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