Got a score you’d rather colleges never see? You have two formal tools — withholding and cancellation — and the difference between them is enormous: one is reversible, one is permanent and destroys the score forever. This guide explains exactly what each does, how to do it, the fees and deadlines involved, and, most importantly, when you actually need them — because for most students, a simpler option than either one quietly solves the whole problem. Read this before you touch a cancellation request you can’t undo.
Short answer: yes to both, but they’re very different. Withholding hides a specific score from a specific college, keeps it in your record, and is reversible (release it later if you change your mind) — typically a per-score, per-college fee. Cancellation permanently deletes a score from your record and cannot be undone. Both need a request to the College Board by a deadline, usually with a fee. The crucial guidance: because you already control which scores you send, most students need neither — simply not sending a score keeps it private. Reserve withholding for a required report, and treat cancellation as a rare last resort. Here’s the full picture.
Make sure it actually is. Estimate where you’ll land with the AP score calculator and its subject tools for Biology, Chemistry, English Language, and World History — a “low” score sometimes still earns credit.
What this guide covers
What withholding an AP score does
Withholding is the gentler of the two tools, and understanding it first makes the comparison with cancellation clearer. It hides without destroying.
Withholding lets you hide a specific score from a specific college while keeping the score in your own record. The score still exists — you can still see it, and you can still send it to other colleges — it’s simply blocked from the one school you’ve chosen to withhold it from. Crucially, withholding is reversible: if you later change your mind, you can release the withheld score to that college. It typically involves a per-score, per-college fee and must be requested by a deadline. The situation it’s built for is narrow but real: you’re required to send an official report to a college (say, the one you’re enrolling at), that report would include your full AP history by default, and there’s one particular score you’d rather that school not see. Withholding lets you send the report while keeping that single score off it. Because it’s reversible and targeted, withholding carries almost no risk — the worst case is you paid a fee to hide a score you later decide to release. For how the full-history default on reports works, see do colleges see all AP scores.
What canceling an AP score does
Cancellation is the drastic tool, and its permanence is the single most important thing to understand about it. It destroys the score entirely.
Canceling a score permanently deletes it from your record. Unlike withholding, this isn’t hiding — the score ceases to exist. It can never be sent to any college, can never be seen again, and cannot be recovered under any circumstances. Cancellation typically requires submitting a request form to the College Board by a deadline and may involve a fee. Because the action is irreversible, it deserves genuine caution: once you cancel, a future change of heart doesn’t matter — the score is gone for every possible purpose, including colleges you haven’t applied to yet, scholarships you might pursue, and credit opportunities you can’t currently foresee. This is why cancellation is rarely the right call. The scenario where someone might reasonably cancel is when they are completely certain they never want the score to exist for any recipient, ever — a high bar that most students don’t actually meet, because withholding or simply not sending accomplishes the practical goal without the permanent loss.
Cancellation is forever: a canceled score is deleted permanently and cannot be recovered for any college, scholarship, or credit opportunity, including ones you can’t foresee now. Because withholding and simply not sending achieve the same practical result reversibly, cancellation is almost never the right choice. Never cancel a score you’re not absolutely certain you’ll never want.
The critical difference between them
Everything about choosing between these two tools comes down to one axis — permanence — so it’s worth crystallizing the contrast before deciding anything. Reversible versus forever.
The defining difference is permanence: withholding is reversible and keeps the score in your record; cancellation is permanent and erases it. A second difference is scope: withholding is targeted at a specific college (the score still exists for you and other schools), while cancellation removes the score entirely for everyone, forever. Put simply, withholding is a per-college privacy screen you can lift; cancellation is a permanent deletion you can’t reverse. This is why the two aren’t really interchangeable options for the same goal — they serve different intentions. If your goal is “I don’t want this college to see this score right now,” that’s withholding. Only if your goal is the far more absolute “I want this score to never exist for any recipient ever” does cancellation come into play — and even then, it’s worth asking whether that’s truly necessary. The side-by-side below captures the distinction at a glance.
| Withholding | Cancellation | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens to the score | Kept in your record | Permanently deleted |
| Reversible? | Yes — can be released later | No — cannot be undone |
| Scope | Hidden from one chosen college | Removed for everyone, forever |
| Can send to other colleges? | Yes | No — score no longer exists |
| Typical cost | Per-score, per-college fee | May involve a fee |
| Best for | A required report with one score to hide | Rare: certain you never want the score |
Which should you use?
With the difference clear, the decision itself is usually quick — walking through it as a short set of questions lands most people in the right place. Follow the logic top to bottom.
If no — you’re not required to send scores to this school — then just don’t send them. No withholding, no cancellation, no fee. The scores stay private from that college automatically.
Then withhold that score from that college. It’s reversible and keeps the score for other uses. This is exactly what withholding is for.
Only then consider cancellation — and think carefully, because it’s permanent. For nearly everyone, the two options above already solve the problem, so this step is rarely reached.
For the overwhelming majority of students, the answer stops at the first or second row. You reach cancellation only in the rare case where you’re certain beyond doubt — and even then, it’s worth a final pause, because “certain now” can change, and cancellation doesn’t forgive a change of mind. The practical hierarchy is: don’t send (simplest, free), then withhold (reversible, targeted), then — only as a genuine last resort — cancel (permanent). When in doubt at any step, choose the more reversible option.
The simpler option most students actually need
Before paying any fee, it’s worth highlighting the option that quietly resolves most cases without either formal tool — because many students reach for withholding or cancellation when they don’t need to. You control what you send.
Here’s the key fact that makes both tools unnecessary for most people: you choose which scores to send to colleges in the first place. Colleges don’t receive your AP scores automatically — only the ones you actively send or self-report. So a score you’d rather a college not see is, by default, already private from any college you don’t send it to. You don’t need to withhold it or cancel it; you just don’t send it. This covers the majority of “I have a low score” situations completely and for free. Withholding only becomes relevant in the specific case where you’re required to send a full official report to a particular college and want one score off that report. And cancellation is relevant almost never. So before doing anything formal, ask the simple question: “Do I even have to send this score to anyone?” If the answer is no, the problem is already solved. For the full picture of how score privacy and sending choices work, see do colleges see all AP scores and how to send AP scores to colleges.
Check this first: because you control which scores you send, a score you don’t send is already private from any college you don’t send it to — no fee, no form. Most students who think they need to cancel or withhold actually just need to not send. Ask “do I have to send this at all?” before anything else.
How to withhold or cancel a score
If you’ve determined you genuinely need one of these tools, the process for each is straightforward, though the details are set by the College Board and worth confirming. Both go through a request.
First, verify a college truly requires the report (for withholding) or that you’re certain about permanent deletion (for cancellation). If neither, simply not sending the score is the better, free solution.
Withholding and cancellation each use a specific request to the College Board — typically a dedicated form for each. Make sure you’re using the right one for the action you intend, since they do very different things.
For withholding, indicate which score and which college to withhold it from. For cancellation, indicate which score to permanently delete. Double-check these details, especially before a cancellation you can’t undo.
Send the request by the applicable deadline and pay any required fee. Because timing matters for stopping a scheduled send, submit as early as possible rather than close to the cutoff.
Because the exact forms, fees, and deadlines are set by the College Board and can change year to year, confirm the current process on the College Board’s official score-reporting pages before submitting — and given cancellation’s permanence, re-read your request before sending it. If you’re unsure whether you even need to act, defaulting to simply not sending the score is the safest, cost-free choice.
Fees and deadlines
Both tools involve money and timing, and the timing in particular can catch people out if they’re trying to stop a score that’s already scheduled to go out. Act early.
Withholding typically carries a per-score, per-college fee, and cancellation may involve a fee as well; both must be requested by College Board deadlines. The timing is most critical when you’re trying to prevent a score from reaching a college through an already-scheduled score send — for instance, if you used your free send to designate a college, you generally need to submit your withholding or cancellation request before the relevant processing date to keep that score from going out. Miss that window and the score may already be on its way. Because exact fees and deadlines shift year to year, the essential move is to confirm the current dates on the College Board’s official pages and, if you’re trying to stop a release, act as early as possible rather than waiting until close to any cutoff. Leaving a buffer protects you from a processing timeline that’s tighter than you expected. For how score sends and their timing work, see how to send AP scores to colleges and when AP scores come out.
Effect on GPA and transcript
A common secondary worry is whether canceling or withholding touches your GPA or high school transcript — and the answer is reassuring, because exam scores live in a separate lane. It doesn’t affect either.
AP exam scores aren’t part of your GPA in the first place, so canceling or withholding a score has no effect on your GPA — it was never included. Your high school GPA comes from your class grades, not your AP exam scores. Similarly, these actions don’t change your high school transcript grade in the AP class, which is a separate record kept by your school based on your coursework. What cancellation or withholding affects is only the reportable exam score itself — cancellation removes it from your College Board record, withholding blocks it from one college — while your GPA and your course grade remain entirely determined by your classwork and untouched. So you can withhold or cancel a score without any worry about collateral effects on your GPA or transcript; those are governed by your grades, not your exam results. For the full explanation of why exam scores don’t affect GPA, see do AP scores affect GPA.
Often a “bad” score still earns credit somewhere. Check what each result is worth in what is a good AP score and AP exam scores before deciding to hide or delete anything.
Cancel or withhold an AP score: frequently asked questions
Can you cancel an AP score?
Yes, you can permanently cancel an AP score, which deletes it from your record so it no longer exists and can never be sent to any college or seen again. Cancellation is irreversible, so once canceled you can’t recover it. It typically requires submitting a request form to the College Board by a deadline and may involve a fee. Because it’s permanent, cancellation is rarely the best choice; most students who don’t want a college to see a score are better served by withholding it, which is reversible, or by simply not sending it.
Can you withhold an AP score from a college?
Yes. Withholding lets you hide a specific score from a specific college while keeping it in your record, and it’s reversible, so you can release the score later if you change your mind. It typically involves a per-score, per-college fee and must be requested by a deadline. It’s useful when you must send an official report to a college but want one score kept off it. For most situations, though, simply not sending a report to a college already keeps your scores private from that school without any fee.
What’s the difference between withholding and canceling an AP score?
The key difference is permanence. Withholding hides a score from a chosen college but keeps it in your record and is reversible, so you can release it later. Cancellation permanently deletes the score and can’t be undone. Withholding is targeted at a specific college; cancellation removes the score entirely for everyone. Because withholding is reversible and cancellation is permanent, withholding is almost always safer if you just don’t want a college to see a score now, while cancellation should be reserved for rare cases where you’re certain you never want the score to exist.
Should I cancel a bad AP score?
Usually not. Because you control which scores you send, a low score you simply don’t report generally stays private, so there’s rarely a need to permanently cancel it. Canceling destroys a score you might later find useful for a different college, a scholarship, or a credit opportunity. A low score also doesn’t affect your GPA and needn’t be shown on applications. In almost all cases, not sending the score, or withholding it from a specific college if a report is required, achieves what you want without the permanent loss cancellation causes.
How do I withhold or cancel an AP score?
Both are done by submitting the appropriate request to the College Board, typically using a specific form for withholding or cancellation, by the relevant deadline, and usually with a fee. For withholding, you specify which score and which college; for cancellation, which score to permanently delete. Because forms, fees, and deadlines are set by the College Board and can change, confirm the current process on its official pages. Given the permanence of cancellation, double-check your decision before submitting a cancellation request.
Is there a deadline to cancel or withhold an AP score?
Yes. Both must be requested by College Board deadlines, and timing matters especially if you want to prevent a score from reaching a college through an already-scheduled send. To keep a score from being sent to a college you designated, you generally need to submit the request before the relevant processing date. Because exact deadlines change year to year, confirm current dates on the College Board’s official pages. If you’re trying to stop a score from being released, act as early as possible rather than waiting.
Does canceling an AP score remove it from my GPA or transcript?
AP exam scores aren’t part of your GPA in the first place, so canceling a score has no effect on your GPA — it was never included. Your GPA comes from your class grades, not exam scores. Canceling removes the score from your College Board record so it can’t be reported to colleges, but it doesn’t change your high school transcript grade in the AP class, which is separate. So cancellation only affects the reportable exam score itself, not your GPA and not the course grade on your transcript.
The quick version
Both are possible, but they’re opposites. Withholding hides one score from one college, keeps it in your record, and is reversible — for a per-score fee. Cancellation permanently deletes a score for everyone and can’t be undone. The right order for almost everyone: don’t send (simplest and free, since you control what colleges receive), then withhold (reversible, for a required report with one score to hide), then cancel only as a genuine last resort when you’re certain you never want the score to exist. Neither affects your GPA or transcript, which come from your class grades. When in doubt, choose the more reversible option — and never cancel a score you might later want.
First check whether the score is even a problem — estimate it with the free AP score calculator or the subject tools for Biology, Chemistry, English Language, and World History. Browse the full education calculators or start at the Waldev homepage. See also do colleges see all AP scores, how to send AP scores, and AP exam results.
Accuracy note: AP score withholding and cancellation procedures, the required forms, fees, and deadlines are set by the College Board and can change year to year. This guide describes the general nature of each option for planning and is for informational purposes only — cancellation in particular is permanent and irreversible. Always confirm the current forms, fees, and deadlines on the College Board’s official score-reporting pages before submitting any request, and carefully reconsider before canceling any score.
The College Board’s score-reporting pages cover withholding, cancellation, and the required forms and deadlines. Sending & managing AP scores →
The College Board’s AP scores help center answers questions on managing and reporting scores. AP scores help center →