For some schools, credit policies are drawn on departmental lines. It’s possible to get a B in an AP course while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. In this post, we'll outline just how important your AP classes are in college admissions, and the answer may surprise you. Instead, they often turn into a race to cover a wide expanse of information, some say.”. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. Plus, taking AP classes doesn’t even guarantee admission into schools like Harvard and Stanford. And ultimately, elite suburban and private schools began to drop the program, calling it outdated, overly-restrictive, and too oriented toward multiple choice tests. Meet with your guidance counselor to talk about putting together a challenging mix of your school’s classes that doesn’t overload on AP—especially if your school’s AP program isn’t stellar. No, Pre-AP classes won’t help your GPA because they are not weighted in the way AP classes are (i.e. Also make sure that for any AP class you take, you have solid pre-requisite courses under your belt. A word of advice – resist the temptation. Sign in to access your AP or Pre-AP resources and tools including AP Classroom. Despite the numerous problems with AP on a national level, and uneven courses at my local high school, I’m really glad I took nine AP classes in high school. We’ve looked at problems the AP has nationally, but the reality is you still need to take the hardest classes at your school if you’re looking to get into top colleges. When students overload, they’re much more likely to get overwhelmed by the work and get lower scores on the exams. The high-school AP course didn't begin to hold a candle to any of my college courses. This takes even longer in low-income schools—explaining why a lot of the growth has come in the form of failed AP tests (you can see how the average test score has fallen over time here). It can be hard to replicate the college experience in a high school classroom. Because AP courses are graded on a five-point scale, excellent students can achieve a GPA higher than a 4.0. If your school has AP, this means that, in most cases, you’ll need to take AP classes. Some educators describe AP courses as kind of an “arms race,” where as certain students take more AP classes, others feel pressured to load up with more to compete. That said, by covering some of the weaknesses of the AP program, we hope to help students make more informed decisions about their schedules, especially in the midst of today's intense college admissions environment. To look at one example of a top-tier school, Princeton, you can get into harder history courses with excellent AP US or World History scores, but you won’t get credit for your high scores. Sometimes it just gets you out of your department's intro courses—which you might want to take anyway to get a more solid understanding of the material. Do you want to get into a top-tier school? By developing my own study schedules before the tests, I honed my self-discipline and study skills. What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? First, AP classes often aren’t always as rigorous as their actual college equivalents, and some colleges are getting stingy about granting AP credit. When applying to college, admissions officials will look at both the weighted and unweighted GPAs of applicants. While AP has often been touted as an equalizing force in education, it tends to just perpetuate unequal outcomes. In high school, she earned 99th percentile ACT scores as well as 99th percentile scores on SAT subject tests. As we’ve discussed in the past, the ultimate goal of taking an AP class is to pass the AP test at the end of the year—if you don’t, you’ve basically wasted the $92 you spent on the exam. you can see how the average test score has fallen over time here, who only achieve test scores of less than 3 on the exam, 2009 survey of 1,000 AP teachers found that, don’t always teach critical thinking skills, further explains why it can be hard for teachers to switch over from drilling to experiments and critical inquiry, but you won’t get credit for your high scores, AP courses will no longer be used to grant any credit at all, mostly accepts AP credit from math, science, and language classes, doesn’t even guarantee admission into schools like Harvard and Stanford, about students feeling the need to overload, often touts AP’s expansion into various public and low-income schools, how a high ACT/SAT score is the single most important key. Although we’ve talked a lot about problems with the AP program, I still think it’s a great way to prepare for college. I’m not saying it’s the AP program’s responsibility to fix educational inequality in the US—education inequality is an enormous problem. Again in The Atlantic, the former teacher argues AP classes aren’t actually equivalent to college-level courses: “Before teaching in a high school, I taught for almost 25 years at the college level, and almost every one of those years my responsibilities included some equivalent of an introductory American government course. In one blistering critique of AP classes in The Atlantic, a former teacher writes: "the AP program leads to rigid stultification." What ACT target score should you be aiming for? The AP Program charges a fee for each AP Exam. At most schools, a 4 will qualify you for a college academic credit, although some schools only require a 3 and elite level schools may require a 5. These are the steps you should take to make sure you get the most out of the program, despite its flaws. A Washington Post article notes: “The new curriculum will encourage more work in science labs and less parroting back of formulas, more work on historical thinking and less memorization of historical minutiae. It’s better to pass two AP tests than to fail four! In short, if you’re taking AP classes, you should get used to the fact that even though the classes will help prepare you for college, they might not get you credit once you get there. Thus, while students at Garfield High in East Los Angeles were for a short time doing the same work as students at Andover, the aim of equity proved a noble and elusive dream.”. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. Or are you more interested in skipping general ed requirements at your state school and graduating college early? The 5.0 scale is meant to reward students who excel in AP courses, as well as avoid penalizing students who want to challenge themselves with more difficult courses. In short, the AP program isn’t living up to its promise of leveling the education playing field in the US. Most states provide federal or state funds, or both, to supplement the College Board fee reduction and reduce your cost even further. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. Classroom makes it easy for learners and instructors to connect—inside and outside of schools. Your grade in any online AP class through eAchieve will count towards your high school GPA whether you are enrolled with us full-time or just taking one or two online classes as a part-time online student. A report from Inside Higher Ed looks at this phenomenon: “The data also show, however, a more than doubling in the number of AP examinees who only achieve test scores of less than 3 on the exam. In many cases, an unweighted GPA is the standard measure of a student’s academic performance, but a weighted GPA is also viewed as an indication of how rigorous a student’s course load was. An excellent student could even achieve a 5.0-grade point average on their weighted GPA. Also, don’t underestimate the exam—you have to study to pass the AP test, even if you think the class is easy!