I want you to picture this: you’re a freshman taking their first advanced placement class, AP World History. The coursework is difficult yet rewarding, and you’ve fostered friendships and acquired valuable knowledge over the course of a semester spent learning about empires and trade relations. Come April, however, your professor’s kind, humorous affect shifts to one of solemn concentration. Your friends are a little more stressed, assessments become more difficult, homework more intense, and you’re left wondering what happened. You’re told that this is all in preparation for a world-wide test: the AP exam. It’s what the whole class has been building towards, and your friends around you swear that if they get lower than a 5 then their academic futures are ruined. And the exam is also…optional?
Sounds confusing, right? I thought the same thing as a freshman. The idea of a world-wide exam that would give me college credit was a wholly foreign concept, as were the scoring guidelines. I understood that a five was an ‘A,’ a four was a ‘B’ and so on and so forth, but what did that really mean? If I got an A in my class but a three on my exam did that mean I failed? I’m here to clear up that confusion.
Let’s start with the concept of an AP class. AP (advanced placement) classes exist so that students who wish to take more challenging classes can be met at the level that they’re at. They present students with university-level material filtered through a high school lens, boost weighted GPAs, strengthen college applications by demonstrating academic rigor and can save tuition money long-term as students are able to complete college credits for free while still in high school.
In order to get these credits, however, students must take and pass the AP exam that’s associated with their class; the resulting score that they get will determine the number of college credits they will receive. This is where confusion tends to set in for most students. Since the AP exam is weighted on a scale of five points, it can be hard to determine which scores get credit, and if they don’t, whether the class itself was even worth taking.
If you’re interested in pursuing an AP, the first few things you should consider are your interests and the amount of time you’re willing to commit to a single class. Some APs are bigger commitments than others. Taking an AP math course, for example, might require more of your time outside of school for studying and homework than an AP English course where most of your work is completed in class.
It would be wise to take into account the clubs, sports, part time jobs and other activities that take up time outside of school when deciding on your classes. Time commitment is closely tied to the level of interest you may have for a subject, though, as if you have a vested interest in a class’ subject matter, then you’re more likely to enjoy the increased workload (or at the very least not view it as a substantial burden).
Regarding college credit, the next step you should take when determining which AP course(s) you want to take is to check the AP credit transfer policies of your choice college(s), and platforms like College Board offer a free AP Credit Policy Search service that can help you do so. Some colleges may not accept credit from certain classes regardless of how well a student scores, so it’s an important factor to consider.
A college’s credit transfer policies will also communicate the scores that qualify for college credit hours. If you know your desired major, you can do additional research on the general education requirements to determine the best AP classes to take that will fulfill those.
Moving on to the big question: what’s the difference between scores? If a college’s policies for AP credit transfer award the same amount of credit hours for a three, four and five, what’s the point of trying to earn a five on every single exam? Well, aside from the fact that scoring a five on an AP exam awards you major bragging rights, the scores more so reflect the amount of effort you put into the class and the discipline you had to see it through to the end.
While a three might earn you college credit, getting threes across the board might affect your college admission decisions. Fives will help bolster your student resume if you’re considering applying to a more competitive college or securing an internship in high school, and you can also get awards from the college board for scoring well on your exams.
As explained by Shilo Lucyk on Appily, a student services platform, “Strong AP scores can also increase your chances of receiving merit-based scholarships and financial aid. Many colleges consider students’ AP classes and exam scores when awarding scholarships, as they prefer to invest in students with a proven track record of academic success.”
If you do end up scoring poorly on an AP exam, though, don’t stress too much about it. AP exam scores do not affect your GPA, and you can choose not to send them to your college of choice during application season if you believe it will negatively affect your admission decision.
In the end, AP scores are a reflection of your effort and dedication to your chosen classes. You should always aim for that five, but scoring a three is not the end of the world and will still qualify you for college credit at many schools.
