The Importance of AP Exams

The majority of people know what an Advanced Placement (AP) course is, but many do not realize the true importance of taking these higher level classes, as well as the AP Exams. There are many benefits of taking AP classes, including but not limited to: the increased rigor of your overall course load which colleges take into consideration during the application process, an added 0.5 onto your letter grade which counts towards your HOPE GPA (for example, if you make a “B” in an AP class, it counts as a 3.5 instead of a 3.0), and an extra ten points on your net grade point average which class rank is based off of. However, the biggest reason to take an AP class is to succeed on the corresponding AP test in May and receive college credit for the class.

The AP exams are scored on a 1-5 scale; generally 10% of people get 5’s, 20% of people get 4’s, 20% of people get 3’s, and the remaining 50% receive either a 1 or a 2. The College Board, the organization that creates the tests each year, designs the exams and scoring system in an effort to only give approximately half of the people that take the test college credit, which at most universities is a 3 or higher.. However, if you have a good work ethic in the course throughout the year and then study heavily prior to the test, a 3 or higher is definitely attainable.

If you pace yourself with AP classes starting freshman year, it is very possible to come out of high school as a sophomore in college – which would save anywhere between $5,000 to $40,000 depending on the university. A suggested AP course schedule to complete this task is as follows: one AP class freshman year, two sophomore year, 3-4 junior year, and 2-4 senior year. Each exam that you score well on gives you anywhere from 3-6 credit hours – keep in mind a full year of college consists of 30 hours. So this means that to complete a full year from AP exams requires passing about 7-9 of these tests. Although you do have to pay to take the exam – about $95 per test – that is a heck of a lot better than paying thousands for the first year in college.