Do AP Exams Impact My Class Grade?

Each year, around 5 million students sit for AP exams from over 120 countries. AP courses or classes are a great way to boost your chances of admission into your dream college in Australia, Canada, the USA, and other celebrated countries. They prepare you for a college-level education and offer you the confidence to ace university exams. Nonetheless, a frequent inquiry among many students is whether their AP exam scores affect their course grades. The answer to that question is yes and no. While AP scores don’t alter your unweighted GPA or class grades, they can significantly impact your weighted GPA. How does that work? Let’s dive deeper into this topic.

What are AP Classes?

AP or Advanced Placement classes are college-level courses the College Board offers across 38 subjects, including English, History, Math’s, etc. After you have finished your classes, a year-end exam is administered to assess your preparation and subject knowledge for college. AP scores are graded on a scale of 1 to 5 and can be a shining star on your college application. Especially, with such tough competition for dream colleges today, your AP exam grading impact on your scores can be the point of difference. 

AP Score Effect on GPA

In most schools, the standard unweighted GPA measures your academic prowess. It is graded on a scale of 1 to 4 and doesn’t consider other factors or classes such as AP, IB or honours. However, with weighted GPAs, you can earn an additional point for your hard work and dedication towards these challenging courses, such as IB and AP. Weighted GPAs are graded on a scale of 1 to 5. For instance,

Course	Grade	Unweighted	Weighted
English	B+	3.3	3.3
AP Computer Science	A	4.0	5.0
AP Chemistry	B-	3.7	4.7
Mathematics	A	4.0	4.0
AP World History	A-	3.7	4.7
Total GPA	–	3.74	4.34

You can observe the improvement in class grades and how the AP score effect on GPA influences your weighted average. If all the subjects were AP, you could get a one-point upgrade on your weighted GPA. 

Other Advantages of Taking an AP Course

While AP exam grading impacts your potential for higher GPAs, it is essential to note that not all schools opt for a weighted GPA evaluation for their students. If your school also follows a traditional unweighted GPA approach, AP courses can still offer multi-fold advantages for your class grades and college applications:

Academic Challenge

Don’t worry if your school doesn’t have a weighted GPA. When applying for college, they may assess the difficulty of your course, even if your scores aren’t calculated. This presents you as a learned candidate for their college.

College Credit

One of the key benefits of the AP course is the opportunity to gain college credit. College credit helps you save time on first-year college courses and offers financial aid and scholarship opportunities. 

A Complete Candidate

While GPA scores are a prime factor for any admission decision, every college looks for a holistic and complete candidate. Along with excellent grades, co-curricular activities, extra coursework, and personal essays all help improve your application. 

Some Tips To Help You Ace Your AP Exam

Now that you are well aware of the AP exam grading impact on your GPA and college applications, understanding how you can excel in the year-end AP exam is key:

• Opt for a course on the subject you are considering attempting at the year-end AP exam. This will help you build great foundational knowledge. 
• Attempt sample papers and questionnaires to help you build muscle memory and understand the AP exam format.
• Opt for a tutor or an online course. The AP exam is held only once a year, and walking into it unprepared can be risky. At Turito, we help organize the syllabus better and offer doubt-clearing sessions. 
• Study in a group. Studying with other students will help you avoid distractions and build confidence. 

Conclusion

The impact of AP exam grading can be game-changing regarding GPAs and college applications. Now that we know the importance of the effect of the AP score on GPA, it is time to start preparing for the final exam. This is where Turito is a perfect study partner. You can enjoy expert guidance, regular doubt-clearing sessions, and specially curated AP study material. We offer popular AP subject choices such as English, Calculus, Algebra, and Chemistry, along with weekly tests to help you master the fundamentals. Apply for your favorite AP course on Turito and get admission into your dream college today.

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