Below 3 isn’t considered a pass.
APs are also weighted in HS gpa calculations. Take a bunch, score 5s, and you can have a gpa well above a 4.0 in HS.
AP scores aren’t used in calculating GPAs. The grade you get in an AP class (or an honors class) is weighted more heavily by many high schools.
It’s the colleges themselves that determine what score is needed to achieve credit at thier institution, not a national board nor the high schools.
My kid’s HS did. On a negative, it put even more pressure on kids to do well because the higher the GPA, the stronger the college application etc.
There are exceptions. The university I teach at, does not use weighted HS gpa in evaluating undergrad admissions. They rescore everything so a max HS gpa a student can have is a 4.0.
They used the AP test score in the grade, or the grade in the AP class?
They can be very different things in some cases.
That was the way with my daughters and it’s looking like that for my son. He is doing one of the comp sci AP classes this year and they are doing practice problems.
But if my daughter just used her class, wouldn’t that say the class alone is sufficient. I ended up having 21 credits count in college, I think I got a 3 on one so it didn’t count, so 7/8 and only relied on the class and material we got in class.
I took it as the school accepted the result for credit.
Drifting a bit from AP test prep, but there can be a whole strategy about using APs in HS, anticipating college. We’re in a very competitive HS area, and some families go nuts.
They load the kid up with as many AP HS classes as possible for the following reasons:
a) To accumulate college credits going into college. Some kids’ come in equivalent to second semester sophomores in terms of credits.
b) To waive having to take Intro courses so the kid can take the advanced courses “sooner.”
c) To be able to finish and graduate sooner. Which can save a semester or more of tuition and get the kid gainfully employed and earning sooner.
There are some exceptions as I mentioned earlier about what the college accepts or doesn’t.
My son could have finished a semester earlier, but decided to stay for the full 4 years to graduate with friends, and since he didn’t have a job lined up either there wasn’t a point to have him leave school at the time.
Daughter is finishing up. In her case, she’s got all the credits she needs but her APs didn’t line up exactly with the college’s distribution requirements so she had to take some classes to meet her college’s distribution requirements even though she doesn’t need them from a number-of-credits perspective.
There’s something to be said about not rushing it, and getting the full college experience.
@Moonrocket - looks like you and your kid’s going into the AP considerations in a positive way. Too much pressure on kids’ isn’t healthy.
Pretty sure it was the AP test score in the weighted HS GPA. Which is why kids’ wanted the 5, and not the 4. This was 4 years ago.
In my day, I remember a 4 as being no different than a 5, but you definitely needed to get above 3.
My girls are using AP and college credits to be able to take a more relaxed load of courses since they’ll be student athletes, with all of the time and physical demands of full time training (swimming). Having 30 credits already means that they can take 12 instead of 15-16 per semester more comfortably.
That’s good. If their college has distribution requirements, make sure their credits and courses waived satisfy those. They didn’t for my daughter (above). But it’s not the end of the world to have to take an “extra” class.
Also, there may be a minimum # of credits to take per semester to be full-time. My son moved back on campus for his Sr. year and in order to be in the dorms he had to be full-time. So even though he didn’t need the credits he took “extra” classes. He registered for stuff outside his major that he was very interested in (e.g. creative writing was one) which was good for him.
Yep, my two sons took the AP calculus and physics tests, finished about 20 minutes early, and got 5s.
How does that work for seniors who take an AP test in the spring, whose college applications have already been received and a college choice made, and whose AP scores aren’t released until (typically) their HS years are over?
If a kid takes a late AP test, it doesn’t affect their college applications.
Many kids have 1st semester grades considered- so the GPA impact would be there. I got out of classes I took the AP test for at the end of my senior year - so I assume it also impacts freshman year class placement.
Off your topic, but I was wondering about the claim that AP scores were included in GPA calculations, when (all?) the AP tests taken by seniors who are taking AP classes their senior years will have their scores reported long after the college admissions process has completed.
I will ask my AP CS teacher wife what she knows about prep for that particular test when she gets home tonight.
AP classes were worth more than normal classes for GPA calculations. The actual AP test had no bearing on GPA.
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Early response from the wife:
Do they want prep for APCS A? There’s also an APCS Principles course. The college board has a website that has a lot of review/course info if a student is enrolled in an AP course. There are review books to buy. There is a website called runestone.academy that has a course (free) that is called AP CSAwesome that I use for my students. It’s aligned for my AP test. There’s also a codehs website that has an AP CSA course “Nitro” that’s free.
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Thanks! She’s doing principals. I don’t think she will need to do much prep. She has a 100 in the course. But she can get a bit anxious- so just being familiar/ comfortable with the structure of the test more than the content is what I’m looking for.