About the AP Exam
Throughout a student’s learning journey, parents often have questions or misconceptions about the importance of comprehensive education. One of the topics which we receive the most questions about is AP exams. To better support our current and prospective students and parents, we have organized a summarized compilation of Q&A’s:
1) What is the AP exam?
The Advanced Placement (AP) exams are a series of exams that high school students can use to earn college-level credit when they apply to universities across the United States and abroad. The content of each exam is equivalent to the content of the respective course offered at university. A successful grade on the AP exam demonstrates mastery of rigorous college-level content.
2) Who should take the exam?
Students who enrol in AP courses are usually top students who have the drive and motivation to learn. As the difficulty of the AP exam is much higher than that of regular high school courses, students must have qualifying learning potential to successfully participate in the course and challenge the exam.
3) What is the role of AP exams?
AP exam scores can be transferred directly into university credits. This allows students to skip the college-equivalent course during university, and saves tuition. To all elite universities, successful completion of AP credits enhance a students’ application profile and help to make a good impression.
4) What is the relationship between AP scores and high school grades?
AP scores can increase GPA, which reflects a student’s comprehensive ability throughout high school, and is the main factor in university admissions. For secondary school, the highest attainable GPA is 4 points. For the AP exam, the highest score is 5 points. If a student wishes to increase his or her GPA, he or she can do so by achieving excellent AP scores. In general, each AP course can increase GPA by about 0.1. Therefore, AP courses make it possible for outstanding students to achieve a GPA of over 4.0.
5) When should the AP exam be taken?
Taking the exam too early is not recommended because students' knowledge database and comprehension abilities may not be sufficiently developed. This may negatively affect test scores thus dampening their enthusiasm for learning. Taking the exam too late (such as in grade 12) is not effective either, because by the time the exam is written (May) and results come out, university applications have already been completed. Therefore, it is difficult to improve GPA or enhance competitiveness. Since the AP exam is a difficult exam that is offered only once a year, it is necessary to plan ahead, so that students steadily and fully prepare to achieve desired results.
6) How many AP exams should I take?
Under normal circumstances, students can plan to take about 2 exams each year, or 5-6 exams within three years. The students in our centre’s course planning services have had extraordinary achievements: G9 students have already achieved 2-3 perfect AP scores. G10 students have achieved perfect scores in 4 AP exams (including some of the most difficult: Calculus and Physics) in one year. If you are a motivated, hard-working student who wants to challenge yourself with the goal of attending an Ivy League-level university, AP courses are a must. The more successful AP scores you can demonstrate, the more competitive your profile will be. Combined with personal specialties and/or extracurriculars, your advantages will be even greater! Therefore, professional planning and personalized arrangements are vital for students who wish to achieve spectacular results and achieve their ultimate goal!
