AP tests are scored on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high). Get a 4 or higher, and you may be able to earn college credit without paying college tuition! Whether you just got your AP scores back or are considering taking an AP class, here’s everything you need to know about AP scores.
What Are AP Scores Used For?
In general, AP scores can be used for college credit, placing out of certain college course requirements, and to show admissions officers that you have pushed yourself academically in high school. Different colleges use AP scores in different ways, so it is important that you go to a particular college’s website to determine how it uses AP scores.
1. Earn College Credit
Some colleges will give you college credit if you score well on an AP exam. These AP creditscount toward your graduation requirements, meaning that you can take fewer courses while in college. Given the cost of college, this could be a huge step toward making your dream college more affordable.Learn more about how to earn AP credit for college.
2. Satisfy College Requirements
Some colleges will allow you to “place out” of certain requirements if you do well on an AP exam, even if they do not give you actual college credits. For example, you might be able toskip the huge survey course and dive right into more specialized classes for your major. In some cases, you might not need to take a class in a certain discipline (like a mandatory writing class) at all.
Even if your AP scores don’t end up earning you college credit or allowing you to place out of certain courses, most colleges will respect your decision to push yourself by taking an AP course. A high score on an AP exam show mastery of more difficult content than is taught in many high school courses. Many schools will take that into account during thecollege admissions process.
A 4 or a 5 is the AP score that will most likely earn you college AP credit. Of course, no matter how you do on the AP test, you still get a grade for that AP class from your high school. Good grades inAP courses always look good on your transcript!
2020 AP Score Distributions
Here's how last year's crop of AP students performed on some popular tests. Final 2021 AP score distributions will be released in the fall.
Usually, a 70 to 75 percent out of 100 translates to a 5. However, there are some exams that are exceptions to this rule of thumb. The AP Grades that are reported to students, high schools, colleges, and universities in July are on AP's five-point scale: 5: Extremely well qualified.
But what is a passing AP score? The College Board considers a score of 3 or higher a passing grade. That said, some colleges require a 4 or 5 to award credit. Whether a 3 is a good AP score depends on the colleges you're applying to.
The composite score is then converted to a number on the scaled score range 1-5. This means that for each scaled score, there is a range of possible composite scores that could earn it. For example, a 5 could be any composite score between 110 and 150 on one exam.
Once you've created a College Board account, you'll be able to use that account to view or send your AP scores. If you've taken other College Board assessments such as the SAT, you probably already have a College Board account.
As a general guide, though, you can consider roughly more than 70% correct as being in the 5 range, 50-69% for a score of 4, 40-49% for a score of 3, 30-39% for a 2, and below 30% would likely be a 1. Again, these ranges are approximations and can vary by subject and by year.
To clarify, it's quite rare and quite difficult to get a score of 0 on an AP exam. Typically, scores range from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest possible score that indicates the student likely wasn't prepared for the level of the content on the exam.
The College Board, which administers the AP exams, has never awarded a 6 on any AP exam. A score of 3 is typically considered passing, and is generally the minimum score that could possibly earn you college credit or placement out of intro-level college courses, though this can vary by institution and subject.
AP test scores are indeed "curved," but it's more accurate to call it a "scaling process." Instead of a traditional curve that compares your performance to other students' performance, the AP exam scaling process converts your raw score (the number of points you earned through multiple-choice questions and free- ...
Key Takeaway: AP students who earn a score of 1 or 2, or average a score of 1 or 2 across their AP Exams in high school, have better college outcomes than academically similar college students who did not take an AP course and exam.
Harvard only accepts AP® scores of 5 for course credit. If you have 4 scores of 5, you can opt to obtain Advanced Standing. You can use AP® credits to opt-out of lower-level classes.
AP scores have very, very little impact on college admissions, especially if the exam has nothing to do with your major. If you don't report, they probably won't really notice. They can't assume you failed, as maybe you never took the exam in the first place. They care more about your grade in the class.
You can request that the AP Program withhold one or more AP Exam scores from any college, university, or scholarship program that you chose as a score recipient.
C - this is a grade that rests right in the middle. C is anywhere between 70% and 79% D - this is still a passing grade, and it's between 59% and 69% F - this is a failing grade.
A score of five doesn't correspond with the same raw score/percentage across all AP exams, and the conversions often change from year to year. I'd say that usually it takes 65–80% to get a five. It really depends on the exam you're taking. An AP score of 5 is defined as extremely well qualified by The College Board.
Normally, a score of 70 to 75 percent out of 100 is a 5. However, there are many exams that deviate from this generalization. The AP Grades are given on a five-point scale and are distributed in July to students, high schools, colleges, and universities.
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