3 Good Reasons To Take an AP Course in High School

Taking an AP course in high school can be very advantageous when it comes to applying for admission to college. But, do you know why that is? What specifically makes AP courses a more desirable option than others? In this article, we'll take a look at what AP course are, how they benefit you and a few reasons why you should take an AP course in high school.

First, let's begin by explaining exactly what AP courses are. AP stands for Advanced Placement. In other words, these courses are designed to be more challenging, work at a quicker pace, and are generally viewed upon as college level work that is taken at the high school level. Generally speaking, students who opt to take AP classes are higher level kids and are sometimes recommended by their instructors to enroll in them. In fact, some schools across the country require that a student is recommended by a teacher to take an AP class.

The Advanced Placement Program is run by The College Board who administers the AP exams in May of every school year. There is a fee involved (currently it is $86 per test), but that is minimal compared to the money you will save if you do well enough on the AP exam. They are scored on a 1-5 scale, 1 being the lowest, and depending on how well you do, you could earn credit for college while in high school! So, taking an AP course in high school has that advantage right off the bat. But what are some other reasons to take an AP class?

Extra GPA Points

The first motivating factor for you to take an AP course in high school is the added GPA points you get for doing well in the actual class. Most high schools across the nation add more "weight" to an AP course when compared to a regular, college prep level class.

For instance, let's say you earn an A in an AP class. Now normally, in a regular class, you would get 4 GPA points for that. In other words, an A is a 4.0. Depending on how heavily your school weights AP courses, you could potentially earn more than a 4.0. Generally, and A in an AP course is worth one third more than a regular class, which would give you a 4.33 toward your GPA.

Now, one third of a point doesn't sound like much, but what if you took more than one ap course in high school? Now we're talking multiple third points that all add up. Potentially, you could get straight A's, take a few AP courses and end up with a higher GPA than a 4.0! It does happen, and this is a big plus when it comes time to apply to college.

The second reason why you will benefit by taking an AP course in high school is that the colleges want to see these types of courses on your transcript when you apply. These days, anything you can do to help yourself stand out from other applicants is a must. College admissions is as competitive as it's ever been and AP classes will help you stand out from the rest.

For instance, if you are applying to a highly selective school and you have nothing but electives and core, college prep classes on your transcript, you may get denied! It's not just about the GPA and test scores anymore. Colleges want to see that you've challenged yourself to the best of your ability, and that you were able to handle the college level coursework. That is where Advanced Placement classes come in.

If you've taken an AP course in high school, it will show those prospective colleges that you know what college level coursework is like, and that you can handle it. And believe it, they are looking for those classes so make sure you not only take AP classes, but also do B or better work in them.

Lastly, The AP Program is designed around the premise that high school kids can earn college credit while still enrolled at their school. So, the reward for taking an AP course in high school is not only the GPA points and helping you look capable of college work, but also giving you credit before you even reach the university level.

Now, keep in mind that every college or university is different with respect to their policies on accepting AP credit. Just because you take the AP exam and score a 3 or 4, doesn't mean you've automatically qualified yourself for credit. If you are interested to see which schools award what credit for specific scores on the AP exams, visit the AP Credit Policies webpage.

As stated before, the AP exams cost around $86 per test. Scoring a 5 out of a possible 5 will all but ensure you some type of credit at your college of choice. Getting a 1 or 2 on the exam will pretty much guarantee you nothing and it will be up to the institution on whether or not they will award you any credit for that low score.

In the grant scheme of things, $86 for an AP exam is peanuts when you think about how much money you could be saving in tuition costs. As a rough estimate, each class at a public, state university is around $1500. So being able to fore-go that class because you did well on an AP exam is well worth it!

As you can see, taking an AP course in high school has it's advantages when it comes to college admissions. It certainly isn't a must, but if you can handle the workload and do A or B work, it is worth the effort and will pay big dividends in the years to come!

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