There are currently 37 AP courses and exams that students can take. But some students are confused and even anxious when it comes to taking AP courses in high school.
AP Courses Risky?
There are so many questions lurking out there in the minds of parents and students about AP courses! And this is no surprise, considering the cutthroat culture of competition for college admission slots. So will tougher AP courses put your grade point average at risk? Will your chosen college even recognize your AP scores?
There is no straightforward answer, because there is no consistent rule when it comes to colleges, AP courses and grades. Some discriminating colleges do look for weighty AP courses on your transcripts, and they expect to see high grades and high exam scores to match. If you are looking at a very discriminating college, you will want to take this into consideration.
Officials at these colleges know how to analyze a transcript and they will recognize students who take on a rigorous schedule. They know that some high schools are very demanding and others are not. If you're looking at competitive schools with very high standards, you will want to push yourself and sign up for the most challenging classes.
Then there are other colleges. Some colleges—many of these are state universities—do not necessarily look closely at the types of classes you took. They don’t make allowance for the fact that your AP course was tougher than a standard class would have been. They don’t recognize that it is harder to earn a high score in an AP course, and they don't weight classes. They take a (seemingly unfair) straightforward approach to calculating GPAs.
For this reason, students may be taking a big risk by overextending themselves with too many rigorous courses. Three A’s and one D in an all-AP schedule is simply three A’s and a D to some university officials. And if you are taking three or four AP courses at one time, there is a good chance that one of them will consume much of your time and leave you with little time for the others. A bad grade or two is likely.
AP courses are hard. The requirements are set by the College Board and the courses are fast-paced and intensive. If you sign up for too many AP courses at one time, you are limiting the amount of time you can devote to studying for each exam. So if you aren’t committed to working hard and giving up some of your fun time for each class you sign up for, you should think twice.