AP® Exams: Why Students Should Take AP Exams
This article explores why taking AP exams is crucial for students aiming to strengthen their college applications. It highlights the growing issue of grade inflation and explains how strong AP exam scores provide colleges with a reliable measure of academic rigor and student preparedness, offering both admissions and potential college credit benefits.
Importance of Grades and Course Rigor
According to annual surveys, the two most important factors in college admissions decisions are grades and course rigor. Colleges seek students who take challenging courses and do well in them. This is one of the biggest reasons why the College Board’s Advanced Placement program has seen such rapid and widespread growth: AP classes are the hardest classes offered at most high schools.
But the AP program isn’t just about taking the classes—it’s also about the end-of-year AP exams.
AP Exam Participation
Last year, more than 2.6 million students took AP exams, but not every student who enrolls in AP classes takes the corresponding exam. Some students choose not to take AP exams because they feel that the potential for college credit isn’t worth the effort of exam preparation. Others choose not to take the exams based upon the advice of their teachers or schools.
This is a missed opportunity for those students. In an age in which rising grade inflation is a growing problem, AP exams serve as a valuable data point for college applicants.
High School Grade Inflation
According to a 2023 report by ACT, since 2016, average high school GPAs have been consistently rising even as ACT scores have stayed flat or declined. Data from the National Center of Education Statistics shows a similar trend: despite taking more rigorous classes and earning higher grades, today’s students perform worse on NAEP assessments (the tests commonly called “the nation’s report card”) than students did a decade ago.
This is one reason colleges have cited for returning to test-required policies. SAT or ACT scores offer a standardized metric when grades are no longer as reliable an indicator of academic potential.
Colleges actively seek data that will help to inform their analysis of applicants, and AP exam scores can be a valuable datapoint.
Value of AP Exam Scores in College Applications
Any college admissions officer will tell you that, as a general rule, more data is always better. A college application is the place where a student makes the case for their candidacy for admission. The more information a student can provide to bolster their case, the better the student’s chances. Opting not to take an AP exam for a course they’ve enrolled in is a missed opportunity for students since submitting a strong AP exam score shows colleges that the grade earned in the class is reflective of the learning expected from an AP course.
More than that, not submitting AP exam scores for AP courses that show up on a student’s transcript simply raises questions for admissions officers. One of the admissions officers hosting the Yale Admissions Office Podcast specifically advises students to submit AP exam scores, “especially if your transcript shows that you were enrolled in classes with the AP title. Otherwise, you’re just begging the question, how did they do on that AP exam?” He goes on to note that students should explain why they chose not to sit for an exam to proactively address the question.
For students seeking admission to top schools, taking the relevant AP exams—and scoring well on them!—is just good strategy. It offers colleges yet another valuable data point to bolster the student’s case for admission and reduces concerns about potential grade inflation—and that’s before we even consider the financial benefits of the college credits that can be awarded for strong performance on AP exams.
