AP Exam Scores Matter For College Admissions

Published March 24, 2024
Written by: David Blobaum

AP and IB exam scores continue to rise in importance for college admissions.

Why Are AP Exam Scores Important?

College Admissions

Most top colleges would like to see AP exam scores so that they have additional certainty that a student is sufficiently prepared to succeed at their institution.

Consider a few statements from top colleges:

Yale Admissions in 2024: “If your transcript shows that you have been enrolled in several AP courses before senior year and your application doesn’t include any AP scores, we’re going to wonder what’s up.” In short, if you have AP classes listed on your transcript, then top colleges expect the corresponding AP exam scores listed in your application.
Dean of Admissions at Emory in 2023: “We’re not as trusting, frankly, of GPA these days …Inflation makes grades pretty useless as a screening tool. [Emory] will be weighing ‘external assessment’ more heavily than GPA, with a particular focus on AP scores.” Keep in mind that Emory is test-optional. So that’s a test-optional college saying that test scores, particularly AP exam scores, are more important than high school grades for admission.
Princeton in 2024: “If you sat for an Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) test, we recommend that you self-report all of your AP or IB scores on your application.” Princeton is also “test-optional.”
UC Berkeley in 2024: “Since Berkeley is a competitive campus, satisfying the minimum requirements is often not enough to be competitive for selection. In addition to the basic admission requirements, the campus selects its first-year class through an assessment that includes a holistic review of your academic performance as measured primarily by: … [#6] Your scores on AP or IB exams and SAT subject exams.” Keep in mind that UC Berkeley calls itself test-free/blind because it doesn’t use SAT/ACT scores in its admissions process. So, instead, UC Berkeley uses AP and IB exams so that they still have standardized exam scores from applicants.
Georgetown in 2024: “Students who participate in an A.P. (Advanced Placement) curriculum are encouraged to submit AP scores to supplement their admissions file.”
Notre Dame in 2025: “If you have AP exam scores that you’re proud of,… we encourage you to send them in… The numbers are important, and of course we use those.”

You get the idea: the more selective the school, the more AP exam scores the other applicants will likely submit, so the more to your advantage it is to submit top AP exam scores as well.

Submit AP exam scores to colleges through the Common App — The Common App invites students to send AP exam scores to the colleges they are applying to.

College Course Credit

All people understandably prioritize the present, so this benefit is often discounted, but it should have higher prominence because of how advantageous AP credits are in college.

Graduate early: Many of our students have been able to graduate a semester early, which allows them to save money on tuition, use that time to travel before jumping into a career, etc.
Fewer classes: Most of our students with AP credits still graduate in four years but choose to take a lighter course load in college; this allows them to focus more on the fewer classes they take, get higher grades in those classes, have more flexibility in their schedule, and/or take a few harder classes because they know they will have more time to devote to those classes.
More classes: Alternatively, students can still take a full course load but, because they will have likely bypassed a few introductory courses with their AP course credits, they will be able to take more courses than others and get to more advanced courses (sometimes taking courses at the graduate school level while still in undergrad).

Scholarships

To a lesser extent, AP exam scores can support the case to give a student more merit aid or a merit scholarship (a few public universities even consider AP exam scores in scholarship decisions).

What is a good AP Exam Score?

AP exams are scored from 1 to 5 (you can find the percentile distributions at each score: here). All students should strive for 5’s (obviously), but students applying to top schools will often need a 5 on an exam in order for that score to help them in admissions, and they will almost always need at least a 4 for that score to give them course credit at the college. Colleges vary substantially on whether they will provide course credit for AP exam scores, so you’ll need to check on that school’s website for what AP exam score a student will need in order to get course credit (the more selective the school, typically the higher the requisite score). Here is an example of what the AP course credit page will look like: AP course credit webpage.

How Important Are AP Exam Scores for College Admissions?

AP exam scores are moderately important for admission to highly selective colleges, particularly if a student’s high school offers a lot of AP courses. Previously, AP exam scores were relatively unimportant; however, when the College Board discontinued SAT subject tests in 2021, top colleges shifted their focus from SAT subject test scores to AP exam scores. If a student’s high school does not offer AP exams, then a student will either not be disadvantaged relative to other applicants or only slightly so for not submitting AP exam scores. But, if a high school offers a lot of AP courses, then highly selective colleges will wonder why a student did not challenge themselves more by taking more difficult classes that were available to them. More opportunity = higher expectations.

How Can I Take Practice Tests?

We can provide students with practice tests and tutoring for most AP exams. Feel free to reach out to us via email ([email protected]) or phone (908-277-0128). We’re happy to help and serve, and we encourage all students to try to take a practice test in early April so that they know how much (if any) preparation they will need in order to achieve their desired score on their AP exams.