<p>ok, so my brother took AP Physics, AP Stats and AP Bio last year.
he had an EXTREMELY hard teacher (ap bio and ap physics) who barely taught and gave them impossible tests. same with AP stats.
see, the teacher (physics and bio) didn't write them himself, he copied them off from his graduate level courses that he used to teach.
anyways, my brother got B's in all those three ap classes, but got 5s on the exam.</p>
<p>my question is: which counts for colleges, the AP grade, or the class grade?</p>
<p>the class grade counts more because it factors into your GPA and decides valedictorian and ranks like that
APs become important when you decide what classes to go to in college and how much credit you can receive</p>
<p>The problem is that a lot of college admissions people assume that at least a few people get an A in every class. If you're looking at upper tier schools, you are expected to be one of these people. If the teacher does not give As, he or she is probably a bad teacher. </p>
<p>A high AP grade will look good, but admissions people will still be wary if one gets several B's in AP classes. It will make you seem like you can't handle the work.</p>
<p>On the other hand, you get some serious grade inflation in other classes.
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A high AP grade will look good, but admissions people will still be wary if one gets several B's in AP classes. It will make you seem like you can't handle the work.
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</p>
<p>Um, no.</p>
<p>It can also mean some serious grade deflation. </p>
<p>Plus, it will affect GPA, but I got into a fairly satisfying school with quite a few Bs. (And I have 43 advanced standing credits, on top of getting the highest placement possible for French.)</p>
<p>
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On the other hand, you get some serious grade inflation in other classes.
[/quote]
[quote]
It can also mean some serious grade deflation.
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</p>
<p>Why would an admissions officer think anything else? Unless you go to a top high school. If a good number of people are making A's, you ought to be too. </p>
<p>If however, you go to a specialized school, or have a very high rank, I believe that colleges will understand your school has tough graders. (Particularly if your school lists average GPA)</p>
<p>
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If a good number of people are making A's, you ought to be too.
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</p>
<p>Um ... that's not how A's are supposed to work. A's are high distinctions. </p>
<p>Remember the old grading system?</p>
<p>C --> you did everything you were supposed to
B --> you worked hard and went above and beyond what was asked, with original insight
A --> not only did you go above and beyond, you had extremely original insights to the extent that you not only learned from the teacher, the teacher learned from you. </p>
<p>But people like you make the masses expect an A. You don't expect A's. At least in a world when academic honor was still upheld, anyway. </p>
<p>
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Why would an admissions officer think anything else? Unless you go to a top high school.
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</p>
<p>The adcoms might inquire into grade distributions if they want to, maybe. Low AP scores but high class scores are the classic signs of grade inflation. </p>
<p>(And I went to a sufficiently horrible high school -- or at least a stratified one where nearly half the student body goes to two year institutions and 5% go straight to work after high school.) </p>
<p>It's not a question of having a "top" high school. Now, a string of B's might hurt in competitive admissions, and it would be quite better if he had gotten A's, and a string of AP 5's won't redeem this, but still, it doesn't say a lot about the <em>ability</em> to handle coursework. Perhaps it does suggest that the applicant has strong aptitude/capability, but is weaker in work ethic (which I empathise with, hahaha).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Um ... that's not how A's are supposed to work. A's are high distinctions.</p>
<p>Remember the old grading system?
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I can't say that I remember the old grading system; I'm a high school sophomore. </p>
<p>
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But people like you make the masses expect an A.
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Yes, people like me make it our jobs to go around and promote this conspiracy of grade inflation. </p>
<p>
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it doesn't say a lot about the <em>ability</em> to handle coursework. Perhaps it does suggest that the applicant has strong aptitude/capability, but is weaker in work ethic
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High school GPA has been found to be a stronger indicator of college success than a high SAT score. College admit people who will do well not that are capable of doing well. (I'm not implying anything in regard to the OPs capabilities)</p>
<p>I'm not here to argue whether or not the current grading system is correct. You can go become an axiologist if you'd like. I'm merely trying to give the OP the truth.</p>
<p>I don't think 3 B's will kill anyone in college admissions. In any case, it will not be the acceptance-rejection tipping factor.</p>
<p>People always ask: "What's better, a B in an AP class or an A in a regular?" Admissions officers always answer: "A in an AP class." It would've been better to get an A, but imo the 5 score will do a bit to offset that (notice a BIT). However, transcript is the #1 most important part of your app.</p>
<p>The problem is that GPAs and secondary school grading systems are not consistent, standardised or whatever. </p>
<p>Now see, if coursework had to be graded on a standardised scale (it is quite possible, especially if you submit TOKs, portfolios and the like) we would have a better situation. </p>
<p>
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Yes, people like me make it our jobs to go around and promote this conspiracy of grade inflation.
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</p>
<p>I did not say it is being done out of malice. It is one of those cases where each individual pushing to do his good results in collective bad (and so perhaps we should strive for another system). </p>
<p>
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High school GPA has been found to be a stronger indicator of college success than a high SAT score.
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</p>
<p>Of course, I don't know what study you are quoting, what the p value was, as well as what the distribution overlap was. Citation please.</p>
<p>Of course an objective measure of evaluating the coursework of hundreds if not thousands of laborious hours is always better than the results of an exam which only takes several. But see, the huge unreliability of secondary school grading systems (when compared to each other) would probably make GPA useless as a universal indicator, especially when you are trying to combine scales.</p>
<p>Now GPA by itself is not useless when you are evaluating a single INDIVIDUAL, within the context of COURSEWORK, class rank, standard distribution and class averages, and so forth. But when you are evaluating a whole society? Oh please. GPA is good for comparisons within secondary school systems, not between secondary school systems.</p>