ap exam score vs. class grade?

<p>I got a B in my AP Gov class, but a 5 on the exam. Could a 5 on the exam theoretically atone for the B in the class? At my school, i think it's virtually impossible to get an A in the class. My school's AP Gov teacher is probably the toughest teacher I will ever have.</p>

<p>If your counselor mentions that the class is ridiculous, then that’ll help a bit. In general, high test scores will never make up for poor grades, but one single B will not make or break your application. You got a 5 so they’ll know it was a strong class. Don’t worry about it.</p>

<p>Unless, y’know, the other people in your class applying to the same school happen to have gotten As…</p>

<p>what if its the opposite? say I got an A in the class but a 3 on the exam?</p>

<p>OP: In general, the grade counts for far more than the AP exam score, I’m afraid.</p>

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<p>A 3 is okay and the situation will be insignificant imo. As long as your other scores are 4/5’s, you’ll be fine. Multiple A’s/1’s, however, would be an issue.</p>

<p>I never really thought AP scores were really important so most are self- reported. But honestly its not like your ONE B will make the difference between accept/ denied. You already turned your app in just relax</p>

<p>wouldn’t A’s in a class but a 1, 2, or 3 on the AP exam be a possible indication of grade inflation?</p>

<p>I think a B+ combined with a 5 should equal an A-. Unfortunately, that’s not the way the world works and AP tests don’t really matter as long as you’re not getting an A+ in the class and a 1 on the AP test.</p>

<p>Depends. Your grade is factored into your GPA, which is the most important thing. Nothing “cancels” that grade. Though, in some high schools, they will actually change your grade to an A if you got a 5 on the exam. </p>

<p>Colleges will look at your APs, that’s why they ask for them. All will probably treat them a little differently. But I disagree with what most have said about the grade being more important.</p>

<p>The grade is given by one teacher, in one class. That grading varies WILDLY in every class/school in the country. But the AP is comparing apples to apples. So, your teacher could dislike you and give you a B+ for some subjecting portion of your grade. Or maybe you ended up sick a lot so your “attendance” portion of your grade went down. Or perhaps you had a weekend long athletic event and bombed one Monday morning test that lead to a B+. </p>

<p>However, you learned the material and aced the AP. Though…just sayin’…it’s just the Goverment AP…I don’t think that required course/one semester is going to stand for very much anyway.</p>

<p>If all top students got Bs on this class, you would be fine because it would not affect your class ranking (I am assuming you are targetting top colleges).</p>

<p>Actually, I had one AP teacher who automatically changed students’ grades to A’s for those who score a 4 or a 5 on the AP exam. I am not supportive of this policy since it devalues the accomplishments of those who stayed up late every night studying for the class.</p>

<p>But yes, the transcript grade is more important to the university than the exam grade.</p>

<p>Yeah, sorry OP, but I don’t think that colleges really care that you got a 5 on your AP Gov test. I’m sure a lot of people applying to Princeton have 5s and also got an A in the class. In addition, there are definitely a lot of people applying to Princeton who take the hardest classes and are the only people who get As in the class, and they get 5s on the AP. This being said; however, I don’t think a single B will make or break you.</p>

<p>^At some schools (such as my own), however, a single B on the transcript will determine the difference between a student who is first in the class and the student ranked twenty-fifth.</p>

<p>Honestly it all depends on the rigor of your school and how if the colleges know the difficulty of that class. It’s very hard to determine how they will view your grade/score without more info. At my school, APs vary a lot in terms of difficulty as some teachers are ridiculously hard and some are a joke. For us, the key thing is high AP scores combined with high grades as that shows course rigor. We bump up grades if one gets a good Ap score (varies by teacher) so for us AP scores are more important. However, it really depends on the school. If that’s your only B though, it won’t make a difference unless it drops you outside the top 10% IMO.</p>

<p>UHG. I got a B in AP Chemistry this year as a sophomore… My only B.</p>

<p>But if you are #1 out of 600, do they even care about your GPA? Or is it all about rank?</p>

<p>If you are 1/600 with a B, no worries–colleges will understand the rigor of your courseload. It gets trickier when you fall a few ranks because of that B, even if your peers took easier classes to secure their straight-As.</p>