<p>If one gets B+'s in AP classes, but a 5 and/or 800 in the respective subject test, does it not hurt as much, particularly for Ivies, T-20 schools? It may hurt the gpa, but doesn't it just mean that the teacher's grading scale is rigorous? I'm aiming for schools such Duke, Penn, Cornell, Northwestern, UVA, etc. Also, will this be minor if everything else in the app is fine, i.e. 2250+ SAT, solid rank, ECs, etc.? Or will it hurt a lot?</p>
<p>Depends on the high school and the average GPA and the GPA of the number one ranked student. GPA is extremely important. T-20 schools want to see A’s in your AP classes, but that would be excused if your school does grading differently and say might give extra weighting if you have a B because the classes/teachers happen to be more rigorous than typical AP classes.</p>
<p>If your class rank is top 10 or 5% than you are generally fine, although you really want top 5% at least.</p>