<p>
Hm, here’s an example:</p>
<p>Somebody takes 3 regular courses and 4 AP courses, making an A in all of them. His GPA would be (4.0x3 / 3) + 4x0.08 = 4.32.
If the AP and Honors class points were averaged in instead of added, the GPA would be: (4.0x3 + 4.08x4) / 7 = 4.05, which is significantly lower than the 4.32.</p>
<p>If the student were to add in one more regular class to his schedule, it won’t lower his GPA, and therefore wouldn’t “penalize” him:
(4.0x4 / 4) + 4x0.08 = 4.32.
As you can see, taking a non-honors or non-AP course would not lower the GPA. In fact, it remains just the same.</p>