<p>Hi, I am a junior and I have a 3.4 unweighted gpa. I am wondering how I can improve my gpa. I want to go to a good college and I am planning to take 5 AP classes during the summer. Do you think it will help? I am going to retake the sat in oct. I really need some advice. Will taking AP classes raise my gpa to at least a 3.8 UW? or should I not take AP classes? ANY advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how one can take 5 AP Courses over summer. I doubt that opportunity would be offered by the school. If you meant that you were going to self-study 5 APs, I would find it useless considering you’ll have to re-learn each of the 5 courses on top of your senior course load in order to do well in the exams. From a 3.4, it seems like 3.8 would be a reach. Senior year, def. take the most rigorous courses possible. Colleges would like to see that you are challenging yourself. The hole you dug for yourself might be too deep though.</p>
<p>K, but these courses are online. I can take it online and they have a review course for each one. Also, will colleges ask for the ap scores.</p>
<p>I will try to do well on the ap test, but even if I did take 5 ap classes will it boost my gpa. Would I have an ideal gpa like 3.8 UW and 4.2 W something like that.</p>
<p>Some colleges ask for the AP scores and some don’t, although technically colleges are not allowed to evaluate you based on those scores. If you are accepted into the college however, whether they want the scores or not you’ll want to send them to try to get credit for what you accomplished (how much credit/what you receive credit for varies based on college). Also, tests like AP lit and AP calc exempt you from placement exams at some colleges (though this depends on the score for some).</p>
<p>In terms of taking 5 over the summer, realistically it’s probably not a great idea. Self-studies can be great however. If your school doesn’t offer an AP that you really want to take because you’d actually like to learn the material, I’d recommend the self-study option. It’s a lot of work though, so I’d recommend taking APs that interest you, and not just taking as many as you possibly can to try to look good for colleges. Colleges would rather see good grades in regular and honors courses rather than 5 failing AP grades.</p>
<p>Also, it’s all in prospective of where you’re planning on applying. Some colleges don’t even look at weighted GPAs. The best option is to take the more rigorous course schedule you can without overloading yourself, and doing really well in all of those classes. Even if all of your classes are honors and you have one or two APs, if you have straight a’s, that will mean more to colleges.</p>
<p>Thank you! for your advice I have thought about taking just the ones that are important. Also, the main reason is to raise my gpa. By self study what do you mean? Like take the ap test by studying instead of taking a class. Also since the online courses are accepted by the UC, will they be accepted by other private colleges?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t take 5 AP classes over the summer though. maybe three max., but it’s hard enough just taking 5 for the school year.</p>