<p>A strong “exam-crammer” can do well on AP test, even if they’ve not mastered the material per se.</p>
<p>Advantage of AP classes is that it offers college/university admissions a consistent curriculum to compare a broad spectrum of students, and the AP test grade offers some benchmark of students’ competency. However, it appears that actual AP classes at individual HSs do vary, often based upon relative competency of teacher as well as his/her students, even if curriculum itself is supposedly well-defined.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that AP credit itself is probably most helpful at state schools for winnowing out freshmen-level classes, and least helpful at private more competitive universities and colleges.</p>