How many college credits is a 4 on an AP exam?
Students must score a 4 or above to earn credit. Each exam is worth 1.5 credits, so students who take all three parts will earn 4.5 credits.
AP Exam scores of 4 are equivalent to grades of A-, B+, and B in college. AP Exam scores of 3 are equivalent to grades of B-, C+, and C in college.
College Board Advanced Placement Tests | Passing Score | Minimum Semester Credits Earned1 |
---|---|---|
AP English Language | 3 | 6 |
AP English Language and Composition | 3 | 6 |
AP English Literature | 3 | 6 |
AP English Literature and Composition | 3 | 6 |
This depends on your institution's AP credit policy. For example, if you took the AP Psychology exam and received a 5, you may earn 2 credits but still be required to take the institution's Introductory Psychology class.
Colleges are generally looking for a 4 (“well-qualified”) or 5 (“extremely qualified”) on the AP exam, but some may grant credit for a 3 (“qualified”). These scores mean you have proven yourself capable of doing the work in an introductory-level college course.
As a general guide, though, you can consider roughly more than 70% correct as being in the 5 range, 50-69% for a score of 4, 40-49% for a score of 3, 30-39% for a 2, and below 30% would likely be a 1. Again, these ranges are approximations and can vary by subject and by year.
Yes, a 60 is considered a passing grade in AP classes. In AP, the average passing rate is 60-70%.
Advanced Placement (AP)
Students who earn scores of 3 or higher on designated College Board Advanced Placement tests will receive credit toward graduation.
Many colleges offer credit for AP scores. Suppose you earn a 4 on your AP Biology Exam, and your college grants you 8 credits for that score. That means you walk into your college with 8 credits under your belt—before you even take your first class there.
For example, The California State University requires at least a 3 on any AP exam to award credit.
Is 4 on AP exam good?
AP tests are scored on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high). Get a 4 or higher, and you may be able to earn college credit without paying college tuition!
Many colleges offer credit for AP scores. Suppose you earn a 4 on your AP Biology Exam, and your college grants you 8 credits for that score. That means you walk into your college with 8 credits under your belt—before you even take your first class there.
Some college admissions experts recommend taking as many as 7-12 AP courses before applying to the most elite universities. However, students who take 4-5 AP courses can still qualify for good schools, including many of the country's top public research institutions.
Calculus AB
This college-level calculus course is considered the hardest AP class by many students. You'll study differential equations, integral calculus, and mathematical theorems in AP Calculus AB. The exam consists of 45 MCQs and six free-response questions.
For these reasons, an AP® score like a 4 looks great on your application. If you score a 3 or higher, then more selective colleges will begin to accept your AP® exam scores. The score of 4 is deemed by the College Board as “well qualified”, meaning that you know the material and could do well in the college class.
Harvard only accepts AP® scores of 5 for course credit. If you have 4 scores of 5, you can opt to obtain Advanced Standing. You can use AP® credits to opt-out of lower-level classes. Harvard has general academic requirements that all students must take.
Tests with a similar curve include the AP language tests and AP Calculus BC, which are also considered to be tests with hard content. There is also another related reason for this curve. These classes self-select, meaning that most students who take it are already highly-qualified for the course.
For example, for AP English, multiple choice is worth 45% and free response is worth 55%. Often, composite scores are between 0 and 100, or 0 and 150. The composite score is then converted to a number on the scaled score range 1-5.
A 50% is considered a 3 or passing. This is when your AP credit is considered in colleges for being qualified, well qualified or extremely well qualified.
Scores can be canceled at any time, but for scores not to be sent to the college, university, or scholarship program indicated online through My AP, the AP Program must receive your request by June 15 of the year you took the AP Exam.
Should you submit a 3 AP score?
The first thing that you should do is check the AP Score credit policy for the colleges that you are applying to. If they will give you credit for the 3, then by all means report it! On the other hand, if they only give credit for a 5 on that exam (not even for a 4), you may want to hold off.
A bad AP score is often correlated with a poor grade in the corresponding course, which can hurt your GPA. While AP courses benefit you by improving your weighted GPA, it may not be worth it if your overall grade in the course is very poor.
The AP College Board defines a 3 as being Qualified. Generally, most colleges won't accept a 3 for credit in most AP courses ( There are some exceptions like Environmental Science). A 3 means you passed the test and are sitting just over 50% in most cases.
Harvard does accept AP Credit for classes in which a student earned a 5 on the AP Exam. These credits are accepted under a program called “Advanced Standing.” To qualify, students must earn a 5 on a minimum of 4 AP tests, transferring a total of 32 credits. Depending on the length of the course – one semester vs.
AP in-class sessions are rigorous, whereas college homework and other assignments demand more time. In both cases, time for self-study and time you spend on your classes vary. The workload is also more in both cases, from time to time.
References
- https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/what-is-good-ap-score/
- https://enthu.com/blog/high-school/is-ap-harder-than-college/
- https://www.turito.com/blog/ap/ap-grading-scale
- https://www.albert.io/blog/understanding-your-ap-scores/
- https://www.quora.com/Is-a-3-on-an-AP-exam-ok
- https://www.calstate.edu/apply/transfer/pages/advanced-placement-ap.aspx
- https://www.albert.io/blog/harvard-advanced-placement-ap-credits/
- https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-are-ap-exams-scored
- https://www.college-matters.com/news/ap-score-3
- https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/help-center/what-do-credit-and-advanced-placement-mean
- https://www.collegevine.com/faq/8274/how-do-the-percentages-translate-to-scores-on-ap-exams
- https://www.sparrowfi.com/blog/how-much-can-ap-credits-save-you-in-college
- https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/hardest-ap-classes/
- https://www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/testing/advanced-placement-exams
- https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/ap-scores
- https://soflotutors.com/blog/harvard-ap-credit-policy/
- https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement
- https://www.quora.com/Whats-your-score-on-a-1-5-scale-if-you-get-a-50-on-an-AP-exam
- https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/score-reporting-services/cancel-scores
- https://library.fiveable.me/student-life/faqs/curving-means-student/blog/UXGe0al1O4XerfdQ3Zdz
- https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/ap-exam-credits/
- https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/ap-credit
- https://ivytutorsnetwork.com/blog/what-happens-if-you-fail-an-ap-exam
- https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/ap-classes-are-they-worth-it/