Study finds that more AP classes may not be better

Colleges & Universities University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
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<p>"They found that students who take more AP or IB courses do better in college – but only up to a certain point. If two students have similar SAT scores and high-school grades, and one takes zero AP courses and the other takes five, the student with five AP courses will probably have a higher first-year GPA (3.26 versus 3.07). But above five courses, there’s no significant increase in GPA.</p>

<p>From now on, when Kretchmar and Farmer read applications, they won’t be looking for more than five AP or IB courses. “There’s no penalty for taking more than five,” Farmer said, “but once you have five, you’ve jumped through the meaningful hoop, as far as we can see.” </p>

<p>[Study</a> finds that more AP classes may not be better – University Gazette](<a href=“http://gazette.unc.edu/2013/01/08/study-finds-that-more-ap-classes-may-not-be-better/]Study”>http://gazette.unc.edu/2013/01/08/study-finds-that-more-ap-classes-may-not-be-better/)</p>

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<p>Hmm… how often does UNC sees kids with so many AP courses as mentioned in the article? I’m interested in a chart of # APs taken vs GPA. I’m still somewhat skeptical of this since I am not sure kids taking an otherworldly amount of APs are common, and different major choices (such as mathematics versus education) can bring even more variety between data.</p>

<p>Plus, this “AP classes prepares kid for college work” argument is more of a chicken and the egg deal. Kids that are more serious about their school who take AP courses seriously are more likely to be more motivated in a college environment. But to be fair though, some schools’ AP programs tend to be a joke, but what can you do in a world of grade inflation?</p>

<p>Though, it seems as I dodged the bullet there. By graduation I’ll have taken a two-digit number of AP courses, and I am part of the class of 2013.</p>