How many APs is too many APs?
Your AP course load should be dictated by the answers to these questions: -If your school over 20+ APs , then taking 1/2 of them is not too much. If your school only offers 6, then take 6. -If the best students at your school typically take 10-12, then you are in the right zone.
Aim for four to eight AP exams in your junior and senior years. For competitive Ivy League schools, admission officers also want to see AP courses for core subject areas and additional courses. If possible, aim to pass about seven to 12 AP exams if applying to these highly selective schools.
You can think of a rigorous course load as the one that represents the most challenging track available at your high school. To learn more about how your classes will impact your college applications, check out our post Should I Take AP/IB/Honors Classes?.
Unless you're applying to the most selective universities, 4 to 5 AP courses over your high school years is more than enough. For students applying to the most selective colleges, you might need 7–12. But even so, taking 4 AP courses in a year can be extremely challenging.
You can definitely take 5 APs, but just make sure to stay on top of your work and spend a good amount of time studying to make sure you know the material.
If that answer isn't fully satisfying, here is a look at the average number of APs students tend to take over the course of their high school years, broken down by college selectivity: Selective schools: around 7–12 APs. Semi-selective schools: 4–8 APs. Less selective schools: 1–5 APs.
Senior Year: Take more APs in core subjects and additional subjects, again being careful not to overburden your schedule and to leave time for college applications. It's not uncommon for applicants to highly selective schools to have as many as 5 AP classes senior year, but keep your own schedule and limits in mind.
How Many AP Classes to Take for Ivy Leagues and Other Top Schools in the US. For students aiming for the Ivy League and Top 20 schools in the United States, a good target is to take (and pass) 10-14 AP classes throughout your high school career — or 3-4 each year.
7 Honors per 1 AP in terms of rigor which means you roughly have 20 APs which is a really really good. Having 20 APs and a near 4.0gpa at all non ivy+ schools (ivies Stanford rice WashU duke etc) you are highly likely to be top25%.
Ivy League
To be a competitive candidate for admission, you will need to take at least 8 AP® classes, more if you can. It is a good idea to take 1 AP® course in each of the following core disciplines: English, Foreign Language, History, Math, and Science to impress the admissions officers.
Do colleges look at class rigor?
Jan. 10, 2022, at 10:51 a.m. When reviewing applicants' high school transcripts, college admissions officers look for two main traits: a course load that shows academic rigor and a GPA that demonstrates academic mastery. However, those two factors can often seem to work against each other.
Keep in mind, however, that colleges look at course rigor in the context of the high school itself, which is where strength of school comes in. If a high school is seen as not as academically strong and offers few advanced courses, colleges will take that into consideration.

Take as many as you can handle without spreading yourself thin, and make sure you will have time to study for the ACT or SAT this year. An Ivy League hopeful might take 3 to 5 AP classes, while if you're aiming for less-selective schools, 2 to 4 would be enough.
It's a good idea to take two to four AP classes junior year, but students should be careful to not spread themselves too thin. It's important to keep in mind Wisconsin high school students take the SAT & ACT in their junior year.
Incoming students who have taken AP exams need a total of 32 credits to be eligible for Advanced Standing. Credits are earned by scoring 5 on a minimum of four AP exams. Harvard confers 4 or 8 credits for eac eligible AP exam depending on whether the exam covers one semester or one full year's worth of material.
It depends on the student's high school. If a school offers 20 AP courses but students are only allowed to take a maximum of 2 AP classes sophomore year and 8 AP classes in total junior and senior year, then admission officers will only expect a student to enroll in 10 AP courses. They don't expect any more.
AP Class/Exam | Pass Rate (3+) | Perfect Score (5) |
---|---|---|
1. Physics 1 | 51.6% | 8.8% |
2. Environmental Science | 53.4% | 11.9% |
3. Chemistry | 56.1% | 10.6% |
4. U.S. Government and Politics | 57.5% | 15.5% |
While honors courses usually add 0.5 points to your GPA, AP classes often add 1 point. In other words, a 3.5 GPA would be boosted to a 4.0 in an honors class and a 4.5 in an AP class.
- Physics C: Mechanics. 84.3% 41.6%
- Calculus BC. 81.6% 44.6%
- Spanish Literature. 75.1% 17.6%
- Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism. 74.4% 40.4%
- Physics 2. 73.3% 14.0%
- Computer Science Principles. 71.6% 10.9%
- Psychology. 71.3% 22.4%
- Computer Science A. 70.4% 25.6%
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.
Is 7 APS a lot?
Completely depends on what your goals are and what your school offers. For some schools, 7 is way overkill, but for others 7 may be a bit too few.
If your goal is to get accepted into an Ivy/Elite/1st Tier Liberal Arts College, then 5-6 APs is on the low side. Most successful admits have 8-12 APs, probably 9-10 is the average and norm.
Senior APs do count. Colleges look at your senior courses to see that youre still taking challenging courses and your grades in your midyear report.
...
Best AP classes for Ivy League schools
- AP English.
- AP Chemistry.
- AP Biology.
- AP Computer Science Principles.
- AP World History.
- AP US History.
- AP Psychology.
- AP Economics (Macro)
It doesn't matter that your daughter's HS doesn't offer AP classes. All IVY league universities accept the IB program coursework. "There is no minimum score required by the universities as scores are dependent on the course subjects that have been chosen.
Does Harvard Accept AP Credit. 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.
Colleges like them both. Both honors and AP courses are rigorous courses that most high schools weight more heavily on your transcript. AP courses, however, culminate in the AP Exam. Good AP scores show colleges you are ready to succeed at college-level work and can even earn you college credits.
For Highly Competitive Colleges and Universities
When applying to some of the top schools, students sometimes take seven, eight, or even up to 12 AP courses during their time in high school. Selective state schools might also prefer applicants with 4-6 AP classes.
A good APS Score can be determined based on the university and the course you want to study. However, if you have an APS of 35 points and above, you are considered to have a good APS Score.
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How many APS do you need for Yale?
Yale does not require students to take AP courses to get accepted by the school.
candidates: need four advanced placement units in at least two subject areas (described above). need a minimum of 27 courses to graduate, of which a maximum of two may be taken away from Princeton with prior approval.
Most applicants to Ivies tend to have 8-12 AP classes, so you should aim to reach that number as well to be considered competitive. Additionally, 83% of admitted students at Cornell are ranked in the top 10% of their graduating classes. You'll want to aim for the highest GPA you can achieve in your classes.
While your GPA is an important admissions factor, your level of academic rigor is equally as important. This is because students who take lots of Honors, AP, IB, and college courses demonstrate their willingness and ability to challenge themselves academically.
Colleges will always look and emphasize a students' grades. For this reason, Unweighted GPA is arguably considered the most important number in college admissions. It purely demonstrates a student's performance in their classes without taking into consideration the rigor of course.
- College Algebra. The evil, despicable and terrible villain of early high school has come back to haunt you. ...
- Organic Chemistry. The presence of this class on this list might not come as a surprise. ...
- Physics. ...
- Anatomy and Physiology.
UCs do look at courses you take in senior year and take the rigor into consideration when evaluating you for admission; but as long as you maintain satisfactory grades (typically an unweighted B average, with no non-passing grades, is sufficient), your performance in your senior year courses will not affect your ...
Infusing good critical thinking activities in the classroom also helps the brightest students on the normal developmental trajectory as they interrelate ideas within and among the disciplines leading to increased academic rigor and greater depth of understanding for them.
To Promote Rigor in the Classroom, Raise the Bar
Teach them to analyze and evaluate the texts they read, answering more than just the Who/What/When/Where questions. Teach your students to think critically and to provide textual evidence for the answers they give.
To be competitive at some of the most highly selective colleges in the country, 8-12 AP courses may be the sweet spot amount, assuming the student can handle that level of rigor. There are no colleges out there that require you to take 14, 17, or some other obscene number of Advanced Placement offerings.
Can you have too many APs?
Although common sense may suggest "more is better," too many wireless access points (APs) quickly leads to excessive radio frequency (RF) broadcasting as well as wasted resources on unused APs. Consider the requirements of the space and expected number of connected devices.
If you manage to take 11 AP classes throughout your high school stay, that's enough (33 credits on average) to skip a whole year of college. While that may too much, even a couple of classes can be enough to give you a semester ahead of your peers coming into college.
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.
Incoming students who have taken AP exams need a total of 32 credits to be eligible for Advanced Standing. Credits are earned by scoring 5 on a minimum of four AP exams. Harvard confers 4 or 8 credits for eac eligible AP exam depending on whether the exam covers one semester or one full year's worth of material.
Most of the time, it is up to you whether a college will look at your AP exam scores during the admissions process. The vast majority of colleges do not require that you submit your scores at the time of application. If you scored a 4 or 5 on all of your AP exams then by all means self-report.
This is because, when APs are placed near each other, they can interfere with each other which can either be: Co-channel Interference (CCI) – this occurs when two or more APs are using the same channel. This causes delayed network responses as APs and clients have to wait until the channel is clear to transmit.
For students aiming for the Ivy League and Top 20 schools in the United States, a good target is to take (and pass) 10-14 AP classes throughout your high school career — or 3-4 each year.
- Physics 1. 51.6% 8.8%
- Environmental Science. 53.4% 11.9%
- Chemistry. 56.1% 10.6%
- U.S. Government and Politics. 57.5% 15.5%
- U.S. History. 58.7% 13.0%
- Human Geography. 59.0% 11.8%
- European History. 59.3% 13.7%
- Statistics. 60.0% 16.2%
Ivy League
To be a competitive candidate for admission, you will need to take at least 8 AP® classes, more if you can. It is a good idea to take 1 AP® course in each of the following core disciplines: English, Foreign Language, History, Math, and Science to impress the admissions officers.
Yale accepts scores of 4 and 5 on the AP® exams for credit. The score requirements vary by department. You can use your AP® credits to “accelerate” your Yale education. With the professor's permission, you can use your AP® credits to take higher-level classes sooner.
How many APs do i need for yale?
Freshman year you might take one or two AP classes if they're available. Sophomore year you can ramp it up to two or three. Junior year, if you're hoping to attend an Ivy League school, you should consider taking three to five AP classes in core subject areas.
For Highly Competitive Colleges and Universities
When applying to some of the top schools, students sometimes take seven, eight, or even up to 12 AP courses during their time in high school. Selective state schools might also prefer applicants with 4-6 AP classes.