GPA & Test Scores Your Child Needs to Be Competitive

There’s no way around it: your child’s grades and standardized test scores represent the most important factor in college admissions. The higher their stats, the higher their admissions odds. 

How many AP courses and tests should my child take per year? Your child should consider the following factors when deciding: How many they could take without hurting their grades: While it’s better to receive a B in an AP or Honors class vs. an A in a regular class, your child should be thoughtful about how many AP courses they could take before significantly compromising their GPA.  They must give themselves enough time to study hard for each class so that they can do well on the AP Exam.

How many AP courses could they take without compromising the depth of their extracurricular activities? Most applicants to highly selective colleges have strong grades and standardized test scores. Therefore, the true differentiator between standout applicants and those who are simply academically high-achieving is the strength of their extracurricular profile. AP Courses are challenging and should not compromise their extracurricular activities.

What does their school allow? Some schools put a cap on the number of AP classes students can take each year. Depending on how many that is, they may choose to take all or some of the offered AP courses and tests.

Which colleges they are targeting: The more selective the school, the more they’ll expect that your child take the toughest courses available.

How many their peers take each year: Context matters so much in college admissions. Your child will be judged against their peers with regard not only to AP test scores, but also number of AP courses and tests taken.

What SAT or ACT score does my child need to get into their dream school? Your child should aim for a score that is at minimum at the 75th percentile of admitted applicants at a given school. Most colleges publish these statistics online. Students whose scores fall below the 25th percentile should concentrate their efforts on improving their scores to make their applications more competitive. Even students with perfect standardized test scores get rejected because they’ve neglected other important parts of their college applications. For this reason, I advise students to spend significant time developing a unique extracurricular profile.