Advanced Placement classes offer students the opportunity to try out college-level courses and explore advanced topics in an area of interest while they’re still in high school. In some cases, students can even earn credit for college classes, ultimately saving time and money as they pursue their degrees. To that end, choosing the right AP classes to take is extremely important.
With the College Board offering a large number of exams on an annual basis, it’s only natural that students sometimes struggle to decide which classes to enroll in. In addition to any concerns about the difficulty of the relevant exams, students may wonder what courses are the hardest to pass. After all, the grades they earn in AP classes will affect their GPAs and may impact their odds of getting into their dream colleges and universities. Keep reading for tips on evaluating the relative difficulty of various AP classes and determining which ones to fit into your schedule.
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How to Pick the Right AP Classes for You
Consider Your Strengths
When choosing AP classes, your own strengths and weaknesses are the most important factors to consider. After all, you’re likely to perform better on a test in a field that interests and excites you. So, if you’re strong in quantitative subjects and enjoy physics, you might want to take the Physics 1 AP exam despite the fact that it’s reportedly challenging. On the other hand, if you struggle in art history, you might not want to take a course in this subject even if many students earn passing scores on the AP exam. When in doubt, take AP classes in the fields you’re most passionate about and willing to work at, rather than those that leave you feeling uninspired.
Check the AP Policies of the Colleges You Want to Attend
You should also try to be strategic when it comes to earning AP credit. In college, AP credits can be especially helpful for getting general education course requirements out of the way, or for getting placed into higher level courses. If you know which colleges you hope to attend, check their AP credit and placement policies. Some schools offer credits for all scores 3 and above, while others may require a 4 or 5 for specific classes. Very selective colleges might not offer an AP credit at all, and only use them for placement.
Based on the policies of your potential colleges, you might decide to take or refrain from taking certain AP courses. For instance, if more than half of the schools on your list require a general education math course, and they allow a 3 or above on the AP Calculus BC exam to fulfill that requirement, you might be inclined to take the AP Calculus BC course. On the flip side, if you were interested in taking AP Latin for credit, but only a couple of your schools offer credit for it, you might consider another class.
Of course, this is not to say that you should based your course decisions only on credit and placement policies; your interests should first guide your choices. If you’re having trouble deciding between classes though, checking college policies can help guide your decision in a more practical way.
Assess Educator Experience
While strengths are a key consideration when selecting AP classes, students should also evaluate the experience level of their respective teachers. In general, the longer a teacher has been providing instruction in a particular AP subject, the better their students perform on the test. So, if you have a choice between taking a “harder” subject like Physics with a teacher who has 10 years experience and taking an “easier” subject like Art History with someone who has just two years’ experience, you might want to go with the former option.
Of course, students shouldn’t write off an AP class that interests them just because the teacher is less experienced. If you’re passionate about a class and confident in your talent in that arena, it’s still worth signing up. However, you should expect to do some extra studying on your own or with the aid of a tutor.
Easiest and Hardest AP Classes
The College Board grades AP exams on a scale of one to five, with one representing the lowest possible score and five representing the highest. In general, a score of three is considered to be passing. However, students should note that many colleges require a score of four or five to receive credit. Below is a list of the AP exams offered by the College Board, along with the percentage of students who received a passing grade on each:
| AP Exam |
Percentage of Students Who Scored 3 or Higher |
| Studio Art: Drawing |
91.1% |
| Chinese Language and Culture |
89.9% |
| Spanish Language and Culture |
88.7% |
| Studio Art: 2-D Design |
86.4% |
| Spanish Language and Culture (Standard) |
82.4% |
| Physics C: Mechanics |
81.8% |
| Seminar |
81.1% |
| Calculus BC |
81.0% |
| Japanese Language and Culture |
79.3% |
| French Language and Culture |
77.1% |
| Research |
75.9% |
| French Language and Culture (Standard) |
73.9% |
| Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism |
73.0% |
| German Language and Culture |
72.3% |
| Spanish Literature |
72.3% |
| Computer Science Principles |
71.9% |
| Studio Art: 3-D Design |
70.0% |
| Computer Science A |
69.6% |
| Microeconomics |
69.6% |
| Chinese Language and Culture (Standard) |
66.8% |
| Italian Language and Culture |
66.1% |
| Government and Politics – Comparative |
66.0% |
| Physics 2 |
65.4% |
| German Language and Culture (Standard) |
65.1% |
| Biology |
64.7% |
| Psychology |
64.5% |
| Music Theory |
63.7% |
| Art History |
63.1% |
| Latin |
62.9% |
| Japanese Language and Culture (Standard) |
62.4% |
| Italian Language and Culture (Standard) |
62.0% |
| Statistics |
59.7% |
| Macroeconomics |
58.9% |
| Calculus AB |
58.4% |
| European History |
58.1% |
| Chemistry |
55.6% |
| World History |
55.3% |
| Government and Politics – United States |
55.1% |
| English Language and Composition |
54.3% |
| United States History |
53.7% |
| Environmental Science |
49.2% |
| English Literature and Composition |
49.7% |
| Human Geography |
49.1% |
| Physics 1 |
45.4% |
Source: College Board. Percentages apply to exams taken in May 2019.
Note that the AP exam passing rate doesn’t necessarily indicate the difficulty of the actual AP course. For instance, an AP course may be generally easy and not properly prepare students for the exam, leading to a lower passing rate. While you might expect an exam with a low passing rate to have a difficult course, that’s not always the case. There is also variance in AP course difficulty by school, so be sure to seek the advice of your counselor and older friends if you’re on the fence about a course.
How do your AP scores, classes, and extracurriculars affect your chances of admission at the schools on your list? Find out with our free chancing calculator.
How AP Classes Impact Your College Chances
The number of AP classes you take can help make your admissions profile more competitive. Ivy League colleges and other highly selective institutions often use something called the Academic Index. A tool for assessing applicants, the Academic Index is a calculation that reduces a student’s academic record to one numerical score for easy comparison.
We’ve made it easy to understand the impact of your AP classes by creating a free Admissions Chances Calculator. We recommend using it when deciding how many and which AP classes to take.
You can also filter for other helpful things, such as location, major, cost, and even application difficulty! We highly recommend you check it out.
