Understanding Weighted/Unweighted GPAs and Strategies for Achieving a High GPA

One of the most emphasized elements in American admissions, continually highlighted by our A-One Institute, is GPA. It's crucial enough in American admissions that no amount of emphasis seems excessive. We'll take this time to explain what you must know to attain a strong GPA.

To Achieve a Good GPA: Understanding the Elements that Make GPA Strong

To achieve a good GPA, one cannot overlook Advanced Placement (AP). But before delving into AP, let's discuss Weighted and Unweighted GPAs.

• Unweighted GPA: Scores based solely on surface-level grades regardless of course difficulty, without weighted values.

• Weighted GPA: Scores that account for course difficulty, assigning varied values to each course.

  • Regular: 4.0 (A+)

  • Honors: 4.5 (A+)

  • AP/IB: 5.0 (A+)

    
    

Even if a student receives an A+ in the same course, the Weighted GPA calculation differs based on whether it's a Regular, Honors, or AP/IB course. For instance, an A+ translates to 4.0 for Regular, 4.5 for Honors, and 5.0 for AP/IB courses.

Let's use two Early Decision applicants to explain Weighted/Unweighted GPA.

Assuming both students took six subjects each year and received all A+ grades:

• 9th grade: Both students took only Regular classes, all A+.

• 10th grade: Student A took Regular classes, and Student B took AP classes, both with all A+.

• 11th grade: Same as the 10th grade.

Results:

• Student A:

  • Unweighted GPA: 4.0

  • Weighted GPA: 4.0

• Student B:

  • Unweighted GPA: 4.0

  • Weighted GPA: 4.7

    
    

Though both had straight A+ grades throughout three years, their Weighted GPAs significantly differed (4.0 vs. 4.7). Therefore, to be a competitive applicant focusing on GPA, it's essential to manage challenging AP/IB courses to maintain a high Weighted GPA.

So how should we structure the class?

Not all high schools operate under the same system.

• AP School

• AP/IB Blended Adoption Schools

• IB schools

• Boarding School

In this way, we will divide high schools into four major systems.

We will explain how to achieve a good GPA for each school.

Even high schools that adopt the same AP system can be divided into two cases.

AP schools

• Schools offering a variety of AP classes

• Schools that do not offer many AP classes

If you are an AP system school that offers a variety of AP classes, be sure to focus your classes on AP classes with Course RIGOR in mind, and getting a high score on the AP exam in May is the way to graduate with a good GPA.

If it is a school with a significantly low number of APs, it can be divided into two cases.

1. Schools that recognize external AP courses - When they are added to the current high school GPA.

For students attending these schools, the number of AP courses taken drops significantly, so it is highly unlikely that the Weighted GPA will be close to 5.0. If your high school has a system where you take an external AP course and the high school you are attending recognizes it and adds it to your grade,

I absolutely recommend that you take a lot of AP classes outside and take the AP exam in May.

2. Schools that do not recognize external AP courses - so they are not included in the school GPA.

For students attending these schools, it is convenient to plan to get a high score on the AP exam in May through self-study, rather than taking external AP classes.

If external AP scores are not listed on your high school transcript anyway, we recommend using high AP scores to overcome the limitation of low weighted GPA.

Even when it comes to IB schools, you have to think about it in two cases.

• Circumstances in which you can receive the IB Diploma

If you are in a situation where you can receive the IB Diploma like the first one, I tell you that there is no need to take AP classes or take the AP exam. Even if you are a student at an IB school, there are cases where you take AP classes and score points out of anxiety, but we do not recommend this method. This is because the IB Diploma can fully demonstrate academic excellence.

• Situations where it is difficult to obtain an IB Diploma

If you are in a situation where it is difficult to obtain an IB Diploma, as in the second case, you must demonstrate your academic ability without an IB Diploma. Therefore, we recommend that you take an external AP class or self-study to take the AP exam in May and receive a high score.

Here, I will take a moment to briefly explain the IB Diploma.

The IB program is a two-year course of study by selecting one subject from each of six areas in order.

You must take each subject and divide it into 3 subjects, 3 SL subjects and 3 HL subjects, and receive a certain score.

You must pass a course to study the essence of academics called TOK and a course to write an EE essay.

Courses such as EC at AP schools, called CAS, are also included to obtain the IB Diploma.

Several conditions must be met to receive the IB Diploma. Students attending schools that offer this program will receive the IB Diploma through school courses. However, if you are unable to receive a diploma from a school that offers diplomas, it may be helpful to some extent to secure scores through the AP exam in May for subjects you did not take at school.

In the case of schools with a mix of AP and IB, many AP subjects may not be available. So, it is true that it is difficult to receive the IB Diploma and it is difficult to say that you took a lot of AP.

In order to claim Course Riogor while taking a mixture of AP and IB,

Rather than taking courses within the school, we recommend that you study subjects that are not open to your school and take more AP Exams. Of course, we recommend that you get a high score of 4-5 on the AP exam.

There is a reason why I am explaining Boarding School separately. Overall, the number of students taking the AP exam has increased, but since current boarding schools are gradually moving toward abolishing AP, we will explain this separately.

There are times when students attending a boarding school prepare for the AP exam separately due to anxiety, but we tell you that students attending a top boarding school do not need to take the AP Exam!

If you still feel anxious and need to take the exam, we recommend that you choose to take the AP Exam among the subjects you took in school, and self-study and take the exam 2-3 weeks before the exam. You will probably be able to get a high score relatively easily because of the high level of learning at your current boarding school. .

Alternatively, we recommend that you select a subject that is not open at your high school and take the AP Exam in May.

Enter source The number of AP test takers is steadily increasing It was steadily increasing until the 2019 pandemic.

The table above shows statistics showing that 34.6% of all Public School students are taking the AP exam, and 21.6% of students are scoring 3 or higher. The light blue circle in the circular table represents the total number of students, and the dark blue circle within it represents the number of students who received a score of 3 or higher.

You can see that the number of students receiving a score of 3 or higher is increasing. That's why it's more important than ever to get a competitive score on the AP Exam. Number of people with AP 3 or higher per state The table above shows the number of students who received a score of 3 or higher on the AP Exam by STATE. You can see that some regions have a large number of students who received a score of 3 or higher, while others do not. You can't ignore regional differences, so do your best in your region. Landscape, etc. CollegeBoard recognizes that each region has different student academics and AP score averages. Therefore, CollegeBoard is working organically to create a resource called Landscape based on regional population distribution, average scores, etc. and share it with universities to use as a reference for comprehensive evaluation. The table above is just for your convenience.

The blue bars are students who took AP, and the gray bars are students who did not take AP, and this table shows that students who took AP are more likely to go on to 4-year schools.

I have divided many AP subjects into STEM and Non-STEM, and as I always say, I once again emphasize that you take a lot of CORE subjects, and I will explain AP in detail in a slightly different table below.

The table above was created based on the results of a survey of students about AP. Subjects that become more difficult to study as you move to the right Subjects that take longer to study the higher you go. Therefore, the subjects in the upper right corner are difficult to study and take a long time to study. In the end, the highest peak will be AP Physics C E&M. We will largely divide this table into subjects in red on the right and subjects in blue on the left. When you are faced with a choice between two subjects: Please remember that taking courses on the red side is a good way to show your Course Rigor.

However, AP Lang. It's in the blue side on the left, but Korean students can think of it as the red side on the right. AP Lang. It is a difficult and time-consuming subject for Korean students to study, so I think you should think of it that way. For reference, see AP Lit. is already on the red side. We emphasize once again that you should refer to this table to select your subjects well and create a good Course Rigor.

The table above shows how many people are taking which AP subjects. If you exclude others, which is the largest portion, AP English Lang and US History appear to be the most frequently tested subjects. It is true that Asian students tend not to take AP Lang and AP US HIistory, while American students take AP Lang and AP US HIistory quite often. So, at A-One Institute, we recommend that our students also take AP Lang and AP US history courses that many general students take. If possible, it is a good idea to take the course and finish with a high score!"

• AP Exam results seen by Chat GPT The table above shows the results and values obtained after having Chat GPT solve the AP exam. A subject that is difficult to solve = Rigorous subject The subjects that Chat GPT did not solve well were AP Physics and AP Lang. AP Lit. It is said that it was. If students are good at these subjects that even Chat GPT can't solve, I think universities will like it.

All marks related to tests or materials published by CollegeBoard are registered as gift certificates. In order to share various information at A-One Institute, we often need to use trademarks registered by CollegeBoard, and in our case, we have received permission to use trademarks from CollegeBoard. Therefore, we use a mark with the word R in a small circle next to the trademark, which serves as evidence of approval. Currently, A-One Institute has been in contact with CollegeBoard for several months to receive confirmation.

Through various processes, we, A-One Institute, received permission to use the trademarks from CollegeBoard and wanted to inform you that we are using the marks legally. We would appreciate it if you would remember that A-One Institute strives to operate with honesty, even in the smallest details. I'll see you next time with useful information.

Thank you.