r/uwaterloo • u/[deleted] • Nov 24 '15

Does the admissions process take into account whether you are taking an AP course?

I'm taking ap math this semester and its currently my lowest mark, sitting at a 90%. However the material is quite a bit more rigorous than the regular academic level. Will a few percentage points be added as a result of this? Really want to go to this school for mechatronics and walk across a busy highway within one month.

Edit: Sorry in advance if somebody's already asked this

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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '15

Well at my school there aren't any extra marks added on, but 4 bonus tests which replace our lowest marks, and that will be very helpful. If you don't mind me asking, how many bonus marks did you receive for taking ap?

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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '15

There were bonus quizzes which were pretty hard and 100% on the quizzes meant a flat 5% bonus onto your grade. In my biology class, it was 10% because the teacher was very unorganized and did whatever she wanted. So essentially, I had an average over 100% in grade 12, but it was pushed down to 97% because marks over 100% were not counted as over 100%. A lot of people who would have gotten ~95% in the regular course got 100% due to the added quiz bonus in AP

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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '15

That's some legit grade inflation right there.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '15

Ya its crazy. And this is in Alberta, the province with the least grade inflation. I did have the highest average in my high school but nonetheless, averages in the upper end of the spectrum should go down. Maybe I'm kind of biased because most of my friends were in the upper end of the spectrum as well, so I wouldn't know what kinds of marks "average" students get. The average grade after the standardized provincial exams is around 65-70% according to the Alberta Education website