Empowerly Research
More than 1 in 4 AP exams came from a course that showed no admissions advantage.
Original research from Empowerly’s dataset of real students and real admissions outcomes. No anecdotes, no guesswork — just what we can measure.
New · October 2026
The Course Premium Report 2026
Which AP courses improve admissions odds — and which ones don’t
Families know AP courses matter. Nobody tells them some matter more than others. We analyzed 11,764 students and admissions decisions across 524 universities to find out which ones carry a measurable advantage.
Six courses showed a confirmed admissions advantage. Six widely taken courses — representing more than a million exam takers a year — showed none.
AP Calculus BC showed the largest confirmed advantage at +5.18%
AP Psychology and AP Statistics outperformed AP Calculus AB
More than one in four AP exams came from a course with no measurable advantage
Free · PDF · 18 pages
Coming soon
More research on the way
We publish original research several times a year. Here’s what’s next.
The Legacy Admissions Report
Expected: Winter 2026
How legacy status is associated with admissions outcomes, the size of the advantage, and how it varies by institution type and selectivity.
The Major Decision Report
Expected: Spring 2027
How admissions odds shift by intended major, which majors are most competitive at which institutions, and what applying undecided really costs.
Free download
Get The Course Premium Report 2026
The full report and methodology, delivered to your inbox.
Our methodology
Where these numbers come from
Real student outcomes.
Our analysis draws on actual Empowerly students and the admissions decisions they received — not survey responses or self-reported data.
Reviewed by former admissions officers.
Every report is interpreted alongside counselors who spent years reading applications at selective universities.
Published in full.
We publish our methodology, sample sizes and confidence intervals so you can judge the findings yourself.
Associations, not causes.
A course or activity may reflect an advantage, the kind of student who pursues it, or both. We publish these as one input into family decisions, never as a prescription.
Want to know what this means for your student?
Talk with an Empowerly enrollment specialist about your student’s course plan, their goals and what comes next.