The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between problem representation and academic performance in statistics. A specially-designed triad judgment task was administered through SurveyMonkey, an online survey service. Participants were 162 high school graduates who took the AP Statistics Examination in the spring of 2013. Results indicated differences in the way participants represented problems. Participants with more experience in statistics tended to represent problems by using the deep-level features of a problem consistently when they were not disturbed by similar surface-level features. Participants with less experience were not found using the surface-level features of a problem. Results also showed a statistically significant correlation between problem representation and the corresponding academic performance on the AP Statistics Examination. The high performing group on the triad judgment task was more likely to obtain a high AP Statistics Examination score and the low performing group on the triad judgment task was more likely to receive a low AP Statistics Examination score. These results provide an insight into the relationship between problem representation and academic performance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]