what does ap stand for in ap course high college board exam

by Alicia Wiza 8 min read

Advanced Placement Program

What does AP stand for in school?

AP stands for “Advanced Placement”. The name implies that junior high school students take college course work while still in high school to prepare them for college studies. The College board decides the AP courses and prepares an exam every year (May) to evaluates the students after passing through the studies.

What are AP exams?

But what exactly are AP exams? An AP exam is basically a test of all that you learn in an AP class. You will typically earn college credit if you pass the exam given at the end of the year in May. (AP tests are scored between 1 and 5, with anything above 3 considered passing.)

What is the College Board's AP program?

The College Board's Advanced Placement Program (AP) is a collaborative community of AP teachers and students, states, districts, schools, colleges, and universities committed to the daily work of developing college-level knowledge and skills. We’ve been delivering excellence in education to millions of students across the country since 1955.

How are AP courses decided?

The College board decides the AP courses and prepares an exam every year (May) to evaluates the students after passing through the studies. If the student is homeschooled, mostly in the United States and Canada, he/she can still participate in the AP exam; this implies that the exam does not study or school dependent.

What does a high Ap score mean?

A high Ap score can gain you college credits that will help you gain admission quickly. The credit creates a faster graduating process as you are already familiar with some of the college subjects.

What does it mean to take AP courses?

Taking AP courses indicates that you are ready for college and all that it entails. For instance, if admission officers look into your transcript and see that you took AP courses with a “5” as an AP score, you will have higher admission chances.

How much does it cost to take the AP exam?

The college board handles both the exam and the AP courses. AP courses are free to attend, but the exam is not free. It costs about $94 to take the exam.

How It Works

The AP Program does not supply syllabi for AP courses. What we supply is a detailed set of expectations about what content a college-level course in that subject should cover. AP teachers design their own syllabi with these standards in mind.

Which Students Should Take AP?

All students who are willing and academically prepared to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses.

Who Can Teach AP?

There are no formal requirements or mandatory professional development for teachers of AP courses, with the exception of teachers of AP Seminar and AP Research, who must complete a summer workshop and online training.

About Us

The College Board's Advanced Placement Program (AP) is a collaborative community of AP teachers and students, states, districts, schools, colleges, and universities committed to the daily work of developing college-level knowledge and skills. We’ve been delivering excellence in education to millions of students across the country since 1955.

AP Exam

AP courses are handled by the college board along with other exams. AP courses are free to enroll but to attend the exam, students are required to submit $94.

Disadvantages of AP Courses

Extra study of AP courses with high school coursework may increase the workload on the student. It may affect their high school studies to get a high AP score after the yearly exam in May.

What is AP in college?

Advanced Placement is a program run by the College Board (the makers of the SAT) that allows you to take special high school courses that can earn you college credit and/or qualify you for more advanced classes when you begin college. So what are AP courses? They are designed to give you the experience of an intro-level college class ...

What is an AP test?

An AP exam is basically a test of all that you learn in an AP class. You will typically earn college credit if you pass the exam given at the end of the year in May. ( AP tests are scored between 1 and 5, with anything above 3 considered passing.)

Why do colleges check AP classes?

Many colleges say that they check to see whether you took the hardest courses available to you at your school. Taking AP classes is often the best way to show that you are challenging yourself academically at your high school.

How much does an AP test cost?

If you're homeschooled or want to take an AP test for a class your school doesn't offer, contact your local school's AP coordinator. AP tests cost $94 each. Some schools offer subsidies, and the College Board has financial aid in the form of a $32 fee reduction.

What does a 5 on AP class mean?

An AP class on your transcript signals stronger academic training, especially with high passing scores of 4 and 5 on the test. In particular, getting a 5 on an AP test shows that you are more advanced in a subject than 80%-90% of advanced students —which looks very impressive to colleges!

When was AP created?

AP classes were created in the mid-1950s as a response to the widening gap between secondary school (high school) and college. A pilot program in 1952 had 11 subjects, but AP didn't officially launch until the 1956 school year, when the College Board took over and named it the College Board Advanced Placement Program.

Does Stanford accept AP credit?

Similarly, other schools might let you earn college credit but have limits on which AP exams they'll accept. As an example, Stanford University accepts AP credit from many science, language, and math AP courses but not any from history or English courses.

What units are no longer tested in AP Physics 1?

Note: Starting with the 2021 exam, Units 8–10 will no longer be tested in AP Physics 1. Units 1–7 will be represented on the AP Physics 1 Exam in approximately similar proportion to their relative weights as indicated in the course and exam description.

What do you learn in AP seminar?

Build on what you learned in AP Seminar to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, or issue of individual interest. Through this exploration, you will design, plan, and conduct a year-long research based investigation to address a research question.

What is AP microeconomics?

AP Microeconomics. Study the principles of economics that apply to the behavior of individuals within an economic system. You’ll use graphs, charts, and data to analyze, describe, and explain economic concepts.

What are AP classes?

AP courses are a set of curricula created by CollegeBoard to give students the opportunity to take college-level courses and, depending on the score a student receives on the exam, receive college credit.

How are AP courses different from Honors and other curricula?

While many schools offer Honors courses in addition to their standard curriculum, APs are becoming increasingly common because of the potential that comes with receiving top scores on the exams. Similar to Honors, AP courses count towards your weighted GPA, but unlike Honors, APs have a standardized exam at the end of the course.

How long do AP classes take to complete?

AP courses run the length of the academic school year, with the exams hosted over the course of 2 weeks in early to mid-May.

Why do AP classes matter?

AP courses are the perfect way for you to demonstrate your intellectual curiosity in ways that traditional high school courses cannot. They allow you to:

How can you take additional AP classes?

While many high schools around the US offer APs, there are plenty that do not, or they do not offer the full AP course roster.

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