Advanced Placement

AP stands for Advanced Placement, and the idea behind it is simple. You take college-level courses while you are still at high school, and you sit an exam in each one. It comes from College Board, a non-profit that operates in the United States and Canada. 

AP has been running since 1955, and it is now open to a huge number of students around the world before they reach university. The point is to make the jump to university less of a shock, because you have already worked at that level. It will not replace your high school graduation, so do not treat it as a substitute. What you get for it is a certificate of academic proficiency on top of everything else.

Colleges and universities in over 60 countries recognise Advanced Placement. Score well and they can credit the courses you took, so part of your degree is behind you before you arrive. Every course you sit is designed by a panel of subject specialists and university-level teachers. 

That same panel sets your exams. Experienced teachers, along with academics from colleges and universities, mark them on a scale of 1 to 5. A 5 is the top, and a 3 is the score many US universities treat as the floor for credit. There is more on what those numbers are worth further down. You can only sit the exams at schools and test centres College Board has authorised, so ask your school what it can offer.

Be warned that the courses are demanding, and that is the deal you are signing up to. Before you pick a subject, be honest with yourself about whether you want that much work on top of everything else. 

Some AP courses come with prerequisites. That means finishing an earlier course first, because the later one is built on top of it. Work that out before you plan your timetable. Taking AP also improves your chances of getting into a university. What you gain depends on the courses you took and the place you apply to. A university may exempt you from certain courses, or cut the number you have to take. 

There is a second effect, and it is harder to measure. The AP courses on the official transcript you send with your university application say something about you before anyone meets you. They say you were eager to learn, that you took on a rigorous programme, and that you have the academic ability universities want to see.

How well you do matters here too. A strong performance can lift you up the pile in university applications and open the door to academic scholarships and honours. 

Students who score 3 or above tend to do better once they are at university. A higher proportion of them graduate, too, compared with students who never took the programme. AP started in the United States and spread from there, and universities around the world now read it as a mark of academic merit. 

Those institutions think highly of students who take the programme and finish it, so finishing counts for as much as starting. A large number of colleges worldwide accept Advanced Placement, and it is valid in more than 100 countries. That is worth knowing if you have not settled yet on where you want to study.

How AP Exams are taken

If you are picturing a hall full of paper booklets, that picture is out of date. Standard paper testing has been discontinued for 28 of the 36 AP subjects that have an end-of-course exam. Most exams now run through Bluebook, which is College Board's testing app. The rest use formats built around what the subject actually needs.

How it is taken	What that means for you	Which subjects
Fully digital	Multiple-choice and free-response both answered in Bluebook, submitted automatically at the end	16 subjects, including AP Psychology, AP United States History and AP English Literature
Hybrid digital	Multiple-choice answered in Bluebook and free-response prompts read there, but you handwrite your answers in a paper booklet	12 subjects, mostly maths and science: AP Calculus, AP Chemistry, AP Biology
Portfolio	No sit-down exam. You submit your work through the AP Digital Portfolio	AP 2-D Art and Design, AP 3-D Art and Design, AP Drawing
Separate app	Taken on school devices in a dedicated exam application	AP Chinese and AP Japanese Language and Culture
Paper plus recording	Written sections on paper, spoken answers recorded on a device the school provides	AP French, German, Italian and Spanish Language and Culture. AP Music Theory pairs paper with recorded sight-singing

Two subjects sit slightly outside all of this. AP Computer Science Principles and AP Seminar have a fully digital end-of-course exam in Bluebook and performance tasks submitted through the AP Digital Portfolio. AP Research has no written exam at all. It is assessed on the project you build across the year.

So here is the practical step. Find out which mode your subject uses before you start revising. Practising handwritten essays for an exam you will type, or typing for one you will handwrite, wastes preparation you cannot get back. Your school's AP coordinator will know.

Curriculum

The AP Capstone Diploma Program

AP Capstone is a two-year programme built on two courses, AP Seminar and AP Research. It works differently from a normal AP subject. Finish both and you earn a diploma that universities around the world recognise.

In AP Seminar your grade comes from work spread across the year as well as from a final exam. During the year you produce a team project and an individual project. For the team project you write a group research report and give a joint multimedia presentation with the rest of your group. For the individual project you work from source material and produce three things: a written argument, a presentation, and an oral defence of the case you have made.

The end-of-course exam has two parts and no multiple-choice section at all. In the first part you read a single source and answer three questions on it. In the second you read four sources, work out what connects them, and build your own argument from that connection. Your final grade combines the year's work with that exam, and it is reported on the same 5-point scale as every other AP subject.

AP Research follows on from Seminar, and it is assessed entirely on the year-long investigation you carry out. There is no exam to sit. If you work better on your own over a long stretch than under exam conditions, this pair of courses will suit you better than most.

Advanced Placement courses

These are the AP courses you can currently choose from, grouped by subject area:

AP Capstone Diploma Program

• AP Research
• AP Seminar

Arts

• AP 2-D Art and Design
• AP 3-D Art and Design
• AP Drawing
• AP Art History
• AP Music Theory

English

• AP English Language and Composition
• AP English Literature and Composition

History and Social Sciences

• AP African American Studies
• AP Comparative Government and Politics
• AP European History
• AP Human Geography
• AP Macroeconomics
• AP Microeconomics
• AP Psychology
• AP United States Government and Politics
• AP United States History
• AP World History: Modern

Maths and Computer Science

• AP Calculus AB
• AP Calculus BC
• AP Computer Science A
• AP Computer Science Principles
• AP Precalculus
• AP Statistics

Sciences

• AP Biology
• AP Chemistry
• AP Environmental Science
• AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based
• AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based
• AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
• AP Physics C: Mechanics

World Languages and Cultures

• AP Chinese Language and Culture
• AP French Language and Culture
• AP German Language and Culture
• AP Italian Language and Culture
• AP Japanese Language and Culture
• AP Latin
• AP Spanish Language and Culture
• AP Spanish Literature and Culture

Scoring

Whatever subject you sit, your result comes back on a 5-point scale. That number is not a mark out of five. It is College Board's recommendation about how ready you are for university work in that subject.

Score	What College Board calls it	Equivalent university grade
5	Extremely well qualified	A+ or A
4	Very well qualified	A-, B+ or B
3	Qualified	B-, C+ or C
2	Possibly qualified	No equivalent
1	No recommendation	No equivalent

For most subjects your score is a weighted combination of your multiple-choice and your free-response performance. Free-response means the questions where you write the answer yourself instead of picking an option, and weighted means the two parts do not count equally. Some courses work differently. AP Computer Science Principles, AP Seminar and the Art and Design subjects are scored partly or entirely on work you complete during the year.

Will my score get me university credit?

This is the part worth being precise about, because it is where students are most often misinformed.

Many universities in the United States grant credit or advanced placement for a score of 3 or above. Credit means the course counts towards your degree. Placement means you start that subject at a higher level instead of at the beginning. But College Board does not decide this. Each university sets its own policy. One institution may want a 4 in your subject. Another may accept a 3. A third may give you placement but no credit. A score that is worth a semester of credit at one university can be worth nothing at another.

So do not work towards a general target. Look up the AP credit policy of each university on your list. Read it for the specific subjects you are taking, and aim at what those pages actually say.

One more thing. To be considered at all, you have to send your official score report directly to the institution. Nobody awards credit on the strength of a number you write on your application.

Frequently asked questions

Are AP Exams still taken on paper?

Mostly no. Standard paper testing has been discontinued for 28 of the 36 AP subjects with end-of-course exams. Those are now taken in Bluebook, either fully digital or hybrid digital. A handful of subjects use their own formats.

What is the difference between a fully digital and a hybrid digital AP Exam?

In a fully digital exam you answer everything inside Bluebook, free-response questions included. In a hybrid digital exam you answer the multiple-choice questions in Bluebook and read the free-response prompts there. Your answers, though, you handwrite in a paper booklet that is collected for marking.

What AP score do I need for college credit?

Many US universities grant credit or advanced placement for a 3 or above. College Board does not decide this, though. Each university sets its own policy, so check the specific institutions you are applying to rather than assuming a 3 will be enough everywhere.

What does each AP score mean?

5 is extremely well qualified, 4 is very well qualified, 3 is qualified, 2 is possibly qualified and 1 carries no recommendation. At university level, College Board maps 5 to an A+ or A. A 4 maps to an A-, B+ or B, and a 3 to a B-, C+ or C.

How is my AP score worked out?

For most subjects it is a weighted combination of your multiple-choice and free-response performance. Some courses are different. AP Computer Science Principles, AP Seminar and the Art and Design subjects are scored on year-long work, partly or wholly, rather than in an exam.

Do I have to take the AP course to sit the exam?

The course and the exam are separate things, and it is the exam score that universities look at when they decide on credit or placement. Speak to your school's AP coordinator about sitting a particular exam.

How do universities receive my AP scores?

You send your official score report to them directly. Credit and placement decisions are made on that report, so make sure it reaches every institution that needs it.