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The Advanced Placement Program® (AP) enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue college-level studies while still in high school.¹

The program consists of college-level courses developed by the AP Program that high schools can choose to offer, and corresponding exams that are administered once a year. 

Fast Facts

• There are 38 AP courses in seven subject categories.
• Each AP course is modeled on a comparable introductory college course in the subject. .
• Each course culminates in a standardized college-level assessment, or AP Exam.
• AP Exams are given in May each year at testing locations all over the world.
• Schools must be authorized by the AP Course Audit to offer approved AP courses and use the AP designation.

Benefits

Taking AP courses and exams can help students:

• Stand out on college applications. AP courses on a student’s transcript shows that they’ve challenged themselves with the most rigorous courses available to them. And success on an AP Exam shows that they’re ready for college-level coursework.
• Earn college credit and/or skip introductory courses in college. Most four-year colleges and universities in the United States—as well as many institutions in more than 100 other countries—grant students credit, placement, or both for qualifying AP Exam scores. .

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How It Works

Teachers Design Their Own AP Courses

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. (They can also choose to use existing, approved syllabi.) We review each course design through a process called the AP Course Audit before authorizing your school to call the course “AP.”

The fact that teachers design their own AP courses—within guidelines that ensure that each course meets standards for college-level instruction—makes AP flexible and accessible for students and schools.

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AP Exams Assess Knowledge and Skills Learned in the Course

Each AP course concludes with an AP Exam. These assessments are designed by the same expert committee that designed the course. 

The exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5 by college and university professors and experienced AP teachers. Many U.S. colleges offer credit for AP Exam scores of 3 or higher.

AP Exams are administered at authorized schools and test centers. Most high schools that offer AP courses choose to administer AP Exams to their own students as well as external AP students. Schools that opt not to administer AP Exams can refer students to another AP testing location.

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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.

The College Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP courses for students from ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population.

Certain AP courses have prerequisites. For example, students taking AP Physics 1 should have completed geometry and be taking Algebra 2 or an equivalent course. Check the individual course pages to see this information.

¹The information on this page is from 

College Board® and Advanced Placement® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this website.