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Advanced Placement
AP is an abbreviation for Advanced Placement. This system created by the College Board provides enrolled high school students with undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations.
Taking AP exams can earn a college credit and placement.
This program is also available for international students, but the College Board recommends a two-year plan.
History
The program began as a project called the ''Kenyon Plan''. Are high school seniors capable of studying college-level work?
The Lawrenceville School, Phillips Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, and St. Paul's School, cooperating with three prestigious universities - Harvard, Princeton, and Yale University conducted the first testing.
A Committee Report recommended that students take the achievement exams to study college-level material. Furthermore, take achievement exams to attain college credit for this work.
The first subjects implemented were Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, History, French, German, Spanish, and Latin.
The College Board has run the AP program since 1955. It develops and maintains guidelines for teaching higher-level courses in various subject areas. In addition, it supports teachers of AP courses and universities. Support of these activities goes through fees required to take the AP exams. ($97-US, Canada, DoDEA schools/ $127-elsewhere/ $145-AP Capstone)
Grading of AP Examinations
On a scale from 1 to 5:
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5 – Extremely well qualified
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4 – Well qualified
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3 – Qualified
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2 – Possibly qualified
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1 – No recommendation
The computer reviews the multiple-choice part of the examination. Trained readers at the AP Reading inspect the free-response and essay portions. The scores on various components are weighted and combined into a raw Composite Score.
Nowadays, AP covers subjects such as Biology, Chemistry, Calculus, Computer Science, Physics, and many more.
