AP Classes: What To Know

Hayoon Song

AP courses, short for Advanced Placement courses, provide students in high school with the opportunity to take college-level courses. Each AP course has an exam every year in May, and they are scored on a scale of 1 to 5. Students scoring three or higher on an AP Exam get course credit in colleges and universities. It is possible to retake an AP Exam, but students must request a replacement or removal of a score if they only want to keep one result. 

AP Exams are 2 to 3 hours long, and there are two parts to the exam: a multiple-choice portion and a free-response portion. The multiple-choice section is scored on the number of questions a student answers correctly, and no points are taken off for incorrect answers. The free-response portion is scored by AP teachers and college faculty with experience in that particular subject area. To be eligible for taking an AP Exam, a student does not need to take the AP course relating to the test. However, there is a fee of 98 dollars to take the exam.

Our school offers a variety of AP courses. History and social science-related courses include AP World History, AP US History, AP Macroeconomics, AP US Government and Politics, and AP Psychology. Courses relating to English are AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature and Composition, usually taken in junior and senior year, respectively. Math and computer science courses include AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, and AP Computer Science A. The science-related AP courses that are offered are AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, and AP Environmental Science. LOTE (Language Other Than English) courses include AP French Language, AP Chinese Language and Culture, AP Spanish Language, and AP Spanish Literature. Finally, art and music courses that are offered are AP Studio Art: 2-D Design, AP Art History, and AP Music Theory.

While AP courses and exams are difficult, they provide students with a way to challenge themselves with different courses and aid them in their success after high school. To learn more about AP courses and exams, students can find information and help on websites like College Board.