Advanced Placement

After the end of World War II, the Ford Foundation created a fund that supported committees studying education.[2] The program, which was then referred to as the "Kenyon Plan",[3] was founded and pioneered at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, by the then-college president Gordon Chalmers. The first study was conducted by four prep schools—the Lawrenceville School, Phillips Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, and St. Paul's School —and three universities—Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University. In 1952 they issued the report General Education in School and College: A Committee Report which recommended allowing high school seniors to study college-level material and to take achievement exams that allowed them to attain college credit for this work.[4] The second committee, the Committee on Admission with Advanced Standing, developed and implemented the plan to choose a curriculum. A pilot program was run in 1952 which covered eleven disciplines. In the 1955–56 school year, it was nationally implemented in ten subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, History, French, German, Spanish, and Latin.

The College Board, a non-profit organization[5] based in New York City, has run the AP program since 1955.[6] From 1965 to 1989, Harlan Hanson was the director of the Advanced Placement Program.[7] It develops and maintains guidelines for the teaching of higher-level courses in various subject areas. In addition, it supports teachers of AP courses and supports universities.[8] These activities are funded through fees required to take the AP exams.

In 2006, over one million students took over two million Advanced Placement examinations.[9] Many high schools in the United States offer AP courses,[10] though the College Board allows any student to take any examination regardless of participation in its respective course.[11] Therefore, home-schooled students and students from schools that do not offer AP courses have an equal opportunity to take AP exams.

As of the 2015 testing season, exams cost $91 each,[12] though the cost may be subsidized by local or state programs. Financial aid is available for students who qualify for it; the exam reduction is $26 or $28 per exam from College Board plus an additional $8 rebate per fee-reduced exam from the school. There may be further reductions depending on the state. Out of the $91, $8 goes directly to the school to pay for the administration of the test, which some schools will reduce to lower the cost to the student.

On April 3, 2008, the College Board announced that four AP courses—French Literature, Latin Literature, Computer Science AB, and Italian Language and Culture—would be discontinued after the 2008–2009 school year due to lack of funding.[13][14] However, the Italian Language and Culture test was again offered beginning in 2011.

Starting July 2013 AP allowed students for the first time to both view and send their scores online.[15]

The number of AP exams administered each year has seen a steady increase over the past decade. In 2003, 175,860 English Language and Composition exams were administered. By 2013, this number had risen to 476,277, or an increase of 171%. Such an increase has occurred in nearly all AP exams offered, with the AP Psychology exam seeing a 281% increase over the past decade. In 2017, the most taken AP exam was English Language and Composition with 579,426 students and the least taken AP exam was Japanese Language and Culture with 2,429 students.[16]

The AP exams begin on the first Monday in May and last ten school days (two weeks).

AP tests are scored on a 1 to 5 scale as follows:[17]

• 5 – Extremely well qualified
• 4 – Well qualified
• 3 – Qualified
• 2 – Possibly qualified
• 1 – No recommendation

The multiple choice component of the exam is scored by computer, while the free response and essay portions are scored by trained Readers at the AP Reading each June. The scores on various components are weighted and combined into a raw Composite Score. The Chief Reader for each exam then decides on the grade cutoffs for that year's exam, which determine how the Composite Scores are converted into the final grades. During the process, a number of reviews and statistical analyses are performed to ensure that the grading is reliable. The overall goal is for the grades to reflect an absolute scale of performance which can be compared from year to year.[18]

Some colleges use AP test scores to exempt students from introductory coursework, others use them to place students in higher designated courses, and some do both. Each college's policy is different, but most require a minimum score of 3 or 4 to receive college credit.[19] Typically, this appears as a "CR" grade on the college transcript, although some colleges and universities will award an A grade for a 5 score.[20] Some countries, such as Germany, that do not offer general admission to their universities and colleges for holders of an American high school diploma without preparatory courses will directly admit students who have completed a specific set of AP tests, depending on the subject they wish to study there.

In addition, completing AP courses help students qualify for various types of scholarships. According to the College Board, 31 percent of colleges and universities look at AP experience when making scholarship decisions.[21]

Beginning with the May 2011 AP Exam administration, the College Board changed the scoring method of AP Exams.[22][23] Total scores on the multiple-choice section are now based on the number of questions answered correctly. Points are no longer deducted for incorrect answers and, as was the case before, no points are awarded for unanswered questions. However, scoring requirements have also been increased.

Starting with the May 2013 AP Examination Administration, the College Board launched an Internet-based score reporting service.[24] Students can use their 2013 AP Number or Student Number (if one was indicated) along with a College Board Account,[25] to access current and previous years' exam scores. This system can also be used to send scores to colleges and universities for which a four-digit institutional code[26] is assigned.

Recognizing that the cost could be an impediment to students of limited means, a number of states and municipalities independent of the College Board have partially or fully subsidized the cost. For example, the state of Florida reimburses schools districts for the exam costs of students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses. The Los Angeles Unified School District, the Montebello Unified School District, the Hawaii Department of Education, New York City Department of Education, and the state of Indiana subsidize Examination fees in subjects of math, science, and English,[27] and the Edmonds School District in suburban Seattle currently subsidizes Advanced Placement fees of students who enroll in the free school lunch program. Some school districts, such as Fairfax County Public Schools, will fully cover the cost of a limited number of exams, after which point the student must pay. In addition, some school districts offer free tests to all students enrolled in any Advanced Placement class.

There are currently 38 courses and exams available through the AP Program.[28]

AP Exam Taken by Subject 2019

Below are statistics from the 2019 exam cycle showing the number of participants, the percentage who obtained a score of 3 or higher, and the mean score. Students generally need a score of 3 or higher to receive credit or benefit.

One issue to consider is the fact that not all AP students take their course's test. The College Board estimates that about 2/3 of students enrolled in an AP course take the course's AP test.[40] On the other hand, a study of University of California system students found that only about 55% to 60% of AP students took their course's exam.[41]

However, "It has recently become clear . . . that these estimations of overall participation rates mask the variability in participation rates across AP examinations."[42] For example, one study of math and science AP courses showed that participation rates were 52.7% for AP Chemistry, 53.6% for AP Physics, 57.7% for AP Biology, and 77.4% for AP Calculus.[43] The largest study on this topic found similar participation rates (49.5% for AP Chemistry, 52.3% for AP Physics, 54.5% for Biology, and 68.9% for Calculus).[44] History exams tend to have slightly higher participation rates (57.9% for AP European History, 58.5% for AP World History, and 62.8% for AP U.S. History), and 65.4% of AP English students took either the AP English Language or AP English Literature exam.[42] This same study found that for "core AP subjects (i.e., no arts or language subjects)", the overall test participation rate was 60.8%.[42]

In February 2014 College Board released data from the previous ten years of AP exams. College Board found that 33.2% of public high school graduates from the class of 2013 had taken an AP exam, compared to 18.9% in 2003. In 2013 20.1% of graduates who had taken an AP test achieved a 3 or higher compared to 12.2% in 2003.

• Advanced Placement Awards
• GCE Advanced Level
• Education in Canada
• Education in the United States
• International Baccalaureate
• AP Examination controversy - 2020

• McCauley, David. 2007. The Impact of Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment Program on College Graduation.
• Applied Research Project. Texas State University. http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/206/
• Schneider, Jack. 2008. Schools' Unrest Over the AP Test

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Advanced Placement.

• AP Student website
• Score Distributions (most recent exam)