Advanced Placement exams

This article is part of the Advanced Placement series.
General exam structure • Awards
Current subjects:
Art History Biology Calculus (AB & BC) Chemistry Chinese Language and Culture Comparative Government & Politics Computer Science A Computer Science Principles English Language & Composition English Literature & Composition Environmental Science European History French Language and Culture German Language and Culture Human Geography Italian Language and Culture Japanese Language and Culture Latin Macroeconomics Microeconomics Music Theory Physics 1: Algebra-based Physics 2: Algebra-based Physics C: Mechanics Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism Psychology Research (Second part of AP Capstone program) Seminar (First part of AP Capstone program) Spanish Language and Culture Spanish Literature and Culture Statistics Studio Art (2-D, 3-D, & Drawing) U.S. History U.S. Government & Politics World History
In development:
Russian Language and Culture
Former subjects:
Computer Science AB French Literature German Literature Latin: Vergil Latin Literature Physics B

Advanced Placement examinations are taken each May by students at participating American, Canadian, and international educational institutions. The tests are the culmination of year-long Advanced Placement (AP) courses. All AP exams (with few exceptions ^[1]) combine multiple-choice questions with a free-response section in either essay or problem-solving format. AP Studio Art also requires students to submit a portfolio for review. AP Computer Science Principles requires students to complete the Create and Explore tasks, which are part of the AP grade for the class.

AP exams were taken by subject in 2013.

AP

The exams themselves are not tests of the students' mastery of the course material in a traditional sense. Rather, the students themselves set the grading rubrics and the scale for the "AP Grades" of each exam. When the AP Reading is over for a particular exam, the free response scores are combined with the results of computer-scored multiple-choice questions based upon a previously announced weighting. The Chief Reader (a college or university faculty member selected by the Educational Testing Service and The College Board) then meets with members of ETS and sets the cutoff scores for each AP Grade. The Chief Reader's decision is based upon what percentage of students earned each AP Grade over the previous three years, how students did on multiple-choice questions that are used on the test from year to year, how he or she viewed the overall quality of the answers to the free response questions, how university students who took the exam as PART A experimental studies did, and how students performed on different parts of the exam. No one outside of this is ETS is allowed to find out a student's raw score on an AP Exam and the cutoff scores for a particular exam are only released to the public if that particular exam is released in total (this happens on a staggered schedule and occurs approximately once every five years for each exam). The AP Grades that are reported to students, high schools, colleges, and universities in July are on AP's five-point scale:

5: Extremely well qualified
4: Well-qualified
3: Qualified
2: Possibly qualified
1: No recommendation

University credit

In the United States

Some^[2] colleges and universities in the U.S. grant credits or advanced placement based on AP test scores; those in over twenty other countries do likewise. Policies vary by institution, but schools that award credit usually^[3] require a score of 3 or higher on any given exam for credit to be granted or course prerequisites to be waived (and some will award an "A" grade for a 5 score). Colleges may also take AP grades into account when deciding which students to accept, though this is not part of the official AP program.

In Canada

In Canada the same score scale is used:

5: Extremely well qualified
4: Well-qualified
3: Qualified
2: Possibly qualified
1: No recommendation

In the United Kingdom

AP testing is not done in the United Kingdom, instead a combination of GCSE's, AS and A levels (or equivalents) are used in order to gain entry into universities, higher education, colleges and are often used in job applications.

Grading of exams

The AP exams are graded each summer at a week-long "grading camp." Both high school AP teachers and university professors are invited to grade the exams at a predetermined location.

Calculator Policies^[4]

Allowed Calculators

Allowed Calculators in 2017 are listed to the side. AP students may use any of the approved calculators. Also, they may bring up to 2 calculators. Calculators' memories need not be cleared before or after the exam. Not all exams allow a calculator, but those that do allow all the allowed calculators to be used. ^[5]

Notes and references

↑ CollegeBoard
↑ "More colleges stop giving credit for AP exams". Retrieved 2017-05-24.
↑ "AP Credit and Placement - AP Student - Search Credit Policy". apstudent.collegeboard.org. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
↑ "AP Central - AP Calculator Policy". apcentral.collegeboard.com. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
↑ "AP Calculator Policy". apstudent.collegeboard.org. Retrieved 2017-05-24.

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