Rigor and Relevance
Advanced Placement classes hold high prestige with colleges. Some colleges are demanding an AP class prior to admission. The College Board is beginning to question if every AP class is truly AP quality.
Who Takes AP Classes?
Students that are college bound take AP classes and classes for college credit. How are AP classes different from high school classes? Advanced Placement classes must follow a strict syllabus on limited topics. Not every class can be an official AP class. College Board requires official tests be administered to students showing proficiency. Scoring falls from 1-5. Most colleges consider a 1 or a 2 as failure--unacceptable. Ivy League colleges expect a student to score a 5 and perhaps a 4. Other colleges will accept a 3 for college credit.
What Classes are AP Classes?
Your high school guidance counselor should have a complete list. These are some classes that the College Board has approved.
- Art History
- Biology
- Calculus AB
- Calculus BC
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Macro and Microeconomics
- English Language and Literature
- Environmental Science
- European History
- French
- French Literature
- German
- Comp Government and Politics
- US Government and Politics
- Human Geography
- Italian Language and Culture
- Latin Literature
- Latin: Virgil
- Music Theory
- Physics
- Psychology
- Spanish Language and Literature
- Statistics
- Studio Art
- US History
- World History
- Chinese
- Japanese
How Do I Take An Official AP Class?
In order for a class to qualify as an AP class, an Official AP Test must be taken following the class. The fee in 2006-2007 was $83 per test. If there is financial need, the fee may be dropped to approximately $22. If your school does not offer these classes, visit The College Board site to find information on how or where to take it independently.
But, I Have a Learning Disability
Students with learning disabilities may petition prior to registering for accommodations. This should be done substantially ahead of the testing date since there is much data to gather and review. This modification is also made for the ACT and SAT tests.
The Audit
For the 2007-2008 school year, teachers of AP classes are being asked to submit syllabuses approved by the College Board before they may call their classes AP classes. "Anybody could just say, 'I'm teaching an AP course; I'm an AP teacher. There's no protocol,' " says a teacher who teaches AP World History. [Daniel de Vise, Washington Post.com, March 25, 2007]
There has probably been some abuse. The College Board is trying to remove the weeds among the lilies. The mean AP exam score has dropped from 3.01 in 2000 to 2.89 in 2006. On a scale of 1 to 5, this is a significant drop. The College Board is concerned about quality control.
Teachers Beware
For the 2007-2008 school year, audits will be demanded and the reins tightened. However, one probable reason for the scores dropping could be that more and more students are encouraged to take AP classes. Newsweek's Best High Schools is a case in point. In the past, only the top students were encouraged to take the AP. Now, more are encouraged to do so through high schools and earn college credit.
Related articles: FAFSA For Dummies, Predicting the Cost of College, Recruiting College Students, SAT Scores Drop, SAT and the Learning Disabled, Reading Scores Down - Again
Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
