AP Central

AP Courses intro

The Courses
Our AP Program currently offers 16 courses across multiple subject areas. Each course is developed by a committee composed of college faculty and AP teachers, and covers the breadth of information, skills, and assignments found in the corresponding college course.

AP courses are taught by highly qualified high school teachers who use the AP Course Descriptions to guide them. The Course Description for each discipline outlines the course content, describes the curricular goals of the subject, and provides sample examination questions. While the Course Descriptions are a significant source of information about the course content on which the AP Exams will be based, AP teachers have the flexibility to determine how this content is presented. Published in the spring of the school year before the course will be taught, the Course Descriptions are available in this section of AP Central, accompanied by a course perspective written by an experienced AP teacher. These perspectives represent the personal viewpoints and teaching styles of their authors; however, we hope they will provide insight and inspiration for other educators.

The Exams
The AP Examinations are administered each year in May and represent the culmination of college-level work in a given discipline in a secondary school setting. Rigorously developed by committees of college and AP high school faculty, the AP Exams test students' ability to perform at a college level.

Development Committees meet throughout the year to create new exams, which each contain a free-response section (either essay or problem solving) and a section of multiple-choice questions. The involvement of college faculty at all levels of exam development and scoring ensures that the AP Exams truly reflect college-level achievement. Students who perform well can receive course credit and/or advanced standing at thousands of universities worldwide.

Exam Questions

2012 exam fees

Exam Fees and Reductions: 2012

The fee for each AP Exam is $87. The school normally retains $8 of that fee as a rebate to help with administrative costs.

The fee for exams administered at schools outside of the United States, U.S. territories and commonwealths, and Canada, with the exception of U.S. Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) is $117 per exam.

The fee for exams administered at College Board-authorized testing centers outside of the United States is $143 per exam.

All exams must be paid for and ordered separately.

Fee Reduction
The College Board provides a $22 fee reduction per exam for qualified students with acute financial need. For each eligible student, schools should also forgo their $8 rebate. Thus, eligible students pay $57 per exam.

Federal and State AP Exam Fee Assistance

Late Testing with Alternate Exams
There is no additional fee for using an alternate form of the exam if schools are ordering alternate exams under circumstances that are generally beyond the control of the school's administration and the students. In other instances, however, the school is billed an additional $40 per student for each exam to partially cover the cost to prepare, print, ship, and grade these exams.

Students eligible for the College Board fee reduction will not be charged the $40-per-exam late-testing fee, regardless of their reason for late testing.

Unused Exams
Schools are charged $13 for any exam that is ordered but not used.

Late Order
Schools in the U.S., U.S. territories, and Canada have an ordering deadline of April 15, 2012. The late ordering deadline for all other schools is April 6, 2012. Orders placed after these deadlines incur a $50 late order fee.

Late Return
Schools are billed twice the exam fee for each exam in any shipment received at AP Services after June 1, 2012.

Late Payment
Any payments that are postmarked after June 15, 2012, will incur a $200 fee.

Refunds
If students pay for, but do not take, an exam, they may request a refund from the AP Coordinator. Local school policy determines the amount of the refund. The school is charged $13 for each exam ordered but not taken. This fee does not apply when an alternate replaces a regular exam. Once a student begins an exam, the fee is not refundable.

2012 exam schedule

2012 Exam Schedule

Week 1

	Morning Session 8 a.m.	Afternoon Session 12 noon
Monday, May 7	Chemistry Environmental Science	Psychology
Tuesday, May 8	Computer Science A Spanish Language	Art History
Wednesday, May 9	Calculus AB Calculus BC	Chinese Language and Culture
Thursday, May 10	English Literature and Composition	Japanese Language and Culture Latin: Vergil
Friday, May 11	German Language U.S. History	European History
Friday, May 11	Studio Art--last day for Coordinators to submit digital portfolios (by 8 p.m. EDT) and to gather 2-D Design and Drawing students for the physical portfolio assembly. Teachers should have forwarded students' completed digital portfolios to Coordinators before this date.

Week 2

	Morning Session 8 a.m.	Afternoon Session 12 noon	Afternoon Session 2 p.m.
Monday, May 14	Biology Music Theory	Physics B Physics C: Mechanics	Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
Tuesday, May 15	United States Government and Politics	Comparative Government and Politics French Language
Wednesday, May 16	English Language and Composition	Statistics
Thursday, May 17	Macroeconomics World History	Microeconomics Italian Language and Culture
Friday, May 18	Human Geography Spanish Literature

Please note:

Coordinators are responsible for notifying students when and where to report for the exams. Early testing or testing at times other than those published by the College Board are not permitted under any circumstances.
Coordinators should order late-testing exams for students who would like to take exams that are scheduled for the same time.
Schools in Alaska must begin the morning exam administration between 7 and 8 a.m. local time, and the afternoon exam administration between 11 a.m. and 12 noon local time. The AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism Exam must begin between 1 and 2 p.m. local time.