About the AP Tests

What are the AP Tests?

Advanced Placement exams are administered in dozens of subjects by the College Board during May of each year. AP exams are designed to test “college level” mastery of a subject and are built around a standardized national curriculum that all AP courses must follow. Because of the standardized nature of their curricula, AP exams are even more predictable than the SAT Subject Tests. In fact, AP exams have even been known to recycle the exact same question types and essay topics from year to year.

How Colleges Use AP Tests

Advanced Placement tests are accepted for course credit at hundreds of colleges and universities around the country. At many schools, including all of the Ivy League colleges, students can enter with “sophomore standing” in their first year if they have taken a sufficient number of AP exams. Even at schools that do not accept AP exams for credit, students’ scores on APs are viewed as a valuable supplement to SAT or ACT scores, showing that a student has the academic potential to succeed in college-level curriculum.