What is Advanced Placement?
What is Advanced Placement?
The Advanced Placement (AP) Program, a national nonprofit educational association of colleges, universities and high schools, monitors introductory-level college curricula and then designs courses, materials, and professional development to deliver the curricula in middle schools and high schools. National examinations are administered to measure the knowledge and skills of students who have taken AP courses. The program encourages colleges and universities to grant credit and/or advanced placement to students representative of
their achievement.
AP courses are college level classes taught in the high school following the College Board AP course outline and culminating in the national AP exam.
Across the nation schools are rapidly expanding the number of AP courses offered, the number of students enrolled in AP courses, and the number of students successfully completing the AP exam.
What are the benefits of an AP program to students and schools?
Students who take AP courses:
- Are more challenged and stimulated by the enhanced rigor of the coursework
- Are better prepared for college
- Are more likely to be accepted by the college or university of their choice
- May earn college credit or advanced placement based on their AP exam score
- May reduce the cost of college by earning college credit
- Are more likely to complete college in four years
- Are more likely to graduate with a double major and pursue advanced studies
- Are more likely to take on leadership roles
AP Benefits to schools include:
- Increased focus on teaching analytical thinking and disciplined study skills
- Effective teacher professional development that improves methods and revitalizes enthusiasm
- Increased teachers’ job satisfaction and pride
- Strengthened curriculum and teaching quality through Pre-AP and Vertical Team activities
- Nationally recognized measures of academic excellence through AP exam results
For more information about Advanced Placement in New Mexico you may contact:
Vickie Sandoval, Phone - 505-891-6935
vcsandoval@nmhu.edu
AP Frequently Asked Questions
What are the differences between Advanced Placement (AP) courses and honors courses?
Many schools have created honors courses for their students, however AP courses are the only high school courses actually designed by teams of college professors and experienced secondary school teachers—the AP Development Committees. To provide schools with a framework for setting up an AP course, these committees draw upon their own expertise and also make use of extensive data describing best practices at colleges and universities nationwide. As a result, schools participating in AP provide their teachers and students with courses that reflect national standards for college-level learning. An integral component of the AP course is the end-of-course AP Exam; college professors participate in the scoring of the AP Exams, and provide external verification of a student's mastery of
college-level material. As a result, unlike honors course tests, AP Exams can qualify a student to receive college credit or to skip ahead into more advanced college courses. Because AP Exams provide a consistent, national measure of college-level mastery of a course, college admissions officers usually place higher value on AP courses than on honors courses in gauging the rigor of a student's high school curriculum.
Who designs the AP courses and writes the AP Exam questions?
Each AP subject is led by an AP Development Committee, responsible for creating each year's exams and continually updating the official AP Course Description. These Development Committees are comprised half of college/university professors and half of experienced AP teachers, who bring cutting-edge content knowledge and expert teaching practices to the development of AP courses. AP Development Committee members currently teach at dozens of the nation's top institutions, including:
Georgetown University, Hamilton College, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Swarthmore College, U.S. Naval Academy, University of California-Berkeley, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,Washington University, Yale University, Milton Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Sidwell Friends.
How are the AP Exams scored?
AP Exams, with the exception of AP Studio Art, which is a portfolio assessment, each consist of dozens of multiple-choice questions that are scored by machine, as well as free-response questions (essays, translations, problems, oral responses) that are scored at the annual AP Reading by approximately 10,000 college faculty and AP teachers, who use scoring standards and rubrics developed by college and university faculty who teach the corresponding college courses.
What is the scale for the AP Exam grades?
The composite score for each AP Exam is converted to an AP Exam grade of 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1. AP Exam grades of 5 are equivalent to the top A-level work in the corresponding college course. AP Exam grades of 4 are equivalent to a range of work representing midlevel A to midlevel B performance in college. Similarly, AP Exam grades of 3 are equivalent to a range of work representing midlevel B to midlevel C performance in college.
What AP Exam results will provide a student with college credit or placement into a more advanced college course?
The majority of colleges and universities nationwide grant AP credit or placement for AP grades of 3 or higher. Research demonstrates that AP students who receive a 3 or higher on an AP Exam will, when allowed to skip ahead into a more advanced college course, meet or exceed the performance of their peers in that course1. To find a specific institution's AP policy, visit
http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/apcreditpolicy/index.jsp.
What are other benefits of participation in AP, beyond the opportunity to save time and/or money in college by earning college credit?
Students who participate in AP courses experience the rigors of a college-level course and exam while still in high school. AP students learn to reason, analyze, and understand for themselves, and gain confidence in their potential to attend college and succeed once there. In addition, AP performance helps students stand out in the college admission process; the most important factor in admissions decisions, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling's 2006 survey of college admissions officers, is success in the most rigorous high school courses available to the student.
What is the cost of taking an AP course? Is there a school participation fee?
There is no cost to take an AP course, and there is no charge for a school to participate and offer AP courses or exams.
What is the cost of taking an AP Exam?
An AP Exam costs $86, of which $8 is retained by the school to pay proctors or cover other
expenses related to the AP Exam administration. A combination of College Board fee reductions and federal/state funding eliminates the exam fee in most states for students from low-income families. In New Mexico many students pay reduced fees.
For more information you may contact:
STANDARD TRADEMARK NOTICE:
Department Directory
Charlene Ortiz-Cordova
AP New Mexico Director
Technology Trainer
New Mexico Highlands University
Sininger Hall Room 117
Las Vegas, New Mexico 87701
Office: (505) 426-2249
Fax: (505) 454-3066
Toll-Free: 1-877-248-9854 Ext. 2249
E-mail
Vickie Sandoval
APSI Director Assistant AP-NM Director
AP New Mexico NMHU/Rio Rancho Center
1700 Grande Court SE
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Phone: 505-891-6935
Fax: 505-891-2972
E-mail