In addition to the SAT, a student can appear for Advanced Placement test to enhance his/her chances of admission to US universities and colleges.

AP exams are college-level tests administered by The College Board offered to High School Students. 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. Committees of college faculty members and expert teachers design the AP courses and exams. These Committees ensure that AP exams reflect and assess college level expectations.

Why AP?

  • Many colleges and universities in the U.S. grant credits or advanced placement based on AP test scores.
  • Colleges may also take AP grades into account when deciding which students to accept, though this is not part of the official AP program.
  • AP courses help students prepare for the rigors of college coursework

Each year, the AP Program develops and administers multiple versions of the AP Exam for each AP subject. Presently there are about 38 different versions of AP exams, these are:

Math & Computer Science

  • AP Calculus AB
  • AP Calculus BC
  • AP Computer Science A
  • AP Computer Science Principles
  • AP Statistics

Sciences

  • AP Biology
  • AP Chemistry
  • AP Environmental Science
  • AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
  • AP Physics C: Mechanics
  • AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based
  • AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based

Arts

  • AP Art History
  • AP Music Theory
  • AP Studio Art: 2-D Design
  • AP Studio Art: 3-D Design
  • AP Studio Art: Drawing

English

  • AP English Language and Composition
  • AP English Literature and Composition

History & Social Science

  • AP Comparative Government and Politics
  • AP European History
  • AP Human Geography
  • AP Macroeconomics
  • AP Microeconomics
  • AP Psychology
  • AP United States Government and Politics
  • AP United States History
  • AP World History

World Languages & Cultures

  • AP Chinese Language and Culture
  • AP French Language and Culture
  • AP German Language and Culture
  • AP Italian Language and Culture
  • AP Japanese Language and Culture
  • AP Latin
  • AP Spanish Language and Culture
  • AP Spanish Literature and Culture

AP Exams are administered each year in May. 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.

Which are the most popular AP courses?

Just knowing which AP exams exists won’t help so we have got a list of courses that have been the most popular courses:

(Source: College Board)

 

S.No. Course Number of Students who wrote this exam in 2016
1 English Language 547,575
2 United States History 489,291
3 English Literature 405,446
4 Calculus AB 308,215
5 Government & Politics

United States

 296,108
6 Psychology 293,350
7 World History 285,351
8 Biology 238,080
9 Statistics 206,563
10 Human Geography 184,663

 

Structure

The first part of the exam usually consists of multiple-choice questions. A student is supposed to choose the best of four or five answer choices. Answers must be marked on your AP answer sheet (bubble sheet). The total exam score on the multiple-choice section is based only on the number of questions answered correctly. There is no negative marking for incorrect or un-attempted question.

The second part of the exam usually consists of re-response questions that require the student to generate his/her own responses. Depending on the exam, responses could be in the form of an essay, a solution to a problem, a spoken response, and more. In most cases, students will be writing their response in pen in the free-response exam booklet.