Advanced Placement (AP) is a set of college-level courses and exams from the College Board, taken by students while they are still at school, mainly in the United States and Canada and at some international schools.
The 1 to 5 scale
An AP exam is scored from 1 to 5. The College Board describes the score as a recommendation about how qualified a student is to receive college credit and placement. Scores are adjusted so that a 3 in one year reflects the same level of achievement as a 3 in another year.
What colleges do with scores
- Many colleges in the United States give credit or advanced placement for scores of 3 or above, but each college decides which scores it accepts and for which courses.
- Advanced placement lets a student skip the equivalent introductory course.
- For admissions, colleges look at AP coursework and grades together with other parts of the application.
So before a student chooses AP courses to gain credit, they should read the credit policy of the colleges they are interested in. Policies differ and change.
Preparing
- Start from the official course description for the subject.
- Practise with released free-response questions and past exam material from the College Board.
- Make sure the writing and explanation skills are practised too, not only recall.
- Leave time to review mistakes, and ask the teacher for feedback on free-response answers.
Choosing a tutor
Ask the tutor which AP subjects they have taught recently, how they use released questions, and how they will help the student explain answers clearly. Be careful with any promise of a particular score: no tutor can guarantee one.
Source: College Board, About AP Scores. Always check each college's current credit policy.