The AP Capstone Program is a two-year seminar and research course that explores real-world issues while focusing on developing critical analysis, communication and investigative skills.

AP Capstone, developed by CollegeBoard, is built on the foundation of two courses — AP Seminar and AP Research — and is designed to complement and enhance the in-depth, discipline-specific study provided through AP courses. It cultivates curious, independent, and collaborative scholars and prepares them to make logical, evidence-based decisions.

AP Seminar (10th or 11th grade) 

The first year of the AP Capstone program features an Interdisciplinary Investigations and Critical Reasoning Seminar in which a specific topic or issue of cultural relevance is presented to students. With this topic as the centerpiece of class discourse, students learn to employ critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, differentiation, and interpretation—to name a few—and engage in collaborative teamwork and project-based learning. (Students are required to take an AP exam upon conclusion of this course).

AP Research (11th or 12th grade)

The second year of the AP Capstone program allows students to put the skills acquired in AP Seminar to practice in a Capstone Research Project. This independent study, executed under the mentorship of a teacher, culminates in a 4,000-5,000 word (roughly 20 pages) paper whereby the student defends and articulates their position on their chosen subject followed by an presentation and oral defense of their research paper. 

Ultimately, this two-year process reveals a student’s ability to collect, evaluate, analyze and synthesize knowledge and information, and then communicate their findings.