AP Overview

AP stands for Advanced Placement, the exams offered by the College Board, US. AP courses are 1-year courses, and usually focus on a specific area of a broad subject. In math, there are AP Statistics, AP Calculus AB, and AP Calculus BC, and all of them focus only on Statistics and Calculus, respectively.

All AP exams are taken in May. Students are recommended to complete, IF possible, any essential AP exams by the end of junior year to prepare for college applications. But we do NOT recommend anyone to take so many AP (or/and IB) classes to the extent that a student is overwhelmed and cannot handle the workload. AP scores of 4 or 5 MAY be taken as college credits, so any AP exams taken at the end of the senior year are still important. However, students must be mindful of why they choose AP courses. Refer to "AP or IB?" page of this website for more details on this.

St. John's school DOES NOT REQUIRE a student to take the class to take the AP exams. Although, it is highly recommended to take the actual class. If a student is willing to study and accept any positive or negative consequences that may happen, we allow the students to take the AP exams without taking the school class. (May depend on the number of students registered for the exams) It is students' responsibility to register for the exams if they are not taking the school class.