AP Program
The Advanced Placement (AP) program is a series of college-level courses and exams offered by the College Board. These courses are designed to provide high school students with the opportunity to earn college credit or advanced placement in college. The courses cover a wide range of subjects, including English, mathematics, science, social studies, and foreign languages.
AP courses are rigorous and demanding and are intended to be equivalent to first-year college courses. At the end of the course, students take a standardized exam. If they earn a score of 3 or higher, they may be eligible to receive college credit or advanced placement at many colleges and universities.
The AP program is an opportunity for high school students to gain college-level skills and knowledge and to potentially save time and money on their college education. It is also a way to demonstrate to colleges that they are ready for the academic rigor of college.
DHS AP Course Offerings
At DHS, students have the opportunity to begin taking a number of Advanced Placement courses. Our current AP course offerings include:
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC
AP Computer Science A
AP Computer Science Principles
AP English Language and Composition
AP Psychology
AP Statistics
AP US History
Benefits of AP
Taking AP classes and exams can help students:
Build skills and confidence.
AP students learn essential time management and study skills needed for college and career success.
They dig deeper into subjects that interest them and learn to tap their creativity and their problem-solving skills to address course challenges.
Get into college.
Students who take AP courses send a signal to colleges that they’re serious about their education and that they’re willing to challenge themselves with rigorous coursework.[1]
85% of selective colleges and universities report that a student’s AP experience favorably impacts admission decisions.[2]
Succeed in college.
Research shows that students who receive a score of 2 on their AP Exams are ready for college work.[3]
Research shows that students who receive a score of 3 or higher on AP Exams typically experience greater academic success in college and have higher graduation rates than their non-AP peers.[4]
3 out of 4 AP students enrolled in a four-year college start school with some AP credit.[5]
Save time and money in college.
Research shows that students who take AP courses and exams are much more likely than their peers to complete a college degree on time[6]—which means they avoid paying for, for example, a fifth year of tuition.
Most colleges and universities nationwide offer college credit, advanced placement, or both for qualifying AP Exam scores. This can mean:
Fulfilling graduation requirements early
Being able to skip introductory courses or required general-education courses
Recognized by Universities Worldwide, AP is a global credential.
Universities around the world recognize AP when making admission decisions, course requisites, and awarding university credit. In fact, half of students entering four-year colleges are now starting school with some credit from AP courses.
Qualifying AP Exam scores earn university credit in nearly all universities in the United States and Canada and are recognized in 60 other countries worldwide. Scores of 3 or 4 on AP Exams fulfill admission requirements in many universities in UK and Europe.
Each college and university determines its own policies regarding AP Exam scores. For detailed information about the AP recognition policies of universities, use the searches below:
[1] The College Board, The 10th Annual AP Report to the Nation, February 11, 2014.
[2] Unpublished institutional research, Crux Research Inc., March 2007.
[3] College Board, New Analyses of AP Scores of 1 and 2, June 2021.
[4] Linda Hargrove, Donn Godin, and Barbara Dodd, College Outcomes Comparisons by AP and Non-AP High School Experiences (New York: The College Board, 2008). Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor, and Shuling Jian, The Relationship Between Advanced Placement and College Graduation (Austin, Texas: National Center for Educational Accountability, 2006).
[5] College Board, Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2021, October 2021.
[6] The College Board, College Outcomes Comparisons by AP and Non-AP High School Experiences, 2008.
Earning a Score of 1 or 2
Students who score a 1 or 2 on an AP® Exam are more likely to attend college and graduate on time than academically similar students who don’t take AP. And they’re more likely to say they’re doing well or very well in college courses that cover similar content. No matter what their score is, students who complete an AP course and exam benefit from their AP experience.
Students stand out to colleges and scholarship organizations by completing an AP course and exam. It demonstrates that they have persisted through challenging coursework and are ready for collegiate-level material. Completing an AP Exam always has benefits regardless of the score.
Student blog: reasons to commit.
What AP Stands For
Thousands of Advanced Placement teachers have contributed to the principles articulated here. These principles are not new; they are, rather, a reminder of how AP already works in classrooms nationwide. The following principles are designed to ensure that teachers’ expertise is respected, required course content is understood, and that students are academically challenged and free to make up their own minds.
AP stands for clarity and transparency. Teachers and students deserve clear expectations. The Advanced Placement Program makes public its course frameworks and sample assessments. Confusion about what is permitted in the classroom disrupts teachers and students as they navigate demanding work.
AP is an unflinching encounter with evidence. AP courses enable students to develop as independent thinkers and to draw their own conclusions. Evidence and the scientific method are the starting place for conversations in AP courses.
AP opposes censorship. AP is animated by a deep respect for the intellectual freedom of teachers and students alike. If a school bans required topics from their AP courses, the AP Program removes the AP designation from that course and its inclusion in the AP Course Ledger provided to colleges and universities. For example, the concepts of evolution are at the heart of college biology, and a course that neglects such concepts does not pass muster as AP Biology.
AP opposes indoctrination. AP students are expected to analyze different perspectives from their own, and no points on an AP Exam are awarded for agreement with a viewpoint. AP students are not required to feel certain ways about themselves or the course content. AP courses instead develop students’ abilities to assess the credibility of sources, draw conclusions, and make up their own minds. As the AP English Literature course description states: “AP students are not expected or asked to subscribe to any one specific set of cultural or political values, but are expected to have the maturity to analyze perspectives different from their own and to question the meaning, purpose, or effect of such content within the literary work as a whole.
AP courses foster an open-minded approach to the histories and cultures of different peoples. The study of different nationalities, cultures, religions, races, and ethnicities is essential within a variety of academic disciplines. AP courses ground such studies in primary sources so that students can evaluate experiences and evidence for themselves.
Every AP student who engages with evidence is listened to and respected. Students are encouraged to evaluate arguments but not one another. AP classrooms respect diversity in backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints. The perspectives and contributions of the full range of AP students are sought and considered. The respectful debate of ideas is cultivated and protected; personal attacks have no place in AP.
AP is a choice for parents and students. Parents and students freely choose to enroll in AP courses. Course descriptions are available online for parents and students to inform their choice. Parents do not define which college-level topics are suitable within AP courses; AP course and exam materials are crafted by committees of professors and other expert educators in each field. AP courses and exams are then further validated by the American Council on Education and studies that confirm the use of AP scores for college credits by thousands of colleges and universities nationwide.
*** The AP Program encourages educators to review these principles with parents and students so they know what to expect in an AP course. Advanced Placement is always a choice, and it should be an informed one. AP teachers should be given the confidence and clarity that once parents have enrolled their child in an AP course, they have agreed to a classroom experience that embodies these principles.
The AP Program has an annual course audit process in which teachers submit their proposed AP course syllabus for review by college professors to get AP authorization. In cases where AP Course Audit curricular and/or resource requirements of authorized courses are omitted, parents, students, and educators can report it by completing the AP Course Investigation Request form.