Advanced Placement

Advanced Placement exams

Logo since 2017
Acronym	AP
Developer / administrator	College Board
Year started	1952 (1952)
Duration	Mostly 2–3 hours[1]
Score / grade range	1–5 (details)
Score / grade validity	Scores archived after 4 years, but remain valid[2]
Offered	Yearly
Countries / regions	United States and Canada
Fee	2024 exams (USD):[3] $98 (US, Canada, DoDEA schools) $128 (elsewhere) $146 (AP Capstone)
Website	ap.collegeboard.org

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Advanced Placement (AP)^[4] is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere may grant placement and course credit to students who obtain qualifying scores on the examinations.

The AP curriculum for each of the various subjects is created for the College Board by a panel of experts and college-level educators in that academic discipline. For a high school course to have the designation as offering an AP course, the course must be audited by the College Board to ascertain that it satisfies the AP curriculum as specified in the Board's Course and Examination Description (CED). If the course is approved, the school may use the AP designation and the course will be publicly listed on the AP Course Ledger.^[5]