Advanced Placement Program® (AP) courses give you a head start on college. Taking the end-of-course AP Exam sends a powerful message to colleges and universities that a student is ready for them, and can enable students to gain admission, college credit, and placement into advanced courses.

Most of the nation's colleges and universities, plus colleges and universities in 24 other countries, grant students admission, credit, and/or placement for qualifying AP Exam grades. For example, at Princeton, students can use qualifying AP Exam grades to:

• Graduate in three or three-and-a-half years
• Enter upper-level courses
• Fulfill a foreign language requirement

A 1999 U.S. Department of Education study found that the strongest predictor of college graduation is something students do before they ever go to college: Participate in rigorous, college-level courses in high school—and AP courses in particular.
Clifford Adelman, Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor's Degree Attainment (1999), U.S. Department of Education.

Students who take AP courses and exams are much more likely than their peers to complete a bachelor's degree in four years or less.
Source: Camara, Wayne (2003). College Persistence, Graduation, and Remediation. College Board Research Notes (RN-19). New York, NY: College Board.

AP courses are designed and updated annually to reflect what's being taught in cutting-edge college courses. Students receive an external evaluation—the AP Exam—which is scored by college faculty from around the world who verify that the student has mastered college-level studies.

Colleges and universities give credit for qualifying AP Exam grades, not AP course grades.

The confirmation that college-level learning took place is in the published results. The AP Exam grade is a national standard that I can understand and rely upon.—Joellen L. Silberman, Dean of Enrollment Kalamazoo College

Some of the most competitive scholarship awards value AP Exam grades

Having the AP Exam grade can make the difference when it comes down to awarding precious scholarship dollars.—Edwina Harris Hamby, Dean of Admission Fisk University

AP courses and exams are developed and scored by the College Board, a not-for-profit membership association dedicated to helping students connect to college success and opportunity.

There is NO fee to take an AP course, but there is an $94 FEE for the exam.