Advanced Placement

See the Advanced Placement courses in the Program of Studies Course Catalog.

The Advanced Placement (AP) program provides motivated high school students with the opportunity to take college-level courses while still in high school. Students who participate in the AP program gain college-level skills, and in many cases, also earn college credit. Alexandria City High School offers 33 AP courses, each organized to be equivalent to a first-year college course.

All educators teaching AP courses have undergone professional development and must annually submit a course syllabus for audit to The College Board. Students who enroll in AP courses must take the end-of-course AP examination to demonstrate their levels of understanding of college-level knowledge skills.

Examinations are administered in May of each year. AP exam fees are paid for by ACPS (if the student chooses to be absent for an AP exam, the fee must be reimbursed to ACPS). Examinations are scored on a five-point scale set by The College Board: 

AP scores are sent to students, their designated colleges, and their high school in July. A college that participates in the AP Examination Program determines full or partial credit for scores of three or better. 

Although most students who take AP examinations are enrolled in corresponding AP courses, any highly motivated and academically gifted student may take an AP examination in the subject area of his/her choice.

Students enrolled in the AP Science courses must also enroll in the AP Science Lab Seminar. This 1.0 elective credit co-requisite is aligned with each AP Science Course.

• 5 = extremely well-qualified
• 4 = well-qualified
• 3 = qualified
• 2 = possibly qualified
• 1 = no recommendation