Oering AP Courses and Enrolling Students
Each AP course and exam description details the essential information required to understand
the objectives and expectations of an AP course. The AP Program unequivocally supports the
principle that each school implements its own curriculum that will enable students to develop
the content knowledge and skills described here.
Schools wishing to oer AP courses must participate in the AP Course Audit, a process
through which AP teachers’ syllabi are reviewed by college faculty. The AP Course Audit
was created at the request of College Board members who sought a means for the College
Board to provide teachers and administrators with clear guidelines on curricular and resource
requirements for AP courses and to help colleges and universities validate courses marked
“AP” on students’ transcripts. This process ensures that AP teachers’ syllabi meet or exceed
the curricular and resource expectations that college and secondary school faculty have
established for college-level courses. For more information on the AP Course Audit, visit
www.collegeboard.org/apcourseaudit.
The College Board strongly encourages educators to make equitable access a guiding
principle for their AP programs by giving all willing and academically prepared students the
opportunity to participate in AP. We encourage the elimination of barriers that restrict access
to AP for students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally
underrepresented. Schools should make every eort to ensure their AP classes reect the
diversity of their student population. The College Board also believes that all students should
have access to academically challenging course work before they enroll in AP classes, which
can prepare them for AP success. It is only through a commitment to equitable preparation
and access that true equity and excellence can be achieved.
How AP Courses and Exams Are Developed
AP courses and exams are designed by committees of college faculty and expert AP
teachers who ensure that each AP subject reects and assesses college-level expectations.
To nd a list of each subject’s current AP Development Committee members, please visit
collegeboard.org/apcommittees. AP Development Committees dene the scope and
expectations of the course, articulating through a course framework what students should
know and be able to do upon completion of the AP course. Their work is informed by data
collected from a range of colleges and universities to ensure that AP coursework reects
current scholarship and advances in the discipline.
The AP Development Committees are also responsible for drawing clear and well-articulated
connections between the AP course and AP Exam—work that includes designing and
approving exam specications and exam questions. The AP Exam development process is a
multiyear endeavor; all AP Exams undergo extensive review, revision, piloting, and analysis
to ensure that questions are high quality and fair and that there is an appropriate spread of
diculty across the questions.
Throughout AP course and exam development, the College Board gathers feedback from
various stakeholders in both secondary schools and higher education institutions. This
feedback is carefully considered to ensure that AP courses and exams are able to provide
students with a college-level learning experience and the opportunity to demonstrate their
qualications for advanced placement upon college entrance.
Return to Table of Contents
© 2017 The College Board
AP European History Practice Exam
About AP
2