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What it is

AP Course Ledger is a powerful, Web-based directory developed by the College Board. The searchable Ledger gives admissions officers, faculty, AP teachers, students and parents free and complete access to the database of official AP courses. The online Ledger contains every course taught in secondary schools around the world that meets AP’s rigorous standards for college-level courses. It's updated regularly each academic year to ensure that up-to-date information is available for each search by subject, school, high school code and state.

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AP Subject List

Exam Descriptions

Art—Art History: A three-hour exam covering a full-year introductory college course in art history. The first part of the exam is a one-hour multiple-choice section; the second part allows two hours for seven short essays based on slides and/or a quotation from a primary source or document, and two 30-minute essays addressing typical and significant problems in art history. One of the 30-minute essays requires in-depth discussion of at least one work from beyond the European tradition.

Art—Studio Art Drawing, Studio Art 2-D Design, Studio Art 3-D Design: Three portfolio evaluations, each of which covers a one-semester or full-year college course with the same name or content. Each portfolio contains three sections: Quality; Concentration (an in-depth, individual project); and Breadth (demonstration of a wide range of experience). The AP Studio Art section of AP Central includes questions and answers about the portfolios and works by AP students (found under “Exam Questions”) for each of the portfolios.

Biology: A three-hour exam covering a full-year introductory college course in biology with laboratory. The exam contains 1 hour and 20 minutes of multiple-choice questions, a 10-minute reading period, and 1 hour and 30 minutes of free-response questions. Both sections of the exam test students’ understanding of ideas that unite the major content areas: molecules and cells; heredity and evolution; and organisms and populations. Both sections may include questions based on the objectives of the 12 recommended AP Biology laboratory investigations.

Calculus—Calculus AB, Calculus BC: Two 3-hour-and-15-minute exams covering topics typically included in about two-thirds of a full-year college-level calculus sequence (Calculus AB) or those included in a full-year, college-level calculus sequence (Calculus BC). Both Calculus courses require a similar depth of understanding of common topics, and graphing-calculator use is an integral part of the courses. Both exams contain 1 hour and 45 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 30 minutes of free-response questions. Both the multiple-choice and free-response sections contain parts where a graphing calculator is required and parts where calculator use is prohibited. Visit the AP Calculus section of AP Central for detailed information on the calculator policy and the most current list of AP-authorized calculators. Students taking Calculus BC will receive a subscore grade for the AB portion of the exam in addition to the overall composite grade.

Chemistry: A 3-hour-and-5-minute exam covering a full-year introductory college course with laboratory. Section I of the exam is 1 hour and 30 minutes long and contains 75 multiple-choice questions. No calculator use is permitted for Section I of the exam. Section II of the exam is 1 hour and 35 minutes long and is divided into two parts. Part A, during which calculator use is permitted, is 55 minutes long and contains three quantitative problems, one of which is on chemical equilibrium. Part B, during which no calculators are permitted, is 40 minutes long and contains one question requiring students to write balanced equations for three chemical reactions (and to answer a short question about each reaction), plus two essay questions. In every exam either one of the quantitative problems or one of the essays will be on the topic of laboratory. A periodic table is provided for students to use with Sections I and II of the exam, and a list of commonly used equations and constants is provided during Section II of the exam only. Calculators are permitted only for the problems in Part A of Section II.

Chinese Language and Culture: This exam assesses learning at the level of a fourth-semester college/university course. It assesses interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational communication skills in Mandarin Chinese, along with knowledge of Chinese culture. Section I consists of multiple-choice questions that assess communication skills in the interpersonal and interpretive modes using listening and reading questions. The free-response section assesses communication skills in the interpersonal and presentational modes by requiring the student to produce written and spoken responses.

Computer Science—Computer Science A, Computer Science AB: Two three-hour exams covering either a first-semester introductory college course (Computer Science A) or a full-year introductory college course (Computer Science AB). Each exam contains 1 hour and 15 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 45 minutes of free-response questions. At least five multiple-choice questions and one free-response question are based on the AP GridWorld Simulation Case Study. Available on AP Central, the case study includes a program that students should work with throughout the school year. Java is used as the programming language for AP Computer Science. An appendix containing a quick reference to the Java library classes and program code for the case study is provided for students to use with Sections I and II of the exam. This appendix is also available on AP Central. Students may take the AP Computer Science A and the AP Computer Science AB Exams in the same year. However, students wishing to take both AP Computer Science Exams in May 2008 must take one of the exams during the late-testing period.

Economics—Macroeconomics, Microeconomics: Two 2-hour-and-10-minute exams, each covering a one-semester introductory college course. Both exams contain a 1-hour-and-10-minute multiple-choice section and a one-hour free-response section that includes a 10-minute reading and planning period. The AP Macroeconomics Exam covers basic economic concepts; measurement of economic performance; national income and price determination; financial sector; stabilization policies; international economics; and economic growth. The AP Microeconomics Exam covers basic economic concepts; supply and demand; theory of consumer choice; production and costs; firm behavior and market structure; factor markets; and market failure and the role of government.

English—Language and Composition, Literature and Composition: The AP English Language and Composition Exam is 3 hours and 15 minutes in length and covers a full-year introductory college course. The exam contains one hour of multiple-choice questions and 2 hours and 15 minutes of free-response questions. The AP English Language and Composition Exam tests students’ skills in analyzing prose passages and asks them to demonstrate their composition skills by writing essays in various rhetorical modes. One of the three free-response questions requires students to synthesize information from a variety of sources to inform their own discussion of a topic. Students have a 15-minute reading period to accommodate the additional reading required for the question; the writing time for the free-response section is two hours. The AP English Literature and Composition Exam is three hours in length and covers a full-year introductory college course. The exam contains one hour of multiple-choice questions and two hours of free-response questions. The exam tests students’ skills in analyzing selected poems and prose passages and their ability to write critical or analytical essays based on poems, prose passages, novels, or plays.

Environmental Science: A three-hour exam covering a one-semester introductory college course with laboratory. The exam contains 1 hour and 30 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 30 minutes of free-response questions. The four free-response questions include one data-set question, one document-based question, and two synthesis/evaluation questions.

French—Language, Literature: The AP French Language Exam is approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes in length and covers a third-year French Composition or Conversation college course. The exam contains 1 hour and 25 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 15 minutes of free-response writing and speaking. It evaluates students’ ability to understand written and spoken French and to respond in correct and idiomatic French. Beginning with the 2008 AP French Language Exam, there will be a change in the presentation of the multiple-choice section of the exam. The questions based on listening dialogues (that is, both questions and suggested answers) will be printed in the exam booklets. No part of these questions will appear on the recording. The AP French Literature Exam is three hours in length and covers a third-year Introduction to French Literature college course. The exam contains 1 hour and 20 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 40 minutes of free-response questions, and measures students’ ability to understand, analyze, and interpret literary texts, and to write competent critical essays in French. Note: The AP French Literature required reading list has been revised for the 2007-08 course and exam.

German Language: This exam is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes in length and covers material roughly equivalent both in content and in difficulty to a third-year college German language course. The exam contains approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 10 minutes of free-response writing and speaking, and evaluates students’ ability to understand written and spoken German and to respond in correct and idiomatic German.

Government and Politics—Comparative, United States: Two 2-hour-and-25-minute exams covering one-semester introductory college courses. Both exams contain 45 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 40 minutes of free-response questions. The AP Comparative Government and Politics Exam covers an introduction to comparative politics; sovereignty, authority and power; political institutions; citizens, society, and the state; political and economic change; and public policy. Six countries form the core of this exam: China, Great Britain, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia. The AP United States Government and Politics Exam covers constitutional underpinnings of U.S. government; political beliefs and behaviors; political parties, interest groups, and mass media; institutions of national government (the Congress, the presidency, the bureaucracy, and the federal courts); public policy; and civil rights and civil liberties.

History—European: A 3-hour-and-5-minute exam covering a full-year introductory college course. The exam contains 55 minutes of multiple-choice questions, a 15-minute reading period, a 45-minute document-
based question (DBQ), and two 35-minute thematic essays chosen from several options. Questions on intellectual-cultural, political-diplomatic, and social-economic history form the basis of every section of the exam.

History—United States: A 3-hour-and-5-minute exam on a full-year introductory college course. The exam contains 55 minutes of multiple-choice questions, a 15-minute reading period, a 45-minute document-based question (DBQ), and two 35-minute essays chosen from several options. The exam covers political institutions, behavior, and public policy; social change and cultural and intellectual developments; diplomacy and international relations; and economic developments. The time period for the DBQ will not be announced.

History—World: A 3-hour-and-5-minute exam covering a full-year introductory college course. The exam contains 55 minutes of multiple-choice questions, a 10-minute reading period, and a 40-minute document-based question (DBQ), a 40-minute question dealing with continuity and change over time, and a 40-minute comparative question focusing on broad issues in world history. The exam covers impact of societal interactions; change and continuity across world history periods; impact of technology and demography; social and gender structures; cultural and intellectual developments; and functions and structures of states. The chronological frame of the course is the period from approximately 8000 b.c.e. to the present.

Human Geography: A 2-hour-and-15-minute exam covering a one-semester introductory college course. The exam includes a one-hour multiple-choice section and a 1-hour-and-15-minute free-response section. The exam covers the nature and perspectives of geography; population; cultural patterns and processes; political organization of space; agricultural and rural land use; industrialization and development; and cities and urban land use.

Italian Language and Culture: This exam assesses learning at the level of a fourth semester college/university course in Italian and is approximately three hours in length. It assesses students’ level of Italian language proficiency and cultural knowledge. Section I of the exam contains 1 hour and 20 minutes of multiple-choice questions that assess listening and reading comprehension. Section II contains 1 hour and 25 minutes of free-response questions that assess writing and speaking ability as well as cultural knowledge. It includes two fill-in exercises, two compositions (one on a cultural topic), a spoken narration, and a simulated conversation.

Japanese Language and Culture: This exam assesses the level of learning attained by students who have received approximately 300 hours of instruction in college- or university-level Japanese. It assesses interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational communication skills in Japanese, along with knowledge of Japanese culture. Section I contains multiple-choice questions that assess communication skills in the interpretive mode using listening and reading questions. The free-response section assesses communication skills in the interpersonal and presentational modes by requiring the student to produce written and spoken responses.

Latin—Literature, Vergil: Two three-hour exams covering intermediate (fourth- to sixth-semester) college work on either the works of Catullus and a choice of Cicero, Horace, or Ovid (Literature), or the Aeneid (Vergil). Colleges may cover the material required by the AP course in either one or two semesters. Each exam consists of a one-hour section of multiple-choice questions based on four Latin passages of poetry or prose (in each exam, one passage is from the course syllabus and three passages are to be read at sight), and a two-hour section of translations and essays on the readings required in the course syllabus.

Music Theory: The exam is approximately three hours in length and covers a full-year introductory college course. It contains approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes of multiple-choice questions, 1 hour and 10 minutes of free-response questions, and a sight-singing performance section that lasts approximately 8 minutes per student. In the free-response section, students are asked to do two exercises each of melodic and harmonic dictation; two part-writing exercises (one from figured bass, one from Roman numerals); and a composition exercise entailing composing a bass line from a given melody. In the sight-singing component, students are asked to sing two diatonic melodies after a brief practice period. Students will receive subscore grades for the aural (listening and sight-singing) and nonaural (written) portions of this exam in addition to the overall composite grade.

Physics—Physics B, Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism: Physics B is a three-hour exam covering a full-year noncalculus college survey course intended for students not majoring in a physical science or engineering. The exam contains 1 hour and 30 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 30 minutes of free-response questions. Physics C: Mechanics and Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism are 1-hour-and-30-minute exams each covering one semester of an introductory college course with calculus, intended for students planning to major in a physical science or engineering. Each contains 45 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 45 minutes of free-response questions. For both the Physics B and C exams, tables of commonly used equations are provided for use on the free-response section only. Scientific calculators, including programmable and graphing calculators, are permitted only for the free-response sections.

Psychology: A two-hour exam covering a one-semester introductory college course. The exam contains 1 hour and 10 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 50 minutes of free-response questions. The exam covers history and approaches; research methods; biological bases of behavior; sensation and perception; states of consciousness; learning; cognition; motivation and emotion; developmental psychology; personality; testing and individual differences; abnormal psychology; treatment of psychological disorders; and social psychology.

Spanish—Language, Literature: The AP Spanish Language Exam is approximately 3 hours in length and covers a third-year college course in advanced Spanish. The exam contains roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 40 minutes of free-response questions. The multiple-choice section measures listening and reading comprehension in the interpretive mode. The free-response section tests the productive skills of speaking and writing as well as command of standard Spanish grammar and usage. Some of the questions in the free-response section integrate several skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) and use of interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes. Spanish Literature is a 3-hour-and-10-minute exam covering a third-year college introduction to Peninsular and Latin American literature written in Spanish. The exam contains 1 hour and 20 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 50 minutes of free-response questions on required works and poetry analysis.

Statistics: A three-hour exam covering a one-semester introductory noncalculus-based college course. The exam contains 1 hour and 30 minutes of multiple-choice questions and 1 hour and 30 minutes of free-response questions. The free-response section requires students to answer five open-ended questions and complete an investigative task involving more extended reasoning. The exam covers exploring data; sampling and experimentation (planning and conducting a study); anticipating patterns (exploring random phenomena using probability and simulation); and statistical inference (estimating population parameters and testing hypotheses). Students are expected to bring a graphing calculator with statistical capabilities to the exam, and to be familiar with its use. Graphing calculators may be used for both sections of the exam.

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