October 15 is the preferred date by which administrators should renew previously authorized courses that are again offered in the 2011-12 school year to ensure the inclusion of these courses in the initial publication of the AP Course Ledger in November.
The College Board is pleased to announce the release of free, downloadable AP® Practice Exams to all AP® Course Audit authorized teachers.*
AP teachers have frequently requested access to complete AP Exams in their subjects, available to them but inaccessible to students. We can now fulfill this request, because the AP Course Audit lets us deliver secure, password-protected content directly to AP teachers with authorized AP courses. To download the AP Practice Exam for your subject(s), simply sign in to your AP Course Audit account and click on the link “View Practice Exam” located on your Course Status Page.
AP teachers are encouraged to develop or maintain their own curriculum that either includes or exceeds each of these expectations; such courses will be authorized to use the "AP" designation. Credit for the success of AP courses belongs to the individual schools and teachers that create powerful, locally designed AP curricula.
The AP Biology course should be designed by your school to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of a two-semester college biology course taken by biology majors during their first year. Your AP Biology course needs to provide students with the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly changing science of biology.
Schools' AP Biology courses are typically designed to be taken by students after the completion of a first course in high school biology and one in high school chemistry. Students are encouraged to keep copies of their laboratory work for use in determining college credit or placement.
All students who are willing and academically prepared to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses. The College Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP courses for students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population.
High schools offering this exam must provide the exam administration resources described in the AP Coordinator's Manual
The AP Practice Exams may be duplicated for in-class, face-to-face instructional purposes only. To maintain the security of the practice questions for the benefit of AP teachers everywhere, individuals are not permitted to distribute the AP Practice Exams in any Web or electronic format, and we recommend that AP teachers collect the AP Practice Exams after student use.
Please note that the AP Practice Exams have not been administered as live exams, so there are no data to share regarding overall student performance. The questions on the AP Practice Exams are of the same caliber and difficulty as those presented on an operational AP Exam. However, the topics and content addressed in the AP Practice Exam questions should not be considered a preview or predetermination of potential questions on a future operational AP Exam.
We hope that the AP Practice Exams provide teachers an additional, valuable instructional resource that will help students engage in the academic rigor, depth and breadth required in college-level studies.
*Currently, there are no AP Practice Exams available for AP Chinese Language and Culture, for AP Japanese Language and Culture, and for AP Studio Art courses.
Annual AP Course Renewals
Beginning in August of each academic year, AP Course Audit administrators are responsible for renewing previously authorized courses that will again be offered. Administrators can renew courses online from their AP Course Audit account.
Independent Survey on
State
of AP
A new report on AP provides the perspective of a national sample of AP teachers on issues of the program's quality, growth, equity and rigor.
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