Appendix A.5. The College Board

Advanced Placement Exam (AP)

The Advanced Placement (AP) program is a curriculum sponsored by the College Board that offers high school students the opportunity to take college-level courses in a high school setting. A student taking an AP course in high school can earn college credit for participation by attaining a certain minimum score on the AP exam in that subject area.

The AP program offers courses in 34 subjects. Although nearly 60 percent of U.S. high schools in the United States offer AP courses, the College Board does not require students to take an AP course before taking an AP exam. AP exams are offered once a year in May. Most of the exams take 2 to 3 hours to complete. The scores for all AP exams range from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score. Over 90 percent of the nation's colleges and universities have an AP policy granting incoming students credit, placement, or both, for qualifying AP exam scores.

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SAT

The Admissions Testing Program of the College Board is made up of a number of college admissions tests, including the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test (PSAT) and the Scholastic Assessment Test, now known as the SAT. High school students participate in the testing program as sophomores, juniors, or seniors––some more than once during these 3 years. If they have taken the tests more than once, only the most recent scores are tabulated. The PSAT and SAT report subscores in the areas of mathematics and verbal ability.

The SAT results are not representative of high school students or college-bound students nationally, since the sample is self-selected (i.e., taken by students who need the results to apply to a particular college or university). Public colleges in many states, particularly in the Midwest, parts of the South, and the West, require ACT scores rather than SAT scores. The proportion of students taking the SAT in these states is very low and is inappropriate for comparison. In recent years, approximately 1.5 million high school students have taken the SAT examination annually. The current version of the SAT, which includes a writing component, was first administered in March 2005; a redesigned SAT is planned for 2016.

Further information on AP and the SAT can be obtained from

The College Board National Office
45 Columbus Ave.
New York, NY 10023-6917
http://www.collegeboard.org/