Explore AP Courses with Projects

Learn which AP courses use project based learning as an instructional approach or include projects or performance tasks as part of the AP Exam score.

Broaden Access to AP

AP Courses with Project Components

These popular courses allow students to demonstrate their understanding of course content and skills by creating and presenting projects, performance tasks, or portfolios.

  • AP Business with Personal Finance
  • English 10: AP Seminar
  • AP African American Studies
  • AP Computer Science Principles
  • AP Capstone (includes AP Seminar and AP Research)
  • AP Art and Design Courses

The Benefits of AP Courses with Projects

Relevant Now and Later

The knowledge and skills students learn in AP courses with project components can be applied both now and in the future.   

Get More Students Interested in AP

Offering AP courses that incorporate projects as part of the learning experience or the AP Exam score can get a wider range of students excited about trying AP for the first time.  

AP Business with Personal Finance

Through entrepreneurial projects, simulated work-based experiences, and case studies, students build business, decision making, and personal finance skills that prepare them for careers in diverse settings. Students bring learning to life through two projects—launching a business idea with the Business Canvas Project and giving advice in a financial advisor project. Developed in collaboration with college faculty and industry leaders, this Career Kickstart™ course also gives students the opportunity to earn college credit.

In AP Business with Personal Finance, kids get to start their own businesses. They can be creative, work in teams, and make decisions—skills that are transferable into every single career. Dr. Kerri Largo, Business Education Teacher and Department Chair, Hoffman Estates High School, Illinois

AP African American Studies

AP African American Studies is an interdisciplinary course that helps students develop critical source analysis skills, especially historical, literary, visual, and data analysis. Students complete a three-week individual project, choosing, researching, and presenting their findings on a topic of their own interest. It’s an ideal way for students to try AP for the first time. The course is designed to provide every student with a strong foundation in facts and evidence about African American history and culture. 

The class is so unlike any other AP course in the way that it’s inclusive, educational, and welcoming to students of any educational level. AP student.

AP Computer Science Principles

Engage students who are new to computing through real-world topics, such as coding, data, and the impact of technology. AP Computer Science Principles introduces students to foundational concepts of computer science and challenges them to explore how computing and technology affect everything from healthcare to music—and no prior coding experience is needed. Students design and build a computer program to solve a problem, enable innovation, explore a personal interest, or express their creativity. 

AP Computer Science Principles ignites critical thinking and allows for collaboration through projects and group exploration. Students also develop problem-solving skills that will be useful in any job in the future. Marcy Boyd, AP Computer Science Principles teacher.

English 10: AP Seminar

Taking AP Seminar in 10th grade sets students up for success in future high school courses, college, and beyond. An English course taught in the AP Seminar style, this interdisciplinary course helps students develop foundational writing, presentation, collaboration, and academic research skills, as they explore topics of their choosing. Each student’s AP score is based on two performance tasks: a Team Project and Presentation and an Individual Written Argument and Presentation. Many schools are offering AP Seminar as English 10 because it aligns with their state standards and can be integrated into their existing curriculum frameworks. This approach offers a wide range of students early access to AP through relevant coursework and project based assessments.

I was an English teachers for 17 years, and I've seen that AP Seminar teaches critical academic skills that translate to being successful in all facets of a student's academic career. Jason Marvel, principal, Wasilla High School, Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, Alaska

AP Research

Building on the inquiry and analysis skills developed in AP Seminar, AP Research engages students in a yearlong, independent research project. As the second course in the AP Capstone Diploma™ Program, students investigate a topic of personal interest and present their findings through an academic paper and a presentation with an oral defense.

AP Capstone Diploma Program

Help students truly stand out to colleges with this program featuring two yearlong courses: AP Seminar and AP Research. Students explore real-world topics of interest as they build vital skills for college success, such as critical thinking, analysis, collaboration, and written and oral presentation.  They can also earn one of two different AP Capstone™ awards, which are valued by colleges across the United States and around the world. 

AP Art and Design Courses

In AP Art and Design courses, students develop the skills that artists and designers use to create a portfolio of work. Their AP score is based on their portfolio, which includes works of art and their responses to prompts about those works. 

Professional Learning Opportunities

The AP Project Based Learning Series, a one-year professional learning program, helps teachers in select AP courses adopt and implement a project based learning approach. It’s designed to anchor their AP course in projects that integrate the content and skills in the course framework. Workshops in the AP Project Based Learning Series are designed and delivered by PBLWorks, the premier organization in Project Based Learning (PBL) teaching methodology. 

Widening Access to Pre-AP

Prepare Students for Success in AP with Pre-AP

Pre-AP courses help students build the foundational skills and content knowledge they’ll need to thrive in AP, with course options across multiple subject areas. All courses are aimed at expanding AP access and preparing students for college and career success.

Explore Pre-AP

A No-Cost Option to Sample Pre-AP

College Board aims to ensure all students are ready with the knowledge and skills they’ll need to take their first AP course. To support this goal, we’re making all Pre-AP courses available for free to any school that enrolls:

  • 12th-grade students in AP Precalculus
  • 10th-grade students in AP African American Studies, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Seminar, or English 10: AP Seminar
  • High school students in AP Business with Personal Finance or AP Cybersecurity
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