AP Benefits for Schools and Districts - K-12 Leaders

Why Bring AP to Your School?

Advanced Placement® (AP) courses and exams can help students develop the confidence and skills necessary to succeed in high school, college, and career. Exposing a wide range of students to advanced coursework can also help increase college readiness for the entire school or district. All schools offering AP receive free access to AP Classroom, an online platform that provides flexible instructional resources to support student learning. And additional information is available to support you—whether you’re launching, building, or cultivating your AP program.

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Impacts of Advanced Placement

The AP Advantage

Half of students entering four-year colleges start school with credits from AP courses. Give your students that same advantage.

Build Your AP Program

More Than a Score

While 2 out of 3 AP students earn college credit, success in AP is measured by more than exam results. Taking an AP class influences college attendance and graduation rates.

Impacts of AP

The Power of One

Research shows taking just one AP course changes student outcomes and substantially improves both their first-year college GPA and on-time college graduation rates.

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Real-World Ready

Learning through projects can help students develop the inquiry skills to take on real-world challenges.

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Prepare the Future Workforce with AP 

AP courses and exams help students develop valuable skills for countless careers. Encourage your students to explore their interests and passions through AP.

Explore Career Connections to AP

For most of high school, I didn't know what major to choose in college or what career I wanted. AP classes provided me with a more in-depth look into career options and skills I’d want in the future. It would’ve been impossible for me to decide otherwise.

Patrick, AP Alum

The Benefits of AP

Build Skills and Confidence

Taking AP courses and exams helps students build the skills and confidence needed for high school, college, and career success.

Improve College Outcomes

Students who take AP are more likely to attend college and graduate on time than students who don’t take AP—regardless of their exam score.

Save on Future Costs

In 2023, U.S. students earned over 3 million qualifying AP Exam scores. That’s a potential savings of over $3.4 billion in tuition and fees for students and families.

Discover the Benefits

AP Courses Designed to Engage More Students

States, districts, and schools across the U.S. offer Advanced Placement courses and exams as a critical part of their college and career readiness efforts. Explore AP courses designed to reach more students.

English 10: AP Seminar

AP Seminar helps students develop critical thinking, collaboration, and academic research skills on topics of their choosing. Many schools offer AP Seminar as an English course, with the most rapid adoption in grade 10.

Explore AP Seminar

AP Precalculus

Created for students ready for high school precalculus, this course prepares them to succeed in the math courses they’ll encounter in college. AP Precalculus can be offered in place of your precalculus or trigonometry course.

Explore AP Precalculus

AP Computer Science Principles

AP Computer Science Principles introduces students to foundational concepts of computer science and challenges them to explore how computing and technology can impact the world.

Explore AP Computer Science Principles

AP African American Studies

AP African American Studies is an interdisciplinary course that examines the diversity of African American experiences through direct encounters with rich and varied sources.

Explore AP African American Studies

Explore All AP Courses

Expand Access to 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. 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 or 10th-grade students in AP African American Studies, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Seminar, or English 10: AP Seminar.

Explore Pre-AP

Find More AP-Ready Students with AP Potential

If your school offers the PSAT 8/9, PSAT 10, PSAT/NMSQT, or SAT, use the free, online AP Potential™ tool to help you more easily identify students with the potential to succeed in AP. Whether you’re considering adding additional sections to your existing courses or adding new courses to your master schedule, the AP Potential tool can help you build your AP program or better understand areas of opportunity to expand it.

Explore AP Potential

Free AP Resources

Schools and districts who adopt Advanced Placement courses can access a variety of free resources that support learning and instruction to meet their school community's unique needs.

Instructional Resources

AP Classroom is an online platform that provides flexible instructional resources for each AP course to support student learning of all course content and skills.

Learn About AP Classroom

Practice Resources

The AP Program offers practice resources to help students stay on track with their AP courses and prepare for AP Exams.

Explore Student Resources

Outreach and Support Resources

These materials were designed to help you build awareness of AP, announce new AP courses, and welcome students and parents to AP.

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Student Recruitment Hub

Use these downloadable handouts, web pages, videos, and other resources to recruit students to your AP program.

Visit the Hub

AP courses prepared me for collaborative work and taught me how to seek help effectively. The abundance of resources in AP Classroom—practice questions, study materials, and interactive tools—enhanced my understanding and exam readiness. Earning college credits through AP Exams provided a head start in higher education. AP classes offered a glimpse into the rigor and expectations of college courses.

Hana Mariyam, AP Alum

Achieving AP School Honor Roll Status

The AP School Honor Roll recognizes schools that are delivering results for students while broadening access to advanced learning opportunities through their AP programs. Schools can earn this recognition based on criteria that reflect a commitment to increasing college-going culture, providing opportunities for students to earn college credit, and maximizing college readiness. Learn more about the qualifying criteria and how to be considered.

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