AP is an abbreviation and stands for Advanced Placement. These tests are usually taken by American High school students in grade 9 to 12 to prove their study ability but are also available to be taken in foreign countries through two systems called College Board and Prometric.
What are AP exams and what are they good for?
Next to the American Common Core which is taught in American schools according to state law, students who want to study at top level universities in the United States of America, need to prove their study ability and show a diversified profile. Standardized testing can help them to show that they obtained the knowledge and necessary skills throughout their school time to attend one of the top national universities and distinguish themselves from other classmates who are not willing to challenge themselves with those tests.
Another advantage of taking AP exams for students is that they can obtain college credit for passed AP exams in certain subjects and then shorten their study time for gaining college credit in high school already.
The most important factor for students who want to take AP exams is to note that not the mass of passed AP exams is important but that universities and colleges want to see the impact of those courses on the students. Top-level universities usually want to see 2-3 passed AP exams with a minimum score of 3 out of 5. Extremely competitive universities might want to see scores that are much higher and might request up to 8 results with a score of 4 or 5 out of 5.
That can pose serious problems for students who do not like standardized testing and are not showing interest in a variety of subjects. If we take student A as an example who would like to study at a top 10 university in the states but wants to study Chemistry might need to take AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Physics 1 (or C: Mechanics), AP Physics 2 (or C: Electricity and Magnetism), AP Calculus BC, and AP Statistics. These are six subjects. If the student wants to be more competitive, they might also take AP Computer Science, and AP Environmental Science but then the mathematics and science direction is already exhausted and students might need to switch to some humanities subjects like AP Human Geography, Economics (Micro/Macro), an AP History (World, U.S., European), or a Language (English Language, English Literature, French, German, Chinese, Spanish, etc.)
While science students might seem to have an easy game to fill in 8 subject APs social science or humanities students might have it harder to take a high amount of AP subjects that would grant them college credit because of the rather limited number of subjects in the social direction.
Criticism and Objections
AP exams are coming from and are offered by a private company called 'College Board'. in the U.S. that might not raise much objection since most U.S. citizens are convinced that privatization is the way to go and do not see a problem in public or private universities to request AP results from that company to accept students or give out college credit. For nationals of other countries, this might raise suspicions and objections against even trying to study in the U.S. education system or reject to take an exam offered by a private institution to get into a good university.
Money might be the important factor here because a service that is paid for often has the problem that a specific outcome is expected and international parents might cause trouble for those private companies, ask their money back, or object the whole system if their children cannot reach the expected results on the exams.
This on the other hand puts schools and children under pressure to fulfill their parent's wishes which can be a big challenge is some countries where obedience to teachers and parents is valued higher and low grades in standardized exams are not tolerated and interpreted as a waste of money or failure that must not happen.
Another issue that arises from the private nature of AP exams is that only very few people might even be able to pay for all the exams, take them and prepare their children with private education and tutoring for those exams which gives priority to the rich parents around the world and lowers the chances of children from families with low means to attend top-level universities. This might increase the pressure on the international community to give birth to children later in life, not to join into international education and turn back to national education, or to promote a split in societies into rich and privileged vs. poor and underestimated.
Logic of AP exams
Most AP exams have a certain logic they follow and there are some recommendations for students who would like to take AP exams. However, these recommendation may vary from country to country and from student to student. We must not forget that some students have prepared better in certain subjects than others, or have acquired a higher level of education already before joining into an AP course which would lower the bar for them to do well on the respective exam.
For history exams, choosing an approach from broad to specific might be advisable. Starting with AP World History and/or AP Human Geography might be easier for most international students from Asian or African countries than to immediately move into European or U.S. History. These subjects might be easier for students from the respective countries.
Environmental Science and Human Geography are often considered 'easy' for many U.S. citizens, but might still be hard for international students while Computer Science or Calculus BC might be considered easier in Asia, where the mathematical education already starts in kindergarten.
To make sure the AP choices of a student align with their study wishes and with their abilities, the students might either take an SAT or PSAT beforehand or consult the respective teacher, mentor, or college counsellor for advice. Purely relying on outside agents or information from the internet might be helpful but can also go extremely wrong, if parents or students misinterpret, over- or underestimate their potential, or simply trap into the 'money trap' ("I pay for it, so tell me what I want to hear.")
In some countries, College Board is not allowed to administer AP exams directly for various political, cultural, or other reasons. In those countries, some exam options such as sensitive exams and courses like European History or other humanities subjects will not be offered. To avoid that students are signing up for those subjects nonetheless, the governments will usually employ other companies to order and supervise exams. This is precisely what prometric is doing in several countries around the world. Here in mainland China, students need to register through a school that signs students up of College Board but will not be able to order exams through the website and instead needs to download the final choices of AP exams for students in November and send them to Prometric to let this company review the sign-up options and order exams for students that can be taken in mainland China. (or other countries and regions worldwide)
After signing up the students, a refund on Prometric cannot be issued anymore and students will need to take exams or lose their money by May when exams take place at specific test locations and they do not show up, or decide not to take the respective exams. This is of course a long time to consider choices (November to May the following year) and involves extensive planning processes from schools and educators to prepare students respectively.
Some students will have the chance to fly out to another country and take AP exams there, if they can afford it and have the respective financial means and schools to agree to this procedure.
For more information on AP or personalized counselling, please contact me directly. If you are a student, I can provide you with helpful information for your application process and if you are a school principal, college counsellor, or other educational administrator, I can give you advice on how to implement AP options into your school curriculum and how to allocate your means towards your educational goals.
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