The Basics of AP Course Audit

Back in the day, Advance Placement courses were created and used for crediting and placement decisions. However, with the availability of more types of AP Courses for high school students, even the view of several colleges and universities regarding AP courses are beginning to change. More colleges are now viewing it as a major component in student applicant’s portfolios and educational backgrounds.

And for this, colleges are looking for a more tangible measure of the coursework that was used in that particular AP exam. This is the reason why the AP Course Audit has been created. This change was first felt and took effect in the 2007 to 2008 coursework evaluation, and College Board audited some of the courses as per the request of colleges and universities. The following provides a detailed look at the importance of AP Course Audit and the various changes that have been emerging in relation to this new movement.

What is an AP Course Audit?

In response to the need for colleges to see the coursework and evaluate the gravity and importance of the offered AP courses and examinations in high schools, the AP Course Audit was created by the College Board to fulfill two main goals. The first one is to provide high school teachers with the necessary requirements that would be considered in meeting the quality of AP courses, which would be made standard in most schools.

Secondly, AP Course Audit also enabled university administrations to determine the quality of the course that students take as AP courses. Given that there are a lot of AP courses that are now being given, their importance and credibility for college credit would have to be examined and standardized.

As a whole, the AP Course Audit was a quality check that assured administration of universities that the AP courses and exams that high school students took met the criteria and quality of college-level teaching, and can in fact, be used and credited accordingly for college hours. Because of this, professors and teachers are expected to follow a new set of AP guidelines that would meet the necessary requirements.

Importance of AP Course Audit

While the AP Course Audit is a means of ensuring that what is being taught is the required college-level instruction and topics, this does not mean that a dictation of the core curriculum and coursework is being done. In effect, the AP Course Audit is more of a list of expectations and a refined list of resources so that even the necessary college textbook source materials will be used in the AP course and exams.

This is the reason why schools are still given the freedom to offer course selections marked as an AP course. They also still have a choice of not applying the audit rules, which is why some schools still offer and administer exams that have not yet complied with the AP Course Audit.

For teachers who are planning to participate in the AP Course Audit, he or she would have to submit the AP Course Audit form and a syllabus that will be reviewed by college and university professors. When the course qualifies, it will then receive authorization to use the “AP” designation for the course.

Subjects That Are Commonly Up for AP Course Audit

Because AP Course Audit is trying to validate particular subjects that enhance a student’s knowledge on a subject and credit the appropriate courses that are marked as advance placement courses, one can find a handful of subjects listed in College Board where there is a provided list of what are expected in every subject.

The following is a list of some of the subjects that currently have AP Course Audit:

• Art History
• Biology
• Calculus AB
• Calculus BC
• Chemistry
• English Literature & Composition
• Environmental Science
• Japanese Language & Culture
• Macroeconomics
• Physics B
• Psychology
• World History