Advanced Placement Program

The Advanced Placed (AP) program is a cooperative educational endeavor between secondary schools and colleges and universities.  The AP program offers college-level courses and exams that give high school students the opportunity to receive advanced placement and/or credit in college.  The purpose of the AP/PreAP program offers students the opportunity to develop higher level thinking skills through an immersion in rigorous content, an accelerated pace, and performance assessment at the synthesis and evaluative levels.

Midland ISD is committed to the principle that all students deserve an opportunity to participate in a rigorous and academically challenging curriculum.  Because of this commitment, students are highly encouraged to take AP courses when appropriate.  According to research, by the time students enter college, the types of courses they took in high school are more important than test scores, class rank, or grade averages.  Students participating in AP courses are significantly more likely to attain a college degree than those without an AP experience. (Adelman 1999).

Midland ISD currently offers over twenty (20) AP courses at each of our high schools and junior high schools.  Content and curricular goals for each AP discipline are outlined in an AP Course description supplied by the College Board and can be found in the Advanced Placement Program Student and Parent Information Booklet.

AP Courses

AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC
AP Chemistry
AP Computer Science A
AP English Language and Composition lll
AP English Literature and Composition IV
AP Environmental Science
AP French Language
AP German Language
AP Latin Vergil
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP Music Theory
AP Physics B
AP Physics C
AP Psychology
AP Spanish Language
AP Spanish Literature
AP US Government
AP Comparative Government
AP US History

PreAP Courses

PreAP Algebra l
PreAP Algebra ll
PreAP Biology
PreAP Chemistry
PreAP English l
PreAP English ll
PreAP English lll
PreAP French lll
PreAP German lll
PreAP Latin lll
PreAP Physics
PreAP Pre-Calculus
PreAP Spanish lll
PreAP World Geography
PreAP World History
7th & 8th grade PreAP English
7th & 8th grade PreAP Science
7th & 8th grade PreAP Math
7th grade Texas History
8th grade US History

AP EXAMS

Approximately 1200 institutions of higher learning award credit based on a student's AP examination scores.  AP examinations are structured to measure depth of knowledge, completeness of thought, and synthesis of ideas.  Each AP exam contains both multiple choice and free response questions that require essay writing, problem solving, and other skills.  Each exam receives an overall score based on a five point scale, with college credit usually given for scores of 3 or higher:

Scale:

5 - Extremely well qualified
4 - Well qualified
3 - Qualified
2 - Possibly qualified
1 - No recommendation

AP exams are administered each year during the first two weeks of May.  AP Grade Reports are sent in July to each student's home address, high school, and if the student has requested, to designated colleges.

Each college and university decides how much credit to award for AP scores.  This information can be found by using the AP Credit Policy search at www.collegeboard.com/ap/creditpolicy