AP exams (Advanced Placement)

Overview

What is an AP exam?

Advanced Placement (AP) exams are end-of-course tests run by the College Board. Most students take them after a year-long AP class at their high school, and the score, not the class grade, is what colleges use to award credit.

The 2027 exams are given over two weeks in May: May 3–7 and May 10–14, 2027.

What do AP scores mean?

Scores run from 1 to 5. The College Board describes each score as a recommendation about how qualified you are for college credit:

• 5: extremely well qualified (equivalent to a college A+ or A)
• 4: very well qualified (A-, B+ or B)
• 3: qualified (B-, C+ or C)
• 2: possibly qualified
• 1: no recommendation

Credit versus advanced placement

A college may grant credit hours that count toward the roughly 120 credits of a bachelor's degree, let you skip an introductory course without awarding hours (placement), or both. The College Board notes that there is no single national standard; every college publishes its own AP policy.

Eligibility considerations

Who can take an AP exam?

Students usually take AP exams through their own high school, but you do not have to be enrolled in the AP class to test.

If you are homeschooled or your school does not give AP exams, the College Board says to search its AP Course Ledger for a nearby school and contact that school's AP coordinator as early in the school year as possible. Schools submit exam orders by mid-November, and each school sets its own rules for outside students.

The process

How do you register and pay?

Your school's AP coordinator orders your exams and collects fees; you cannot pay on the College Board website. For 2026-27 the fee is $99 per exam in the U.S., U.S. territories, Canada and DoDEA schools, and $129 elsewhere.

• Ordering deadline for full-year and fall courses: November 13, 2026.
• Orders placed after that deadline carry a $40 late fee per exam.
• An exam you order but do not take costs $40 instead of the full fee.
• Students with significant financial need may qualify for a $37 College Board fee reduction per exam.

How do you send AP scores to a college?

Colleges generally award AP credit only from an official score report sent by the College Board. Each year you get one free score send; for 2027 scores the deadline to use it is June 20, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Before you test, use the College Board's AP credit policy search or the college's own catalog to see which score that college requires for each subject.

Potential benefits

What can AP credit do for you?

• Fill introductory or general education requirements, which can free space in your schedule for a double major, study abroad or upper-level classes.
• Move you into a higher first course in a sequence such as calculus or a world language.
• Cost less than the same course taken for tuition, since the exam fee is $99 in the U.S. for 2026-27.

How much credit you get depends on the college. The University of California's systemwide chart, for example, lists 8 quarter units (5.3 semester units) for Calculus BC and 4 quarter units for Calculus AB, while Florida's public colleges award credit under a statewide AP agreement.

Important limitations

What are the limits of AP credit?

• Minimum scores differ by college and by subject. Arizona State University's catalog table generally starts at a 3, and some subjects require a 4 or 5.
• Many colleges cap credit by exam. ASU allows no more than 60 hours of credit by examination toward a bachelor's degree; Valencia College allows 45 credits from all alternative methods combined.
• Some exams earn nothing at a given school. UC's chart says no credit is awarded for the AP Precalculus exam.
• Duplicates count once. If an AP exam overlaps another exam or a college course in the same subject, UC awards the credit only once.
• Credit may arrive as elective hours that do not satisfy a requirement in your major. UC states that each campus decides how AP units apply to graduation and general education requirements.

Check the policy at every college on your list, and confirm with an adviser once you enroll.