Choosing your Advanced Placement (AP) courses is an important decision, one that can impact both your high school and college career. The majority of high schools across the country offer at least one AP course, with some offering a wide variety of courses.
With nearly 40 AP classes to choose from, many students are worried about finding the best AP classes for college. Specifically, that means finding a balance between academically challenging themselves without overloading their schedule.
In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know when it comes to understanding the APs, including:
- An overview of AP courses
- How to earn college credit through AP courses
- A comprehensive list of AP courses offered by CollegeBoard
- Easiest and hardest AP exams
- How to build out your AP course list, and more!
Let’s start by solidifying our understanding of what AP courses actually are.
What are AP Classes?
AP classes are part of CollegeBoard’s Advanced Placement Program. Advanced Placement courses, more commonly known as AP courses, are designed to mirror the rigor and curriculum of introductory college-level courses.
Once these courses are developed by CollegeBoard, high school teachers take these guidelines to design their own AP courses. That means that while the basic curriculum is the same across any given AP class, the exact syllabus and week-to-week assignments of a particular course will depend on the school and the teacher instructing the course.
The purpose of AP classes is to provide students with the opportunity to advance their education and take college-level courses while still in high school. However, it’s important to clarify that AP classes are different from dual enrollment.
Dual enrollment allows students to take college-level courses through a college and gain both high school and college credit by completing the course. AP classes allow students to take college-level courses through a high school, but they only gain high school credit. In order to gain college credit, students must earn a qualifying score on an AP course’s corresponding AP exam.
AP Classes and College Credit: How it works?
While you may already know AP classes can help you earn college credit, there are some key nuances to consider. First and foremost, simply taking an AP course does not earn you college credit. In fact, the grade you earn in the class itself has no impact on your ability to qualify for a college credit.
In reality, college credit is earned through AP exams. AP exams are cumulative tests offered each spring in May. Typically, the format is a 2-3 hour-long exam that contains both multiple-choice and free-response questions. However, certain AP classes, such as AP Art and Design, assess students based on a body of work or portfolio.
AP exams are graded on a 5-point scale. To “pass” the test, students must earn a 3 or higher. While this may be enough to gain college credit at some schools, many colleges and universities require students earn at least a 4 or 5 to qualify for college credit. With this in mind, the best AP classes for college may be the ones with AP exams you feel you can earn a top score on.
List of AP Classes
On CollegeBoard’s website, you can find a comprehensive list of available AP courses. Overall, the courses are divided into the following seven categories:
- Arts
- English
- History and Social Sciences
- Math and Computer Science
- Sciences
- World Languages and Cultures
- AP Capstone Diploma Program
As you can see, these categories mirror the general types of courses you can expect to take to fulfill your high school requirements. So, let’s take a look at some of the courses available in each of these subjects.
AP Arts Courses
- AP Art and Design (2-D/3-D)
- AP Drawing
- AP Art History
- AP Music Theory
AP English Courses
- AP English Language and Composition
- AP English Literature and Composition
AP History and Social Science Courses
- AP Comparative Government and Politics
- AP European History
- AP Human Geography
- AP Macroeconomics
- AP Microeconomics
- AP Psychology
- AP United States Government and Politics
- AP United States History
- AP World History
AP Math and Computer Science Courses
- AP Calculus (AB/BC)
- AP Computer Science
- AP Precalculus
- AP Statistics
AP Science Courses
- AP Biology
- AP Chemistry
- AP Environmental Science
- AP Physics (1/2/C)
- AP Psychology
AP World Language and Culture Courses
- AP Chinese Language and Culture
- AP French Language and Culture
- AP German Language and Culture
- AP Italian Language and Culture
- AP Japanese Language and Culture
- AP Latin
- AP Spanish Language and Culture
- AP Spanish Literature and Culture
AP Capstone Diploma Program
- AP Research
- AP Seminar
While CollegeBoard offers a wide variety of AP courses, keep in mind your high school may not offer every course on this list. As you begin considering which AP courses you’d like to take, be sure to connect with your school counselor to determine which courses may be available to you.
Top 5 Best AP Classes for High School Students
Now, you may be wondering, what are the best AP classes for college? APs are undoubtedly a great opportunity for students to advance themselves academically. You can figure out how you like to learn and the best ways to prepare for a big exam. And, you can learn key introductory information that will help you jump into higher-level courses in college.
With all that in mind, there is no definitive answer to which AP classes will best prepare you for college. However, there are certain types of AP classes that you will certainly benefit from, regardless of your college plans.
Here are five types of AP classes to consider taking.
Math
In general, students of any major will be required to take some type of math coursework to fulfill their general requirements. Therefore, students should consider taking AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, or AP Statistics. In fact, at some schools like Northwestern University, scoring a 5 on AP Calculus BC can earn you 3 college credits.
English
As with math, English and humanities are common general requirements for any college major. An AP English course will help you gain valuable writing skills you can apply to any of your college courses. Consider taking AP English Language and Composition or AP English Literature and Composition. These are two of the five most popular AP exams across all high schools.
Science
Another subject you might consider exploring AP courses in is science. High school students can expect to take courses such as biology, chemistry, and physics—depending on their school’s specific requirements. So, if you find a course that particularly interests you, you can plan to take the more advanced AP course.
Foreign Language
If you are pursuing a Bachelor of Arts, your major may require some level of foreign language study. Satisfying this requirement in high school can put you ahead in your major requirements. Or, you may even feel inspired to continue your language studies, potentially studying abroad or earning a minor in that language.
Courses related to your major
If you already know what area of study you’d like to pursue in college, this category is for you. Certainly, some of the best AP classes for college are the ones that directly prepare you for your major. For instance, if you are planning on pursuing a degree in economics, you may want to take AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, or AP Statistics.
Overall, having a mix of AP classes is a great way to maintain a balanced course load. Furthermore, you may be wondering which courses are easiest to ace. Up next, let’s discuss some of the hardest and easiest AP classes.
What are the Hardest AP Classes?
In general, you can expect any AP course to provide a certain level of challenge. However, one method for determining the hardest AP courses is to look at AP scores.
Each year, CollegeBoard reports the score distributions for each AP class. You can see the percentage of students who took the exam that earned a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Additionally, you can see how many students earned a 3 or above, or a passing grade. For this list, we’re looking at the AP classes where the lowest percentage of students earned a 3 or higher.
Here are ten of the hardest AP classes:
- AP Physics 1
- AP United States History
- AP United States Government & Politics
- AP Environmental Science
- AP Human Geography
- AP English Language and Composition
- AP Latin
- AP Calculus AB
- AP European History
- AP Psychology
It’s clear from the numbers that these courses are some of the hardest AP exams. However, there are many factors at play that may contribute to the difficulty of the exams themselves. For instance, history classes require a large volume of memorization, requiring students to recall specific details across a large span of time.
In the next section, you may be surprised to see some AP counterpoints on the easiest class list. As you preview the list, consider why AP Calculus AB and AP English Language are on the hardest AP class list, while AP Calculus BC and AP English Literature are on the easiest AP class list.
What are the Easiest AP Classes?
Now, turning our attention back to AP scores, let’s look at the AP classes with the highest percentage of students earning a 3 or above.
Here are ten of the easiest AP classes:
- AP Chinese Language and Culture
- AP Drawing
- AP Research
- AP Spanish Language and Culture
- AP 2-D Art & Design
- AP Calculus BC
- AP English Literature and Composition
- AP Japanese Language and Culture
- AP Chemistry
- AP Physics C: Mechanics
Compared to the hardest AP classes, you’ll see several AP courses on here that do not culminate in a formal test. For instance, AP Drawing, AP Research, and AP 2-D Art & Design scores are given based on a review of a student’s portfolio. In this instance, students do not have to perform under a time crunch in a stressful testing setting. So, students who may struggle on a larger test may find themselves doing better on these types of assessments.
However, even though students scored higher on these tests, you can still see very challenging courses like AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C: Mechanics on this list. So, why are students scoring higher? Perhaps because students are committed to taking these challenging courses; they have planned to put in the extra work required to grasp these difficult concepts. Or, maybe only those who have done well in their coursework have chosen to take the test.
Ultimately, it’s important to remember that no AP classes are significantly “easier” than others. All AP courses will be challenging compared to a typical high school course and even an honors-level course. With that in mind, let’s talk about just how many of these challenging courses you should take.
How many AP Classes should I take?
To put it plainly, there is no magic number when it comes to how many AP classes you should take. It’s true that if your high school offers AP courses, admissions teams will be looking to see if you took advantage of those offerings. However, while determining the best AP classes for college applications, it’s important to consider the pros and cons of adding AP courses into your schedule.
Even if you avoid the hardest AP exams, overloading on AP classes can have a negative impact. You may find it difficult to keep up your grades and GPA, or you may feel like you don’t have enough time to dedicate to your other courses and extracurriculars. Plus, if your goal is ultimately to earn college credit, you’ll still need to worry about your AP scores at the end of the year.
For this reason, it can be valuable to look ahead and consider how many AP exams you feel like you could realistically prepare for at once. Along with your other final exams and projects, do you feel like you could study for one additional AP exam? How would you feel concurrently preparing for three? Be realistic about your commitments, and remember taking just one AP course is valuable.
How to choose the Best AP Classes for you!
So, how do you decide the best AP classes for you? Avoiding the hardest AP exams or obsessing over AP scores isn’t the best strategy. Instead, try to focus on classes that genuinely pique your interest. For instance, if you’ve taken freshman biology and found yourself disinterested in the material, don’t push yourself to take AP Biology just because your school offers it.
On the other hand, don’t be afraid to try something new! While you may have never taken a computer science class before, enrolling in AP Computer Science may unlock a new passion you would have never realized otherwise.
Regardless of whether a specific course is related to your intended major, there are still countless benefits of taking AP courses that will help you in the long run. By engaging with the material, you’ll strengthen your critical thinking, writing, and study skills.
Therefore, the best AP classes for college are the ones you are prepared to dedicate yourself to. By staying involved and putting in the work, you can earn a stellar grade to impress college admissions offices and a high exam score to secure college credit.
More resources on AP Classes
If you want to further explore the best AP classes for college, there are plenty of great resources online for you to check out. Take a look at this webinar on AP and IB coursework and read our guides on the easiest and hardest AP classes.
Additionally, exploring the AP credit policy search can give you a sense of what AP scores a specific school will accept for college credit. Consider which classes might provide value in the form of college credit and which ones you’d be happy to take even if you don’t earn a high enough score in the end.
Beyond using online resources to explore the best AP classes for college, we recommend connecting with your school counselor. Together, you can discuss your coursework and how AP classes can fit into your schedule. Additionally, a college counselor can help you decide which classes align with your goals and will provide you with the most benefits in the long run.
Best AP Classes for College: Final Takeaways
With so many AP classes to choose from, deciding which AP classes to take might feel overwhelming. Just remember: AP courses are meant to be challenging, so you need to be realistic about your AP course list.
The best AP classes for college are going to depend on your strengths, your goals, and your interests. Rather than being intimidated by your school’s AP classes, look at them as an opportunity to grow! Remember, countless high school students just like you decide to enroll in AP classes every year. So, do your research, consider your relationship with the material and the teachers at your school, and make a choice that makes sense for you.
