General Information:
(From: AP Worldwide, published by the College Board, 1997, and collegeboard.com, 2002, and AP International Recognition 2009)

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program, sponsored by the College Board, is an intensive program of 30 university-level courses and examinations. In 2008, over 1.6 million students took Advanced Placement examinations globally. The grades from these examinations were used by nearly 3,000 universities worldwide as one means of determining the academic qualifications of matriculating students.
The AP Program provides course descriptions and teaching materials as well as examinations based on those descriptions. It does not, however, prescribe the textbook, schedule of lessons, or teaching techniques.

AP examinations are offered throughout the world each May. Most examinations are three hours; some are shorter. They are administered at participating schools. Except for studio art - which consists of a portfolio assessment - all the examinations contain a section that is free response (either essay or complex problem solving) and another section consisting of multiple-choice questions. The modern language examinations also contain a performance section that includes recording student responses on audiotape.

In June, the examinations - as well as portfolios in studio art - are graded by more than 3,400 college and secondary-school teachers brought together especially for this purpose. The faculty consultants' judgments on the essay or problem-solving questions are combined with the results of scoring the multiple-choice questions, and the total raw scores are converted by the chief faculty consultants to the program's five-point scale:

• 5 - extremely well qualified
  
• 4 - well qualified
  
• 3 - qualified
  
• 2 - possibly qualified
  
• 1 - no recommendation

Advanced Placement examinations administered outside the United States represent a volume that is growing at about 7 percent annually.

The College Board additionally offers the Advanced Placement International Diploma (APID) for overseas study. The APID is an option which will document mastery over a range of challenging academic subjects for students intending to enroll in a university outside the United States and Canada. The following are the criteria for awarding the Advanced Placement International Diploma:

1. The student's higher education plans include application to a university outside the United States or Canada.
   
2. The student earns AP grades of 3 or higher on five AP examinations (or the equivalent half-year courses) encompassing three of five academic areas.
   
3. The distribution requirement within the five areas is a breakdown of the following.
   
   A.) Two AP Exams from two different languages selected from English and/or world languages.
   
   B.) One AP Exam designated as offering a global perspective: World History, Human Geography, and Government and Politics: Comparative
   
   C.) One exam from the sciences or mathematics content areas
   
   D.) One (or two) additional exam (s) from among any content areas except English and world languages. These include the content areas already described as well as history and social sciences and arts.
   
   *for further information concerning the AP program please refer to the following website: www.collegeboard.com/student/testing(ap/exgrd_intl.html
   
   
   Currently, universities in more than 60 countries recognize AP in their admissions processes. A complete list of countries and universities with their respective AP policies is listed at www.collegeboard,com/student/testing/AP/intad.html
   
   
   

   Area	Examination Subjects
   Area I:	Languages: English Language, English Literature, French Language, French Literature, German Language, Latin-Vergil, Latin Literature, Spanish Language, Spanish Literature
   Area II:	Sciences: Biology, Chemistry, Physics B, Physics C Electricity & Magnetism*, Physics C Mechanics*
   Area III:	Mathematics: Calculus AB, Calculus BC
   Area IV:	History and Social Sciences: Government and Politics-Comparative*, Government and Politics-U.S.*, Macroeconomics*, Microeconomics*, European History, U.S. History, Psychology*
   Area V:	Computer Science A*, Computer Science AB, History of Art, Studio Art, Music Theory

   
   
   *Indicates the AP examinations that cover half-year college courses. These exams are given half the weight of exam results corresponding to full-year college courses.

   
   

   The AP program gives high-school students the opportunity to participate in classes that are invariably more rigorous and in-depth than other high-school offerings. To enroll in an AP class is to enter a world of intense discussion and thought, a class where students are given the intellectual responsibility to think for themselves. Students in AP classes learn to reason, analyze, and understand. Such intellectual training inevitably helps them succeed in college where these skills are essential.
   
   Many students also use AP to broaden their intellectual horizons. Some, for example, pursue double majors or a combined B.A./M.A. program; others exercise the option to take more advanced courses in disciplines where they received a firm grounding from the AP; still others take a year off to travel or study abroad.
   
   AP students are a good bet for colleges. Already exposed to college-level work through the AP program, they arrive at college better prepared for serious academic work. Well-prepared students not only make teaching and learning especially rewarding; they also tend to be more motivated - a factor known to increase retention. Studies show that many students who take the AP exams graduate in four years with a GPA of 3.0 or above.

   
   
   
   1. More than 90 percent of U.S. colleges and universities give credit and advanced placement to AP students.
      
   2. Some 50 percent of U.S. colleges and universities offer sophomore standing to students who have a sufficient number of qualifying grades.
      
   3. A 1998 ETS study concluded that students with qualifying grades of 3 or above on AP exams earn higher grades in advanced college courses than classmates who have taken the prerequisite college course.
      
   4. Recent data show that AP students tend to follow the same course of study at college that they began in AP. This is particularly true of AP students of biology, physics, calculus, studio art, and Spanish literature.
      
   5. The AP program actively develops new technologies to enhance its offerings. In 2000-2001, institutions participating in AP electronic score reporting received scores over the Internet. During this pilot year, 38,000 AP grades were sent electronically to 27 institutions, including Harvard, Dartmouth, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
   
   

   The school's successful participation in the Advanced Placement program since 1983, the widespread international recognition of AP scores, and the strength of the AP curricula have convinced the administration of AIS-Salzburg that the College Board's Advanced Placement program provides AIS-Salzburg's students opportunities superior to those of the International Baccalaureate. Given the fact that most international schools do offer the IB, we would like to provide the following specific comparative information to students and parents considering enrollment at AIS-Salzburg:

   
   

   Advanced-Placement Program	International Baccalaureate
   Students can build up an AP profile over the course of several years.	Student are restricted to completing the IB diploma program during the final two years of school.
   Students sit examinations as they complete the respective course.	Student write all examinations at the completion of the second year of the program.
   Students can sample a wide variety of advanced courses.	Students must enroll in six two year courses, excluding other possible interests.
   Each course combines breadth and depth in treating the subject.	Each course emphasizes depth of treatment, not breadth.
   The flexibility of the AP program allows for additional boarding-school demands on student time.	The inflexibility of the IB program does not allow, or comes into conflict with, some boarding-school requirements.
   Entrance to German universities requires 4 examinations in year-long AP subjects, one of which must be mathematics or science.*	German universities require the entire IB diploma program plus four years of a second foreign language.
   Austrian universities require 4 AP examinations in year-long subjects, one of which must be calculus.*	Austrian universities require the entire IB diploma program.
   British universities require three AP examinations.*	British universities require the entire IB diploma program.

   
   
   *With acceptable scores.

   
   

   Further questions concerning the Advanced Placement program can be directed to the AIS-Salzburg administration at anytime by utilizing the following contacts:
   
   Mr. Jeff Agardy
   College Counselor
   jagardy(at)ais-salzburg.at
   
   

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   Last update:  Monday, July 6, 2009