What are "Advanced Placement Courses"?

What are "Advanced Placement Courses"?

AP courses - advanced placement courses - are offered in some high schools around the country. They are given in certain subject areas such as AP English, AP U.S. History, AP Government and AP Physics. If a student is an accelerated learner, they can be placed in an advanced placement course. There's a test for AP courses that's given in May of that year of school. The tests are scored from 1 to 5 - 5 being the highest, 1 being the lowest. If students get a 3 or better, they'll pass the test. Colleges will usually give college credits for an AP course, if the student gets a 4 or a 5. It's hard, and somewhat controversial. There are some schools in this country who have dropped AP courses altogether, because of the content of AP courses which, sometimes, are just very knowledge-based because the curriculum is wound around the test that the students have to take in May. The argument is that the AP courses are not inquiry based, problem solving and thought provoking. There's not as much time to really get into the meat of a content area because you have to move on and learn the next thing. Advanced placement courses are a debatable subject, actually.