The AP, or Advanced Placement, Program currently offers 34 courses across multiple subject areas. Each course is developed by a committee composed of college faculty and AP teachers, and covers the breadth of information, skills, and assignments found in the corresponding college course. AP courses are taught by highly qualified high school teachers. 

The AP Examinations are administered each year in May and represent the culmination of college-level work in a given discipline in a secondary school setting. Rigorously developed by committees of college and AP high school faculty, the AP Exams test students' ability to perform at a college level. Students have the choice of taking the AP Exam or opting out.

Most four-year colleges in the United States and colleges in more than 60 other countries give students credit, advanced placement in college courses, or both on the basis of AP Exam scores.