About the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®)

The Advanced Placement Program® enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue college-level studies — with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both — while still in high school. AP® Exams are given each year in May. Students who earn a qualifying score on an AP Exam are typically eligible to receive college credit and/or placement into advanced courses in college.

Advanced Placement Courses Offered at PHS

AP Government

AP Government provides an analytical perspective on government and politics in the United States. This course involves both the study of general concepts used to interpret U.S. politics and the analysis of specific case studies. It also requires familiarity with the various institutions, groups, beliefs, and ideas that constitute U.S. political reality.

AP Biology

AP Biology is designed to be taken by students after the successful completion of a first course in high school biology and one in high school chemistry. It aims to provide students with the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly changing science of biology. It provides students with the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly changing science of biology.

AP Language and Composition

AP Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of nonfiction prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.

AP Physics

AP Physics is an algebra-based, introductory college-level physics course that explores topics such as Newtonian mechanics (including rotational motion); work, energy, and power; mechanical waves and sound; and introductory, simple circuits. Through inquiry-based learning, students will develop scientific critical thinking and reasoning skills.

AP Chemistry

AP Chemistry is designed to be the equivalent of a college introductory chemistry course usually taken by students who have an interest in biological sciences, physical sciences, or engineering.  The Advanced Placement Chemistry course expands the knowledge and skills gained during the introductory high school chemistry course. It provides students with the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly changing science of chemistry.

AP Environmental Science

AP Environmental Science provides students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them.

AP Music Theory

AP Music Theory develops a student's ability to recognize, understand, and describe the basic materials and processes of music that are heard or presented in a score. The achievement of these goals may best be approached by initially addressing fundamental aural, analytical, and compositional skills using both listening and written exercises. Building on this foundation, the course should progress to include more creative tasks, such as the harmonization of a melody by selecting appropriate chords, composing a musical bass line to provide two-voice counterpoint, or the realization of figured-bass notation.

AP Microeconomics

AP Microeconomics provides a thorough understanding of the principles of economics that apply to the functions of individual decision makers, both consumers and producers, within the larger economic system. It places primary emphasis on the nature and functions of product markets, and includes the study of factor markets and of the role of government in promoting greater efficiency and equity in the economy.

AP 2D Studio

AP 2D Studio portfolios are designed for students who are seriously interested in the practical experience of art. AP Studio Art is not based on a written examination; instead, students submit portfolios for evaluation at the end of the school year. The AP Program offers three portfolios: Drawing, 2-D Design, and 3-D Design. The portfolios share a basic, three-section structure, which requires the student to show a fundamental competence and range of understanding in visual concerns (and methods). Each of the portfolios asks the student to demonstrate a depth of investigation and process of discovery through the concentration section (Section II). In the breadth section (Section III), the student is asked to demonstrate a serious grounding in visual principles and material techniques. The quality section (Section I) permits the student to select the works that best exhibit a synthesis of form, technique, and content.

AP Spanish

AP Spanish is comparable to an advanced level (5th- and 6th-semester or the equivalent) college Spanish language course. Emphasizing the use of Spanish for active communication, it encompasses aural/oral skills, reading comprehension, grammar, and composition.  The course seeks to develop language skills that are useful in themselves and that can be applied to various activities and disciplines, rather than to the mastery of any specific-subject matter.

AP Human Geography

AP Human Geography introduces students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface. Students learn to employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human socioeconomic organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their research and application.

AP Calculus

AP Calculus is similar to most first-semester calculus courses in college. Students investigate the fundamentals of differential and integral calculus.  Along with typical lectures and assessments, students participate in lab activities and one term project that demonstrate and enrich concepts presented in class.  Use of graphing utilities and computers is integrated into the course as well.  The prerequisite for this course is Analysis, but students from Trigonometry and/or non-AP Calculus can be enrolled with a teacher recommendation.  Completion of this course qualifies students to enroll in Calculus BC.

AP Statistics

AP Statistics introduces students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. Students are exposed to four broad conceptual themes.  Exploring Data: Describing patterns and departures from patterns; Sampling and Experimentation: Planning and conducting a study; Anticipating Patterns: Exploring random phenomena using probability and simulation; Statistical Inference: Estimating population parameters and testing hypotheses.

AP Literature and Composition

AP Literature and Composition provides the opportunity for students to engage in the critical analysis of poetry and prose. Through the close reading and explication of these texts, students will develop deeper understanding of how authors and poets utilize language to create effect and convey meaning. As students delve into various texts, they will identify such "big picture" concepts as themes, structure, and style as well as the smaller devices and literary elements that contribute to the work's purpose and overall meaning.  

AP Computer Science

AP Computer Science is an introductory college-level computer science course. Students cultivate their understanding of coding through analyzing, writing, and testing code as they explore concepts like modularity, variables, and control structures.

AP Macroeconomics

AP Macroeconomics explores the principles of economics that apply to an economic system as a whole. You’ll use graphs, charts, and data to analyze, describe, and explain economic concepts.

AP Psychology

AP Psychology explores the ideas, theories, and methods of the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. You’ll examine the concepts of psychology through reading and discussion and you’ll analyze data from psychological research studies.

AP US History

During AP US History, students will study the cultural, economic, political, and social developments that have shaped the United States from c. 1491 to the present. You’ll analyze texts, visual sources, and other historical evidence and write essays expressing historical arguments.

AP World History

AP World History is an introductory college-level modern world history course. Students cultivate their understanding of world history from c. 1200 CE to the present through analyzing historical sources and learning to make connections and craft historical arguments as they explore concepts like humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation.

AP French

AP French Language and Culture is equivalent to an intermediate level college course in French. Students cultivate their understanding of French language and culture by applying interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes of communication in real-life situations as they explore concepts related to family and community, personal and public identity, beauty and aesthetics, science and technology, contemporary life, and global challenges.

AP 3-D Art and Design

AP 3-D Art and Design is an introductory college-level three-dimensional design course. Students refine and apply skills and ideas they develop throughout the course to produce three-dimensional art and design.