Advanced Placement

Taking an Advanced Placement (AP) class provides students an opportunity to experience a college level course with the potential to earn college credits.  AP classes offer students rigorous, standardized instruction while requiring students to meet a higher level of responsibility.  

AP courses can help you acquire the skills and habits you'll need to be successful in college. You'll improve your writing skills, sharpen your problem-solving abilities, and develop time management skills, discipline, and study habits.  More than 90 percent of four-year colleges in the United States and colleges in more than 60 other countries give students credit on the basis of AP Exam scores. By entering college with AP credits, you'll have the time to move into upper level courses, pursue a double-major or study abroad.

AP students are responsible for the following:

• Recognize that AP requires a year-long commitment of students. No schedule changes will be approved after the start of the year.
• Students who enroll in an AP course are expected to complete this course of study.
• Students who enroll in an AP course will take the respective AP exam in May 2026 (exam schedule provided below).
• AP courses taken at Walton High School or through an approved online provider will be given credit, an AP designation and receive the extra 1.0 extra quality point added to the GPA ONLY if the AP exam is taken and the student takes both semesters of the course if it is a yearlong/1.0 credit course.
• Seek help when needed by consulting one's study peer/group, parent, or teacher and attend tutoring/curriculum review sessions when offered.

Registering for courses and exams. 

At the start of the course, teachers will enroll students in the class section for each AP class they are taking using the unique join code for that class in AP Classroom.  In AP Classroom students will have access to online resources for the course. 

Note--students will begin this registration process by first signing in to their College Board account. This is the same login they may have used to access past AP scores and PSAT/NMSQT scores or to register for the SAT (NOTE: The College Board account MUST be in the student’s name—not a parent account.) Students should be prepared to access that account in class by knowing their College Board username and password. If students don’t have a College Board account or are unable to locate their old username and password, their teacher will instruct them in creating a new account.

Once a student has successfully “joined” that class, they are then registered for that AP exam and will have access to a wealth of useful tools, study resources, and formative feedback on progress (payment for exams is handled separately and is detailed below.)

AP Exams

Fully Digital Subjects 

Students complete multiple-choice and free-response questions in Bluebook, with all responses automatically submitted at the end of the exam.  

• AP African American Studies (U.S. schools only)  
• AP Art History  
• AP Comparative Government and Politics  
• AP Computer Science A
• AP Computer Science Principles  
• AP English Language and Composition  
• AP English Literature and Composition  
• AP Environmental Science  
• AP European History  
• AP Human Geography  
• AP Latin  
• AP Psychology  
• AP Seminar  
• AP United States Government and Politics  
• AP United States History  
• AP World History: Modern  

Hybrid Digital Subjects 

Students complete multiple-choice questions and view free-response questions in Bluebook. They handwrite their free-response answers in paper exam booklets that are returned for scoring.  

• AP Biology  
• AP Calculus AB  
• AP Calculus BC  
• AP Chemistry  
• AP Macroeconomics  
• AP Microeconomics  
• AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based  
• AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based  
• AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism  
• AP Physics C: Mechanics  
• AP Precalculus  
• AP Statistics  

Note: The AP Exam administration for exams with audio components and exams consisting solely of portfolio assessments is remaining unchanged for the May 2026 AP Exam administration:

• AP 2-D Art and Design
• AP 3-D Art and Design
• AP Drawing
• 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 Music Theory
• AP Research 
• AP Spanish Language and Culture
• AP Spanish Literature and Culture

AP EXAM SCHEDULE – SPRING 2026

Art and Design: Friday, May 8, 2026 (8 p.m. ET), is the deadline for AP Art and Design students to submit their three portfolio components as final in the AP Digital Portfolio.

For more information: If you are interested in reading more about the AP program see the parent resources at https://blog.collegeboard.org/parent-resource-understanding-ap

Please contact Walton’s AP Coordinator Christy Page at christina.page@cobbk12.org for any further questions. 

* AP, Advanced Placement Program, Pre-AP, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board. Used by permission.