Advanced Placement (AP) Courses

AP Biology MCPS course is AP Biology A/B (SCI2040A/SCI2040B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This course is designed for students to continue their interest in biology. The course emphasizes laboratory investigations and builds on the concepts covered in Biology. Students prepare to take the AP Biology examination at the end of the course. Topics include chemistry of life, cytology, cellular energetics, genetics, diversity of life, evolution, ecology, and behavior. Dissections may occur in this course. See Alternatives to Dissection at the end of the Science section. This course is approved for NGSS high school graduation credit.

AP Calculus AB MCPS course is AP AB Calculus A/B (MAT2040A/MAT2040B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Prerequisites: Honors Precalculus A/B

Course description: Calculus AB topics are those traditionally offered in the first year of calculus in college, and are designed for students who wish to obtain a semester of AP in college. The topics studied include limits, continuity, derivatives and integrals of algebraic and transcendental functions and their applications, and elementary differential equations.

AP Calculus BC MCPS course is AP BC Calculus A/B (MAT2041A/MAT2041B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Prerequisites: Honors Precalculus A/B

Course description: Calculus BC includes all of the topics in Calculus AB, as well as convergence tests for series, Taylor or Maclaurin series, vector, polar, and parametric functions. Students in BC Calculus may receive two semesters of AP in mathematics.

AP Chemistry MCPS course is AP Chemistry A/B (SCI2057A/SCI2057B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This NGSS-aligned course is designed for students to continue their interest in Chemistry as it relates to science, technology, and engineering. This course promotes enduring, conceptual understandings through inquiry-based learning, scientific reasoning, and engaging in science practices. Students are prepared to take the AP Chemistry examination at the end of the course. Topics of study will include properties and changes of matter, reaction kinetics, thermodynamics, and intermolecular interactions. This course is approved for NGSS high school graduation credit.

AP Chinese Language and Culture MCPS course is AP Chinese LC A/B (WLG2038A/WLG2038B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: These courses are for world languages students interested in college-level work. The courses link language and culture while developing students' proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students read, discuss, and react to a variety of texts orally and in writing in preparation for the AP Examination.

AP Computer Science JAVA MCPS course is AP Computer Science JAVA A/B (ITC2081A/ITC2081B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: Using the Java language, students explore in-depth work with text files and arrays, abstract data types, recursion, searching and sorting algorithms, and program efficiency. Examination of specified class behaviors, interrelated objects, and object hierarchies are studied. Students may elect to take the A version of the AP computer Science exam upon completion of this course.

AP Language and Composition MCPS course is AP Language and Comp A/B (ENG2031A/ENG2031B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Prerequisites: English 10 A/B

Course description: This course is designed for motivated students with a command of standard English and a lively interest in the power and versatility of language. Students read complex prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and write for a range of purposes to express ideas with clarity and precision. Students are strongly encouraged to take the AP examination at the end of the course.

AP Literature and Comp MCPS course is AP Literature and Comp A/B (ENG2032A / ENG2032B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This course places an emphasis on reading challenging literature, both classical and contemporary and representative of dominant literary genres and themes. Students apply methods of literary analysis and write for a variety of purposes to increase their precision in expression. Students are strongly encouraged to take the AP examination at the end of the course.

AP Environmental Science MCPS course is AP Environmental Sci A/B (SCI2046A/SCI2046B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Prerequisites: Biology A/B

Corequisite: Chemistry A/B

Course description: AP Environmental Science is for highly motivated students with interest in interdisciplinary science. It builds on concepts covered in Environmental Science, with greater detail in content and laboratory investigations. Students are prepared to take the AP Environmental Science examination. Topics include the interrelationships of the natural world and environmental problems, issues, and solutions. This course is NGSS aligned.

AP French Language and Culture MCPS course is AP French LC A/B (WLG2057A/WLG2057B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: These courses are for world languages students interested in college-level work. The courses link language and culture while developing students' proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students read, discuss, and react to a variety of texts orally and in writing in preparation for the AP Examination.

AP Government MCPS course is AP Government Politics (SOC2023)

Number of credits and course duration: 0.5 credit (1 semester)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This college-level course is a survey of the structure and function of American government and politics that begins with an analysis of the Constitution, the foundation of the American political system. Students study the three branches of government, administrative agencies that support each branch, the role of political behavior in the democratic process, and the workings of political parties and interest groups.

AP Human Geography MCPS course is AP Human Geography A/B (SOC2068A/SOC2068B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This college-level course introduces students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth's surface. Students employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to analyze human social organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their science and practice.

AP Macroeconomics MCPS course is AP Macroeconomics (SOC2064)

Number of credits and course duration: 0.5 credit (1 semester)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This course is for students interested in college-level work in economics. Study begins with fundamental economic concepts such as scarcity, opportunity costs, production possibilities, specialization, comparative advantage, demand, supply, and price determination. Major topics include measurement of economic performance, national income and price determination, and international economics and growth.

AP Microeconomics MCPS course is AP Microeconomics (SOC2065)

Number of credits and course duration: 0.5 credit (1 semester)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This course is for advanced students interested in college-level work in economics and/or gaining advanced standing in college. The course begins with a study of fundamental economic concepts such as scarcity, opportunity costs, production possibilities, specialization, and comparative advantage. Major topics include the nature of functions of product markets; factor markets; and efficiency, equity, and the role of government.

AP Physics 1 MCPS course is AP Physics 1 A/B (SCI2072A/SCI2072B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Prerequisites: Geoemtry A/B

Corequisite: Algebra 2 A/B

Course description: This NGSS aligned course is for highly motivated students with an interest in the physical sciences and builds on concepts covered in Physics with greater detail in content and laboratory investigations. Students explore Newtonian mechanics, including rotational dynamics and angular momentum; work, energy, and power; and mechanical waves and sound. Electric circuits will be introduced.

AP Psychology MCPS course is AP Psychology A/B (SOC2069A/SOC2069B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This college-level course prepares students for the AP exam. Students scientifically study behavior and investigate the psychological domains-methods of research, biopsychology, cognitive processes, lifespan development, and sociocultural dimensions of behavior, thinking and language, states of consciousness, individual differences, personality and assessment, and psychological disorders and their treatment.

AP Spanish Language and Culture MCPS course is AP Spanish LC A/B (WLG2152A/WLG2152B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: These courses are for world languages students interested in college-level work. The courses link language and culture while developing student's proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students read, discuss, and react to a variety of texts orally and in writing in preparation for the AP Examination.

AP Spanish Literature and Culture MCPS course is AP Spanish Lit A/B (WLG2153A/WLG2153B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: These courses are for world languages students interested in college-level work. The courses link language and culture while developing student's proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students read, discuss, and react to a variety of texts orally and in writing in preparation for the AP Examination.

AP Statistics MCPS course is AP Statistics A/B (MAT2068A/MAT2068B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Prerequisites: Algebra 2 A/B

Course description: AP Statistics students engage in the exploratory analysis of data, using graphical and numerical techniques. Data sets are collected using statistical design methods. Students produce appropriate models using probability, simulation, and statistical inference. Models are used to draw conclusions from data and analyzed by inferential methods to determine whether the data support or discredit the model. This course is equivalent to a non-calculus-based introductory college statistics course.

AP US History MCPS course is AP US History A/B (SOC2022A/SOC2022B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This course is for students desiring a freshman college-level course in United States history. The course is a survey of this national history from 1607 to the present, using a college-level text and requiring college-level writing and discussion. AP U.S. History A/B satisfies the graduation requirement of a year in U.S. History.

AP World History MCPS course is AP World History A/B (SOC2047A/SOC2047B)

Number of credits and course duration: 1 credit (2 semesters)

Grade level: 9–12

Course description: This college-level course helps students develop greater understanding of world history and human societies. This understanding is advanced through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills. The chronological time frame is from 8000 BCE to the present. AP World History A/B satisfies the graduation requirement of a year in Modern World History.