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The AP Program unequivocally supports the principle that each individual school must develop its own curriculum for courses labeled "AP." Rather than mandating any one curriculum for AP courses, the AP Course Audit instead provides each AP teacher with a set of expectations that college and secondary school faculty nationwide have established for college-level courses. AP teachers are encouraged to develop or maintain their own curriculum that either includes or exceeds each of these expectations; such courses will be authorized to use the "AP" designation. Credit for the success of AP courses belongs to the individual schools and teachers that create powerful, locally designed AP curricula.
The AP Calculus AB course should be designed by your school to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of a college course in single variable calculus. Your Calculus AB course needs to develop students' understanding of the concepts of calculus and provide experience with its methods and applications. The course should emphasize a multirepresentational approach to calculus, with concepts, results, and problems being expressed graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally, with the connections among these representations highlighted.
Before studying calculus, students should complete four years of secondary mathematics designed for college-bound students: courses in which they study algebra, geometry, trigonometry, analytic geometry, and elementary functions. These functions include those that are linear, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, and piecewise defined. In particular, before studying calculus, students must be familiar with the properties of functions, the algebra of functions, and the graphs of functions. Students must also understand the language of functions (domain and range, odd and even, periodic, symmetry, zeros, intercepts, and so on) and know the values of the trigonometric functions of the numbers 0, π/6, π/4, π/3, π/2, and their multiples.
All students who are willing to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses. The College Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP courses for students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population.
High schools offering this exam must provide the exam administration equipment described in the AP Coordinator's Manual. Each student must have one or two graphing calculators for individual use during portions of the AP Exam administration. Calculators may not be shared. Nongraphing scientific calculators, computers, devices with a QWERTY keyboard, and pen-input/stylus-driven devices, or electronic writing pads are not permitted for use on the AP Calculus Exams. (A list of approved graphing calculators is available on AP Central on the AP Calculus AB Course Home Page.)
 AP Calculus AB Course Home Page
Requirements
To request authorization to label a course "AP," complete the following two steps:
- Complete and submit an AP Course Audit form, on which the teacher and principal attest that their course includes or exceeds the following curricular requirements delineated by college and university faculty.
- Submit an electronic copy of the course syllabus that demonstrates inclusion or improvement on the curricular requirements (see Syllabus Preparation Guidelines). If your course does not include one or more of the curricular requirements but merits designation as a college-level course, see Instructions for Submitting Materials for the process for describing alternate approaches to the course.
Syllabus Preparation Guidelines
Instructions for Teachers
Instructions on how to submit AP Course Audit materials via the Web will be posted on AP Central and mailed to principals in January 2007.
Curricular Requirements
- The teacher has read the most recent AP Calculus Course Description, available as a free download on the AP Calculus AB Course Home Page.
AP Calculus AB Course Home Page
- The course teaches all topics associated with Functions, Graphs, and Limits; Derivatives; and Integrals as delineated in the Calculus AB Topic Outline in the AP Calculus Course Description.
- The course provides students with the opportunity to work with functions represented in a variety of ways -- graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally -- and emphasizes the connections among these representations.
- The course teaches students how to communicate mathematics and explain solutions to problems both verbally and in written sentences.
- The course teaches students how to use graphing calculators to help solve problems, experiment, interpret results, and support conclusions.
Resource Requirements
- The school ensures that each student has a college-level calculus textbook (supplemented when necessary to meet the curricular requirements) for individual use inside and outside of the classroom.
- The school ensures that each student has a graphing calculator for individual use inside and outside of the classroom, with all the required capabilities listed in the AP Calculus Course Description. (A list of approved graphing calculators is available on AP Central on the AP Calculus AB Course Home Page.)
AP Calculus AB Course Home Page
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