Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science (also known as APES, AP Enviro, AP Environmental, AP Environment, or AP EnviroSci) is a course and exam offered by the American
College Board
The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...
as part of the
Advanced Placement Program
Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewh ...
to
high school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
students interested in the
environmental
Environment most often refers to:
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* Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...
and
natural science
Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...
s. AP Environmental Science was first offered in the 1997–1998 school year.
Course
This course is designed to provide students with scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies necessary to comprehend the relationships abundant within the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems, to evaluate relative risks associated with these identified problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing similar problems facing the global environment.Lessons are taught in classroom settings as well as in the field through outdoor classrooms, field trips, and volunteer activities.
Topics covered in AP Environmental Science
, according to the College Board, as of Fall 2019 include:
Topics covered in AP Environmental Science prior to Fall 2019 include:
These topics cover a broad range of subject matter in order to prepare students for environmental science roles and interdisciplinary disciplines.
Skills practiced in AP Environmental Science, according to the College Board:
Exam
The AP Environmental Science exam is divided into a multiple choice and free response section.
Old exam (1998–2019)
The old exam was 3 hours long and contained two sections:
*Section I: Multiple Choice (100 questions, 90 minutes).
*Section II: Free-Response (one data-set question, one document-based question, and two synthesis and evaluation questions, 90 minutes).
Current exam (2020–present)
As of fall 2019, multiple changes have been made to the AP Environmental Science exam. These changes include but are not limited to: allowed calculator use, changes in the number of multiple choice questions, the use of stimuli in multiple choice questions, and changes in free response questions.
According to the College Board: "The exam is 2 hours and 40 minutes long and includes 80 multiple-choice questions and 3 free-response questions. A four-function, scientific, or graphing calculator is allowed on both sections of the exam."
The exam is fully online using the Bluebook testing app. All responses are submitted upon exam completion.
The new exam contains two sections with slight changes:
*Section I: Multiple Choice (80 questions, 90 minutes).
*Section II: Free-Response (one investigation design question, one solution to an environmental problem proposal question, and one solution to an environmental problem proposal question with calculations, 70 minutes).
Grade distribution
The percentage of students scoring a grade of "5" was only 7.0% in the 2021 testing administration. It remains one of the lowest "5" scoring AP Exams to this date right under AP Art History, AP English Literature & Composition, AP English Language & Composition, and AP World History. The AP Environmental Science exam was first administered in 1998.
Grade distributions since 2009 are:
References
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External links
AP Environmental Science at CollegeBoard.com
Academic transfer
Environmental education
Advanced Placement