Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and Exams
AHSB offers Advancement Placement (AP) courses and usually, students take them in 11th and/or 12th grade, because taking more than two at once can be quite challenging. These are university-level courses that are quite rigorous and not so easy to pass. In the upcoming academic year, we will offer them onsite for the first time (based on interest) at AHSB. The cost for each course is €1500.
Students need to register for the AP exams with the American Collegeboard before November of each year, with the goal of taking the exams at the American University in Sofia in May of the following year. You can find more information about the process for registering with the American University in Sofia below. After taking the exam, students receive a certificate with their results from the Collegeboard that they can present to universities in addition to their diploma from ASB.
At the end of the academic year, we add these courses to the students’ final transcripts and because they are worth more (1.5 times more than regular courses), they significantly improve the student’s overall GPA (even if the student chooses not to appear for the exams).
The AP courses that we currently offer are*:
Psychology
Statistics
English Literature and Composition
Biology
Chemistry
*Students must first take the regular courses before registering for the AP course.
For the ones that we plan to offer onsite, we will form groups during the school day. However, please note that students can take any of these courses and work on them alone (though distance learning), even starting now.
It is important that before registering for any AP courses that you understand the requirements of the universities that you will be applying for. Even though AP courses make the students’ applications very competitive, not all universities require them. The ones that do require them, mostly in England and research universities in the Netherlands (and many medical universities which consider them a bonus), may give students credit for them (saving time and money from their university program).
If your university of choice requires courses that we do not offer, you will have to seek those specific courses at other institutions.
IMPORTANT: If students want to include these AP courses on their final transcripts (after 12th grade), they must complete these courses BEFORE we finalize their diplomas. If students choose to take these courses after they are awarded their diplomas after 12th grade, that is also acceptable, however, after we issue their final diplomas, it will not be possible to add the AP courses to their final transcripts.
Ms. Sue will schedule a conference the first week of September to address all of your AP-related questions, but don't hesitate to email us at contact@americanschoolofbulgaria.com.
Information from 2023-2024 about registering for the exams (will be updated as soon as is available):
AP exams will take place during the first two weeks of May in 2024 and will be held on the ACS campus (exact room locations will be determined in April). The exam schedule and registration and payment details are below.
AP Exam fees: 330 BGN per exam
Deadline for Payment to be received: 12:00 pm (noon) on Tuesday, 14 November, 2023
Submit payment as soon as possible to ensure that your bank transfer occurs in time to meet the deadline.
Deadline for Registration on College Board website: 12:00 pm (noon) on Wednesday, 15 November, 2023
Step #1: Email for Registration, Fees & Payment
In order to register, you must first submit payment to the American College of Sofia. To do so, please send an email to collegecounseling@acsbg.org with the following information (Submit payment as soon as possible to ensure that your bank transfer occurs in time to meet the deadline.):
Student’s full name (first, middle, and last)
Student’s EGN number
Parent’s full name (first, middle, and last)
Parent’s EGN number
Student’s address
The AP exams the student wishes to take
Step #2: Bank Transfer
Please make one bank transfer in the total amount for all exams you are taking. The bank information is as follows:
Титуляр: Американски колеж в София
Банка: Уникредит Булбанк
IBAN: BG83 UNCR 7630 1000 3121 19
BIC: UNCRBGSF
Основание: Име, АР изпити
Invoices for payment will be issued by email.
Step #3: Confirm Payment
After you complete the bank transfer process, email the confirmation of payment transferred to collegecounseling@acsbg.org.
Step #4: Join Codes
The ACS College Counseling Office will send you the “Join Codes” for the exams after you have emailed your confirmation of payment to collegecounseling@acsbg.org.
Step #5: Registration on the College Board website
Students must complete AP registration through the College Board website. Log into your account (if you don’t have one, you can easily create one at (account.collegeboard.org) and follow the directions to register in the AP “classroom” (exam section) for the exams you wish to take. Enter the “join code” for each exam you wish to take - join codes will be emailed to registrants once ACS receives confirmation of payment.
Exam Schedule
The 2024 AP exam schedule can be viewed below. Please note that any exam not explicitly listed here will not be available.
*The Computer Science Principles “Create” performance tasks are due at the ACS internal deadline of 12:00pm (noon) on 30 April, 2024. Then the exam is on 15 May.
Week 1 | Morning Exam (8:00am) | Afternoon Exam (12:00pm) |
Monday, 6 May | U.S. Government & Politics | Art History Chemistry |
Tuesday, 7 May | Human Geography Microeconomics | Statistics |
Wednesday, 8 May | English Literature & Composition | Comparative Government & Politics Computer Science A |
Thursday, 9 May | Chinese Language & Culture Environmental Science | Psychology |
Friday, 10 May | European History United States History | Macroeconomics Spanish Literature & Culture |
Week 2 | Morning Exam (8:00am) | Afternoon Exam (12:00pm) |
Monday, 13 May | Calculus AB Calculus BC | Italian Language & Culture Precalculus |
Tuesday, 14 May | English Language & Composition | African American Studies Physics C: Mechanics Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism (2:00pm) |
Wednesday, 15 May | French Language & Culture World History: Modern | Computer Science Principles* Music Theory |
Thursday, 16 May | Spanish Language & Culture | Biology Japanese Language & Culture |
Friday, 17 May | German Language & Culture Physics 1: Algebra-Based | Latin Physics 2: Algebra-Based |
*The Computer Science Principles performance tasks are due on the ACS internal deadline of 12:00pm (noon) on 30 April, 2024.
If you have any questions, please contact the ACS College Counseling Department at collegecounseling@acsbg.org.
Best Regards,
The ACS College Counseling Team