About the College Board’s Advanced Placement® (AP®) Program

The AP Program allows you to experience college-level classes in high school and opens the door to earning college credit before you ever set foot on campus. You’ll get to dig deeper into subjects you love while building the skills and confidence you need to succeed in college.

Valley Christian High School offers AP courses in 27 subjects, each of which culminates in an optional exam in May. If you score a 3 or higher (on a scale of 1–5), you could earn college credit, skip intro-level courses, or both at thousands of U.S. colleges and universities. Earning credit in high school means paying for fewer credits in college. It also opens up your schedule, allowing you to take more electives, pursue a second major or minor, or study abroad.

Taking AP courses can positively impact your college applications regardless of your AP Exam score. Admissions officers know college faculty play a significant role in developing AP courses, so they know students who took AP pushed themselves to take challenging, college-level courses. This is something colleges like to see.

Take some time to look through the AP courses we offer. See if any interest you. By taking these courses, you can find out what college work is like while you have the support of teachers you trust in an environment you know.

AP Exam Registration Process

Registration for AP Exams will take place in the fall, and the exams will still take place in May. For 2025 AP Exam schedules, check College Board's official AP Exam schedule webpage.

Although taking an AP exam is not mandatory at VCHS, the College Board requires every student enrolled in an AP course to create an account and register for each AP course they are taking. AP teachers will provide their students with join codes. If your student switches their class schedule after the start of school, the student will need to reach out to the teacher to ensure they enrolled in the correct course and section. Please note that if a student fails to register with AP Classroom, VCHS is unable to order an AP exam for that student. For second-semester AP Courses, students will register later in the year.

Each year, VCHS administers AP exams by the College Board on campus ONLY for the AP courses we offer.  Students enrolled in the AP courses will be registered to take the AP exam with a payment. AP exam registration at the VCHS campus is not guaranteed for VCHS students studying for AP exams but not in a VCHS AP course. VCHS may offer exam-only status registration, depending on how many students take the AP courses each year. AP courses available for exam-only status change year to year, and if we receive too many requests, priority goes to seniors. 

We do not allow non-VCHS students to register for AP exams at the VCHS. 

For help registering, talk to your AP teacher, counselors, or Academic Program Manager (ellee@vcs.net).