Advanced Placement Art History

AP (Advanced Placement) Art History is a course offered in high school through the Advanced Placement Program that gives college level material at the high school level. This class is operated by College Board. College Board administers a test near the end of the course to assess how much the student has learned in Art History, and depending on the score received, colleges generally accept a passing score as credit for an equivalent class at their institution.

The course

The Art History AP course, under the direction of College Board is designed to allow students to examine major forms of artistic expression relevant to a variety of cultures evident in wide variety of periods from present times into the past. In this course, students acquire an ability to examine works of art critically, with intelligence and sensitivity, and to articulate their thoughts and experiences. The main focus is on European Art, but the course does deal with African, Hindu, South and East Asian, and Islamic Art. Pre-Historic art has now been removed from the curriculum. Students may choose to complement the course with review textbooks.

Topics

The ETS's framework for the exam is as follows:

Ancient through Medieval: 30%

• Greece and Rome (10-15%)
• Early Christian, Byzantine, Early Medieval (5-10%)
• Romanesque (3-7%)
• Gothic (7-10%)

Renaissance to Present: 50%

• Fourteenth Through Sixteenth Centuries (12-17%)
• Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (10-15%)
• Nineteenth Century (10-15%)
• Twentieth Century......
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