Most AP courses, like AP Biology or AP US History, are easy to define by subject, or at least align with the expectation of an “AP class” such as dense textbooks and timed exams. However, AP Capstone challenges that expectation. As a consecutive two-year program consisting of AP Seminar followed by AP Research, the program’s primary aim is to prepare students for college-level research, writing, and analytical tasks, which many students may lack. Given its interdisciplinary nature, AP Capstone is one of the AP courses in which students may not be fully aware of its long-term value.

At SIS, AP Capstone students will complete AP Seminar in junior year and AP Research in senior year, provided they score a three or higher on the final AP Seminar exam. Though AP Seminar focuses on evaluating arguments across disciplines and AP Research on producing original research, the program overall requires students to analyze complex topics from multiple perspectives, deliver formal presentations, and produce an academic paper. 

AP Seminar is an inquiry-based course that emphasizes argumentation and research. Most of the classes are spent reading academic articles and practicing core research skills: identifying claims, evaluating evidence, noting limitations, comparing multiple perspectives on one issue, and assessing credibility and bias. This constant repetition of analysis helps students to develop their own research question, and ultimately prepares them for AP Research.

“Students who might consider taking this course are the ones who are passionate about research,” Danella Donado, AP Seminar teacher, said. “If you have a topic that you are really interested in and want to learn more about, I would suggest taking AP Seminar.”

Instead of a traditional single AP exam, the AP Seminar exam is a year-long, three-part process consisting of two performance tasks and a digital end-of-course exam. The first performance task is a team project researching an existing topic, delivering a presentation, followed by an oral defense, and writing an individual research report. The second performance task is completed individually. Finally, the two-hour digital exam at the end of the school year requires students to analyze an argument and the author’s evidence, then write an evidence-based essay.

“For skills that are helpful to excel in this class, I would say time management is the biggest thing you need in a class like this because it’s very independent, and you mostly go at your own pace,” Ms. Donado said. “And also presentation skills—being very comfortable talking in front of others and being able to explain and defend your research—are important, all the skills that will help you in college because these core skills are what you will end up having to do to get your degrees.”

As AP Seminar helped students to better evaluate and critique arguments, they will now be ready to develop and defend an original one. In AP Research, students design and conduct an original investigation and produce scholarly work over the course of the year. Instead of a traditional end-of-year AP exam, AP Research students are assessed through a 4,000 to 5,000-word academic paper, along with a presentation and oral defense. 

Generally, students can pursue one of the three broad project types when conducting research. Explanatory projects investigate patterns or relationships among variables, usually through quantitative studies. Then, the exploratory project examines phenomena or emergent trends and themes, usually using qualitative data collected through interviews or descriptive questions. Lastly, students can design an original solution to a real-world problem that is placed in conversation with existing scholarly or field work. 

“I conducted research on the authenticity levels of AI music,” Timothy Ro (12), AP Research student, said. “There’s a lot of AI-produced products now, including music. So my paper was about how AI labeling or human labeling could influence the listener’s perceptions of the authenticity levels of the AI-produced music. For the method, some people do interviews, some do content analysis, and many more. For me, I provided Google Forms and gathered data.”

When AP Research students finish their year-long scholarly work production, they will also have the opportunity to exhibit their work in the atrium for students and teachers to come by and listen. 

AP Capstone—with a unique style of class content and assessments—confers many things to students who completed the course: a portfolio of independent research, high-level academic skills, and improved college readiness. 

Students may also earn the AP Capstone Diploma, awarded by the College Board to students who score a three or higher on the AP Seminar, AP Research, and 4 additional AP exams of their choice. 

“Skills [that] students walk away [with] after completing this course include time management and independent study—being able to collect your own data and see what it means,” Steve Nave, AP Research teacher, said. “You can have 50 surveys and all this data, but you have no idea, right? So, figuring out what it is and how it can be meaningful in the world context is one of the biggest skills students will learn.”

For students considering taking the course, the value is not only an AP score, but a set of research and communication skills that will carry directly into college-level work.