2026-27 AP Course Audit Pathways

The AP Course Audit is a required process for schools wishing to designate their courses as “AP.” It ensures that AP courses meet curricular requirements and supports teachers in understanding their course’s core elements. At the same time, teachers have shared that the process can feel overly administrative and they’d welcome additional ways to learn about their course.

Based on this feedback, the AP Program worked with teachers to design alternate Course Audit pathways that we’ll test with the new AP Business with Personal Finance course and the revised AP Statistics course. Testing these pathways during the 2026-27 Course Audit year will help determine how to best support teachers as they prepare to teach their courses.

If you’re teaching one of these courses in the 2026-27 school year, your Course Audit experience may differ from the standard syllabus submission process for other AP courses. This process only applies to the 2026-27 Course Audit year. You won’t need to repeat this process for 2027-28. Your Course Audit administrator will be able to renew your course.

Course Audit Pathway Instructions

To complete the AP Course Audit, follow the steps below. As part of the process, you’ll be randomly assigned to one of four Course Audit pathways based on your course and district. Teachers of the same course within a district will receive the same pathway. Each pathway fulfills Course Audit requirements and is designed to take the same amount of time as the standard Course Audit process. All pathways have been reviewed and tested by teachers in each subject.

1. Sign in to your AP Course Audit account. If you’re new to teaching AP, you’ll be prompted to create an account.
2. Add your course. Select Add New Course and choose your subject.
3. Fill out the AP Course Audit form. You’ll need to complete and submit the form for your Course Audit administrator to approve.
4. Complete your assigned Course Audit pathway, which will be one of the following:
   • Syllabus Submission: You’ll follow the standard Course Audit process of submitting an original syllabus or adopting a peer or sample syllabus. Course Audit reviewers will review your syllabus.  
   • Guided Syllabus Creation: You’ll follow prompts to create a syllabus that connects your classroom activities to each curricular requirement. Reviewers will review the specific evidence submitted for each curricular requirement.  
   • Online Learning Modules: You’ll complete online modules about the course’s core elements.
   • Course Knowledge Check and Online Learning Modules: You’ll complete a knowledge check about the course and modules on topics where additional support may be helpful. You can explore all modules but only the recommended modules will be required.
5. Complete the Check for Understanding. Once you complete your assigned pathway, you’ll answer multiple-choice questions to demonstrate what you learned about teaching the course. The questions are designed to assess how effectively each pathway supports teachers in understanding the course’s required content and skills. Your responses will solely be used to help the AP Program understand whether the pathway is clear, useful, and well structured.
6. Give feedback on your assigned pathway. You’ll complete a short survey about how engaging your pathway was and whether it improved your understanding of the course and your confidence in teaching it. This feedback will help the AP Program refine how we support teachers preparing to teach their courses.

After Completing Your Assigned Pathway

Once you complete these steps, you’ll be notified if your course is authorized or if you need to provide more information. You’ll also be entered to win prizes, such as free admission to the 2027 AP Annual Conference and merchandise from the AP School Store.