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Ultimate Guide to the AP Seminar Course and Exam

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AP classes are generally stand-alone subjects that easily translate to traditional college courses. They culminate in a standardized exam on which students are graded using a five-point scale, which colleges use to determine credit or advanced standing. However, starting in the fall of 2014, the College Board began to adapt the traditional structure to reflect a less stringent rote curriculum and place a heavier emphasis on critical thinking skills.

The AP Capstone program is at the center of these changes, and its introductory course is AP Seminar. Read on for more information about the AP Seminar course and exam and how they can prepare you for college-level work.

About the AP Capstone Diploma 

The AP Seminar course is the first of two classes required for the AP Capstone Diploma —a two-year program with a curriculum designed to develop students’ skills in research, analysis, evidence-based arguments, collaboration, writing, and presenting. Students who receive a score of 3 or higher on the exams for both courses earn an AP Seminar and Research Certificate. Students who receive a score of 3 or higher on both exams and on four additional AP exams receive the AP Capstone Diploma.   

During the AP Seminar course, you will practice collaborative problem-solving, critical thinking, and student-led investigation. During the second year of the program, you will go on to study AP Research , which applies the skills you developed in AP Seminar to a prolonged research project on a topic of your choosing, build an evidence-based argument, and present it through written and oral defense.

When is the AP Seminar Exam?

The 2020 AP Exams have been changed to online exams due to coronavirus. Learn about these changes in our post How is Coronavirus Impacting AP Exams ?

About the AP Seminar Course 

The College Board suggests themes such as freedom, justice, and peace as possible examples. You will use an inquiry framework to practice reading and analyzing articles, studies, and foundational, literary, and philosophical texts. You will also listen to and view speeches, broadcasts, and personal accounts, and examine artistic works and performances. By examining materials like news stories, research studies, and literary works, you will learn to craft arguments to support your point of view and communicate it effectively by using various media.

This course will also support you as you investigate real-world topics of your choosing from multiple perspectives, which often are different or competing. In addition, you will learn to collect and analyze information with accuracy and precision, develop arguments based on facts, and effectively communicate your point of view.

The main educational ideas explored in AP Seminar are broken down into “big ideas.” Within each big idea there are “essential questions,” designed to encourage deep thought about a theme and foster a deeper conceptual understanding of it. Below are the five big ideas of the AP Seminar course, a brief description of them, and their corresponding essential questions.  

Question and Explore: Challenges students to form their own point of view when facing complex issues by asking questions and investigating answers through the exploration of different, often competing, perspectives. The essential questions of “Question and Explore” are: 

• How does the context of a problem or issue affect how it is interpreted or presented?
• How might others see the problem or issue differently?
• What questions have yet to be asked?
• What voices or perspectives are missing from my research?
• What do I want to know, learn, or understand?
• How does my research question shape how I go about trying to answer it?
• What information do I need to answer my question?
• What keywords should I use to search for information about this topic?

Understand and Analyze: The understanding and comprehension of others’ ideas and the ability to synthesize and explain another person’s ideas to others. The essential questions of “Understand and Analyze” are:

• What strategies will help me comprehend a text? 
• What is the argument’s main idea and what reasoning does the author use to develop it?
• Why might the author view the issue this way?
• What biases may the author have that influence his or her perspective?
• Does this argument acknowledge other perspectives?
• How do I know if a source is trustworthy?
• What are the implications of these arguments?
• How does this conclusion impact me and my community? Or my research?

Evaluate Multiple Perspectives: The ability to compare and contrast different perspectives to better understand the complexities of an issue. The essential questions are:

• What patterns or trends can be identified among the arguments about this issue?
• What are the implications and/or consequences of accepting or rejecting a particular argument?
• How can I connect the multiple perspectives? What other issues, questions, or topics do they relate to?
• How can I explain contradictions within or between arguments?
• From whose perspective is this information being presented, and how does that affect my evaluation?

Synthesize Ideas: Unifying the gained knowledge, explored ideas, and numerous perspectives  to form conclusions on your own. The essential questions of “Synthesize Ideas” are:

• How do I connect and analyze the evidence in order to develop an argument and support a conclusion?
• What line of reasoning and evidence would best support my argument? Is my reasoning logical?
• Are there other conclusions I should consider?
• What am I taking for granted? How do I acknowledge and account for my own biases and assumptions?
• What is the best way to acknowledge and attribute the work of others that was used to support my argument?
• How can I avoid committing plagiarism?

Team, Transform, and Transmit: Cultivating critical skills of collaboration, communication, and reflection—teaching students how to work best in a team environment. The essential questions are:

• How can I best appeal to and engage my audience?
• What is the best medium or genre through which to engage my audience?
• What common misconceptions might my audience have?
• How might I adapt my argument for different audiences and situations?
• How might my communication choices affect my credibility with my audience?
• What contributions can I offer to a team?
• What is the benefit of revision?
• How can I benefit from reflecting on my own work?

Only schools that currently offer the AP Capstone Diploma may offer the AP Seminar course. Because it is a part of a larger comprehensive, skills-based program, students may not self-study for the AP Seminar course or exam. At this time, home-schooled students, home-school organizations, and online providers are not eligible to participate in AP Capstone.

About the AP Seminar Exam 

The AP Seminar exam is structured differently than traditional exams, as a significant percentage of your score is weighted on group work and a presentation which is done outside of the exam. Your performance in the AP Seminar course is assessed through three tasks. 

Team Project and Presentation | 20% of AP Seminar Score

The first is the Team Project and Presentation, which accounts for 20% of your total score. In this project, you will work with a team to create an 8- to 10-minute Team Multimedia Presentation and Defense, in addition to writing a 1,200-word Individual Research Report. Each team member is also asked one question in which they’re required to make an oral defense of their argument. 

Team Presentation: Your team presentation should propose a solution or resolution and support that idea with evidence and visual media. Your teacher will score your presentation.   

Individual Research Report: Work with your team to formulate and clarify your individual approach to your investigation of the team’s research question and present your findings and analysis to your group in a well-researched and well-written report. The College Board will score your research report. 

Oral Defense: Following your presentation, your teacher will ask you to make an oral defense of your argument. Below are some examples of the types of questions frequently asked: 

• Student A, how did the group decide to include Student B’s perspective/lens/ conclusions into the overall presentation? 
• Student A, give one specific way that your thinking changed as a result of learning about Student B’s findings. 
• In the future, what change would you make to your group norms, and how would you expect that to improve the team presentation? 
• Reflecting on your colleagues’ work, which one had the greatest impact on your overall understanding of the problem your group identified? 
• In what way did you improve your ability to work with a group as a result of this project? 
• What is an example of a compelling argument from one of your peer’s individual reports that you decided to exclude from your team presentation and why? 
• What is a way in which your team’s resolution makes you think differently about your own individual research? 
• What was the strongest counter argument to the solution or conclusion your team identified and why? 
• Describe an argument from one of your peer’s individual reports that made you think differently about your team’s solution or conclusion? 
• Having finished your project, what, if anything, do you consider to be a gap in your team’s research that, if addressed, would make you feel more confident about your conclusion?

Your teacher is responsible for scoring your oral defense. 

Student Version | 35% of AP Seminar Score

The second portion of your assessment is the Individual Research-Based Essay and Presentation, which accounts for 35% of your total score. For this assessment, you will use cross-curricular stimulus texts (released each year in early January by the College Board) to identify thematic connections, compose a research question, conduct research, analyze and evaluate evidence to develop an argument, and present and defend your conclusions. In doing so, you will produce a 2,000-word Individual Written Argument, a 6- to 8-minute Individual Multimedia Presentation, and an Oral Defense where you’ll need to respond to two questions. 

Individual Written Argument: Using the provided stimulus, identify thematic connections and areas of inquiry and compose a research question that you’ll research and compose a well-written argument conveying your perspective. This is scored by the College Board. 

Individual Multimedia Presentation:  Design an oral presentation using visual media to convey your argument. Your teacher is responsible for scoring your individual multimedia presentation. 

Oral Defense: Defend your process, use of evidence, conclusion(s), solution(s), or recommendations in response to two types of questions that your teacher will ask—reflection on research process and extending argumentation through effective questioning and inquiry. Below are some examples of the types of questions you may get asked: 

Reflection on Research Process

• What information did you need before you began your research, and how did that information shape your research? 
• What evidence did you gather that you didn’t use? Why did you choose not to use it? 
• How valid and reliable are the sources you used? How do you know? Which sources didn’t work? 
• How did you select the strategies you used to gather information or conduct research? Were they effective? 
• How did your research question evolve as you moved through the research process? Did your research go in a different direction than you originally planned/hypothesized? 
• What information did you need that you weren’t able to find or locate? How did you go about trying to find that information? 
• How did you handle the differing perspectives in order to reach a conclusion?

Extending Argumentation Through Effective Questioning and Inquiry

• What additional questions emerged from your research? Why are these questions important? 
• What advice would you have for other researchers who consider this topic? 
• What might be the real-world implications or consequences (influence on others’ behaviors or decision-making processes) of your findings? What are the implications to your community? 
• If you had more time, what additional research would you conduct related to this issue? 
• Explain the level of certainty you have about your conclusion, solution, or recommendation. 
• How does your conclusion respond to any of the other research or sources you examined? 
• How did you use the conclusions and questions of others to advance your own research? 

End of Course Exam

2 hours | 4 questions | 45% of score

The final portion of your assessment is the AP Seminar End-of-Course Exam, which is administered like the more traditional AP exams, at a specific time on a specific day, in a formal standardized testing environment. This exam is worth 45% of your total score, clocks in at two hours, and consists of three short-answer questions and one evidence-based argument essay. For the short-answer section, you will read one passage and answer three questions relating to it. For the essay section, you will read four sources, identify a common theme, and create a logically organized, well-reasoned, and well-written argument that presents your own perspective on the theme or issue you identified.

Example of a short-answer question you’ll encounter on the AP Seminar exam: 

AP Seminar Score Distribution, Average Score, and Passing Rate

In 2019, just over 43,000 students took the AP Seminar assessment. Scores from the 2019 exam reveal an assessment with a high passing rate (score of 3 or higher) but a difficult rate of mastery. While 81.1% of students taking the assessments scored a 3 or higher, only 7.1% received the highest score of a 5, while 58.9% received a 3.   

A full course description that can help guide your studying and understanding of the knowledge required for the exam can be found on the College Board website .

Tips For Preparing for the Exam

Step 1: assess your skills.

Before you dive into studying, it can be helpful to take a practice test to gain insight into areas you understand well and those that challenge you. You can use the previous end-of-course exams to help assess your skills. They are available on the College Board Performance Task and End-of-Course Exam Samples page . There are also additional practice questions in the course description . Once you have taken some kind of formative assessment for the end-of-course exam, score it to identify the areas you already understand and those in need of improvement. It can be helpful to have a friend or teacher score it, as free-response questions are more subjective than the multiple-choice questions you find on many other AP exams. From an accurate formative assessment, you will get a better idea of where to focus your studying efforts.

It is more difficult to evaluate your readiness for the in-class portions of your assessment, but you will work with your teacher on developing these skills throughout the year so you should receive plenty of feedback as you go. If you do not feel that you have a solid understanding of your abilities in this area, make sure to arrange a meeting with your teacher so that you can get some honest feedback about your performance in the class so far. 

Step 2: Study the Material

In AP Seminar, you will investigate real-world issues from multiple perspectives, gathering and analyzing information from various sources in order to develop credible and valid evidence- based arguments. 

The AP Seminar course particularly stresses connections within and across AP courses, encouraging cross-curricular conversations that explore the complexities of academic and real-world topics and issues by analyzing divergent perspectives. The AP Seminar course “aims to equip students with the power to analyze and evaluate information with accuracy and precision in order to craft and communicate evidence-based arguments.”

For a glossary of terms that you should be familiar with in this course, see page 119 of the course description . For more information about class structure and specific curriculum content, check out a sample syllabus or review one AP teacher’s end-of-course study materials . 

Step 3: Practice for the End-of-Course Exam

Once you have your theory down, test it out by practicing with sample material for the end-of-course exam. You can find some sample questions in the course description and more on the AP Seminar Past Exam Questions Page . As you prepare for this portion of the exam, keep in mind that the four questions on the exam will remain the same each year, though sources and texts will vary.

On the first portion of the exam, you will read a source and answer the first three questions. These are:

• Identify the author’s argument, main idea, or thesis.
• Explain the author’s line of reasoning by identifying the claims used to build the argument and the connections between them.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the evidence the author uses to support the claims made in the argument.

You should allow approximately 30 minutes for the first three questions. The last question asks you to read four sources and you should allow approximately 90 minutes for it. The last prompt is:

Read the four sources carefully, focusing on a theme or issue that connects them and the different perspective each represents. Then, write a logically organized, well-reasoned, and well-written argument that presents your own perspective on the theme or issue you identified. You must incorporate at least two of the sources provided and link the claims in your argument to supporting evidence. You may also use the other provided sources or draw upon your own knowledge. In your response, refer to the provided sources as Source A, Source B, Source C, or Source D, or by the authors’ names.

As you write your response, you should keep in mind that the College Board has a very stringent set of rules regarding plagiarism. If you’re at all in doubt about whether you should cite a source, do so just to be on the safe side. The full AP Capstone Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information can be found on page 35 of the course description. 

Step 4: Practice Through-Course Assessment Pieces

The through-course assessment pieces for the AP Seminar class are unique from other AP assessments in several key ways. First, they are not administered in a traditional standardized testing environment and instead are completed over an extended period of time in the classroom. Second, they have collaborative elements in which you are required to work together with classmates. Finally, your assessment on these sections is scored by your teacher, not an anonymous AP reader. This is a tremendous advantage. Be sure to maintain good communications with your teacher throughout the year, frequently soliciting feedback on your progress so that you will have a realistic idea of your strengths and areas for improvement. This is the single most effective way to prepare for the through-course assessment pieces.

These assessments are completed over several months of the course. The first one, the Team Multimedia Presentation and Defense, consists of a team presentation and an individual research report. In a team of three to five students, you will work to identify, investigate, and analyze an academic or real-world problem or issue. Your team will design and/or consider options and alternatives, develop a multimedia presentation to present the argument for your proposed solution or resolution, and provide a defense to questions posed by the teacher. Your team will divide the group research into individual questions for each team member. Individually, you will then investigate your assigned question on the issue or topic and present your findings and analysis in a well-written individual report.

The team project and oral defense will be scored by your teacher alone. The individual research report will be scored by your teacher and validated by the College Board. 

The second through-course assessment that you will complete is an Individual Research-Based Essay and Presentation, consisting of an Individual Written Argument, Individual Multimedia Presentation, and Oral Defense. You will develop a research topic in response to stimulus texts released by the College Board in early January. Using these materials, you will identify thematic connections, compose a research question, gather additional information through research, analyze, evaluate, and select evidence, and develop a logical, well-reasoned argument of approximately 2,000 words. You will also develop a 6- to 8-minute presentation to convey your perspective and present your conclusions, and then respond to questions posed by your teacher in an oral defense.     

Your presentation and oral defense will be scored by your teacher alone. The individual written argument will be scored by your teacher and validated by the College Board.

Step 5: Take Another Practice Test

As you did at the beginning of your studying, take a practice test to evaluate your progress. You should see your knowledge developing and be able to identify patterns in which areas have improved the most and which areas still need improvement.

If you have time, repeat each of the steps above to incrementally increase your score.

Step 6: Exam Day Specifics

Because this exam is only available to students enrolled in the AP Capstone program, your teacher will register you for the exam when you enroll in the course. You should confirm with your teacher that you are registered for the exam and your scores and materials are submitted within the College Board’s AP Seminar assessment deadlines . 

For information about what to bring to the exam, see our post What Should I Bring to My AP Exam (And What Should I Definitely Leave at Home)?

For more about information about APs, check out these CollegeVine posts:

• 2020 AP Exam Schedule
• How Long is Each AP Exam?
• Easiest and Hardest AP Exams  

High school students curious about college admissions will want to check out CollegeVine’s free chancing engine. Using data like GPA, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities, it can predict your odds of admission at over 500 colleges along with pointing out places to improve your profile—all for free! Sign up for your CollegeVine account today to get a headstart on your college journey.

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Advanced Placement (AP)

If your school offers AP Seminar, you might be wondering what it's all about. This AP class is great for students who want to challenge themselves and learn more about the independent research process before starting college.

In this guide, I'll give you an overview of what AP Seminar entails, a sample course outline, advice on whether you should take the course, and some tips on how to do well in it.

What Is AP Seminar?

AP Seminar is one of the course requirements for the AP Capstone Diploma and the AP Research and Seminar Certificate, both of which were introduced by the College Board in fall 2014.

If you take and pass AP Seminar, AP Research, and four other AP courses and exams, you will earn the AP Capstone Diploma. If you take and pass just AP Seminar and AP Research, you'll earn an AP Research and Seminar Certificate. Both of these actions are impressive accomplishments that demonstrate your ability to successfully manage college-level academic challenges.

AP Seminar offers students an introduction to conducting independent analysis of complex ideas across various disciplines. It involves reading and understanding advanced source material in the form of texts and other media.

You are expected to synthesize information from different sources, and formulate research questions based on these source materials. You'll elaborate on these ideas through essays, oral presentations, and team projects. The goal of AP Seminar is to provide students with the tools to evaluate information accurately and make compelling, evidence-based arguments.

Your seminar curriculum might be connected to another AP course you take, meaning you'd explore themes that relate to that course when constructing research projects for AP Seminar. For example, your school might offer a class titled "AP Seminar: American Studies" that is for students who are concurrently enrolled in AP US History.

AP Seminar can also function as a stand-alone class. For example, it could be called something like "AP Seminar: Networks" and offer a focus on the impacts of societal networks from various perspectives.

What Will You Do in AP Seminar?

The AP Seminar curriculum is framed around what the College Board calls five "Big Ideas." These ideas are all pretty buzzword-y (their first letters spell Q.U.E.S.T.—need I say more?), but they cover the main educational goals of the class.

Below are the five Big Ideas of AP Seminar and what they mean:

Big Idea 1: Question and Explore

This idea is about encouraging students to embrace intellectual curiosity and develop their own points of view. Learning to consider issues from different perspectives is also an important part of this.

You'll be introduced to the complexity of societal problems and learn how to view them in a larger context. This is where you start to build a strong foundation for the process of coming up with meaningful research questions.

Big Idea 2: Understand and Analyze

This Big Idea is about learning to read critically and reach the heart of an author's argument. You'll practice avoiding oversimplification and generalization when describing the points made by others. You'll also learn how successful arguments are formulated as well as the importance of counterarguments, context, and the ability of an argument to influence behavior.

Big Idea 3: Evaluate Multiple Perspectives

With this idea, you'll learn that a person's perspective is heavily informed by his or her background and worldview. You'll also consider your own biases and how these might impact your reading and interpretation of an argument.

Big Idea 4: Synthesize Ideas

This is about creating an effective argument from your ideas. You'll learn how to formulate a clear line of reasoning and how to avoid overgeneralizations. In addition, you'll be taught how to collect evidence while steering clear of plagiarism.

Big Idea 5: Team, Transform, and Transmit

This one is about teaching students how to do their best work in a team environment (as you might've guessed from its cringeworthy name). The main focuses here are self-reflection, revision, and developing both good communication and effective presentation skills.

Class discussions also play a large role in AP Seminar in the form of debates, group discussions, and reflection on open-ended questions associated with the course material.

How These Big Ideas Are Put Into Practice

These five Big Ideas manifest in AP Seminar in a series of tasks and lessons, which involve the following:

• Exploring one or more different themes by making connections across subjects and looking at them from various perspectives
• Learning to fully appreciate and understand issues by viewing them in different contexts and across different types of sources (writing, performances, broadcasts, etc.)
• Learning to avoid plagiarism (very important for college!) while using the ideas of others for support in your own work
• Working collaboratively on a team project to evaluate a real-world issue and present the findings in a written report and presentation
• Working independently to come up with a research question and to formulate an argument that culminates in a written report and presentation

AP Seminar will teach you many core skills that are important for college-level research, and it'll give you the tools you need for the AP Research course (which most students take the following year).

In the next section, I'll give you an example of how a real AP Seminar course might be structured.

AP Seminar Sample Course Outline

AP Seminar is a class that often weaves through many different subject areas. Since the goal is to gain a better grasp of the complexity of opinions on societal issues and to use your newfound understanding to do more effective, self-driven research, it covers a lot of ground.

In this example (which I'm basing off a real syllabus I found online), the AP Seminar course was divided into three units for the first semester:

Unit 1: Questioning Modernity

This unit's focus is on introducing the main concepts behind AP Seminar. This includes learning about the process of inquiry, understanding complex arguments, and becoming familiar with rules for avoiding plagiarism. This particular unit is graded based on participation, a 250-word reflection paper, and a group presentation.

In keeping with the theme of contemporary culture, source materials include the famous T. S. Eliot poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," a book by Steven Best titled The Post-Modern Turn , and an article from Forbes titled "Is Facebook Making Us Anti-Social?"

Unit 2: Perception—Arguing Money

This unit is a continuation of the learning experience in the first one but with a focus on advanced topics related to wealth and poverty. This unit also emphasizes viewing issues from different perspectives.

It is assessed based on participation, a 400-word reflection paper, and another group presentation. Source materials for the unit include Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations , The Communist Manifesto , and Andrew Carnegie's essay "The Gospel of Wealth."

Unit 3: Mastering Education

This final unit in AP Seminar brings together concepts learned in the previous units to discuss topics in education. It is graded based on participation, a 500-word argumentative paper, a 500-word reflection paper, and another group presentation. Source materials for this unit include the film Waiting for "Superman" and several scholarly articles on The Common Core.

In the second semester of the class, students will use the skills they learned in the first three units to take on larger challenges in the form of two research projects and the final exam. Each of these assignments makes up a portion of the final AP score.

Team Project and Presentation (25% of AP Score)

The first assignment is a team project and presentation, worth 25% of the final AP score. Students collaborate in teams of three to six to identify a problem or question they want to research. Each student does research individually and presents his or her findings to the group.

The group then works together to compile a written report and an approximately 10-minute class presentation, followed by a defense of their argument based on questions posed by the teacher.

Each student will also write a reflection on the project as a whole, detailing their collaborative process and approach to both research and problem-solving. The entire project takes place over the course of about two months.

Individual Research-Based Essay and Presentation (35% of AP Score)

The second assignment, worth 35% of the AP score, is an individual project. For this part of the course, the College Board releases source materials on a certain topic or theme that students are expected to use in their research. The final paper must use at least one of these sources.

Students are expected to produce a 2,000-word written argument, a six- to eight-minute oral presentation, and a defense of their argument based on two questions posed by the teacher. Students will have around two months to complete this project.

Final Exam (40% of AP Score)

The final exam for AP Seminar consists of three short-answer and two essay questions. The short-answer questions ask students to analyze an argument from a single source. For one essay question, students must compare arguments from different authors, whereas for the other, they must formulate their own evidence-based argument.

Seven sources are given to students for use on the final exam questions.

You can see from this outline that AP Seminar stretches across a variety of topics, and there's quite a bit of freedom to choose what you want to research in the second half.

Overall, AP Seminar is focused on teaching you how to think critically, which is a big departure from many high school courses that just serve to convey specific information. AP Seminar is clearly a more abstract course—but also potentially a more valuable one.

Should You Take AP Seminar?

If you hope to earn an AP Research and Seminar Certificate or an AP Capstone Diploma, you need to take AP Seminar. The AP Capstone program culminates in a 5,000-word research paper that is completed in the AP Research class—an impressive accomplishment for a high school student!

Even if you don't go on to earn the AP Capstone Diploma, you will learn highly valuable critical—thinking and research skills in AP Seminar. Students who take it might place out of introductory college courses or earn college credits .

AP Seminar can also help you avoid academic shock when you get to college. Many high school students have never done in-depth research and therefore don't know how to begin when they're tasked with their first big project in college. If you take this AP class, you'll be ahead of the curve in understanding proper research methods and in learning to avoid both unreliable information and plagiarism.

Lastly, AP Seminar can be a fun experience because it gives you the opportunity to debate important issues with your classmates and work on a project that interests you. There is a level of independence in the seminar-style class that is absent in most other high school classes, which might appeal to students who prefer to explore ideas on their own terms.

If you're an independent, driven student who is hoping to attend a competitive college , AP Seminar might be a great course for you.

How to Do Well in AP Seminar: 3 Essential Tips

What you'll need to do to succeed in AP Seminar depends partly on the format and subject area of the class since it has a lot of flexibility in its structure, teaching methods, and topics. Here are some general tips for success:

#1: Be Open-Minded

AP Seminar mainly deals with analyzing differing perspectives, so try to approach each reading with a willingness to listen and think critically about the author's opinion, even if it doesn't align with your own. This will enable you to adopt a wider view of issues and appreciate their complexity. These skills are critical if you hope to be successful in your research projects.

#2: Participate in Class

Class discussions are very important in AP Seminar. Even if you're not usually big on participation, you should make an effort to contribute to every discussion. Being able to actively engage with your peers will enhance your understanding of the material and allow you to carry out productive conversations with others in your class who might see things differently.

#3: Keep Up With Assignments

This is important in any class, but it's especially critical in AP Seminar. Since you'll be reading and absorbing a lot of material, it's important not to fall behind the rest of the class. Participation relies on a thoughtful reading of the course material, and it's hard to do that if you're trying to play catch up with assignments that were due earlier.

Because you'll be doing research projects both independently and with a team, always stay on top of deadlines to avoid getting overwhelmed or letting down your teammates!

Conclusion: The Benefits of Taking AP Seminar

Critical thinking and the ability to logically evaluate arguments are key skills that'll help you in all aspects of your life. AP Seminar can be a very practical course if you're up for the challenge.

You'll have three major assessments:

• A team research project
• An independent research project
• A final exam

Throughout the course, you'll be asked to read a variety of source materials and participate in class discussions. You'll learn about proper research methods, argumentative techniques, and the importance of looking at issues from all sides.

Students who take AP Seminar can then go on to take AP Research, which offers students even more independence in choosing research topics.

AP Seminar is essentially an opportunity for advanced students to get some experience with the types of assignments and expectations that are common in college classes. Take this class and you'll be way ahead in the game!

What's Next?

Still planning out your schedule? Use this guide to help you decide which AP classes to take.

If AP courses seem kind of intimidating, check out this article to learn just how hard they really are —and to decide whether you are up for the challenge.

To learn more about creating a class schedule that'll give you the best chance of attending a top college, read this article on what a rigorous course schedule looks like.

Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles. Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in 2014. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar.

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5.2 Presenting an argument for context, purpose, and/or audience

11 min read • january 8, 2023

In AP Research, 25% of your final AP score will come from a presentation and oral defense. In this guide, we’ll be covering tips to ace them both. 

Information comes from the College Board’s AP Research CED.

Adapting The Argument

According to the College Board, your presentation should be “a presentation of your research question , research methodology , and findings ,” about 15 minutes long. Your final research paper should be 4000-5000 words long — if you were to read the whole paper, it would take much longer than 15 minutes! (It would also not be very fun.) This means you’ll need to adapt your argument from paper format to presentation format.

How do you do this? 

Let’s use the College Board’s Presentation Rubric as a guide. Looking at the highest-scoring category, the best presentations include: 

The research question /project goal 

The research method 

The research “argument, conclusion or understanding.” (What were your findings ? What conclusions did you draw from them?)

An argument that “identifies and explains the consequences and/or implications made in the conclusion. 

An explanation of how steps in the research process led to the above conclusion. 

Turning an argument from paper format to presentation format is fundamentally about picking and choosing the important points.

Furthermore, adaptation requires an understanding of the medium you’re adapting into. In this case, you’re turning a paper into a presentation. Presentations are visual and auditory where papers are only black and white words on a page. When making a presentation, you’ll have to consider the visuals you’ll include and your method of speaking, things you wouldn’t have to consider when writing your paper. 

It may be helpful to start by making slides with nothing but what you want to say on them. After you have a plan for your presentation, you can remove the text and add in visuals. 

Slide Design Tips

Always ask yourself as you go: does this visual contribute to my audience’s understanding?

It can help to use a slide template so that your slides are pre-formatted.

Make sure you have permission to use any images you use! You can get around this by only using stock images.

Remember that in addition to pictures and words, you can add tables and charts to your slides. Data can be presented visually instead of verbally through these mediums, boosting audience engagement.

It’s a good idea to minimize the number of words written on your slides. People will read your slide or listen to you talk, but they won’t do both. 

Note that while a lot of AP Research presentations use powerpoint slides, not all of them have to. As long as you’re meeting the rubric guidelines, you can present however you want. Outside of AP Research, you’ll find that not every argument is presented in the same way: some arguments are more effective when presented in a video or a speech, or even a work of fiction, then they would be as a powerpoint presentation. 

Presentation Skills

We’ve discussed presentation skills in Big Idea 5 of AP Seminar, and the skills you used there will also be helpful here. 

The biggest difference between AP Seminar’s presentations and AP Research’s presentations is the length of the presentation. In some ways, it’s easier to create a 15 minute presentation because you get more time to talk, but it can also be challenging to speak for that long. 

Audience Appropriate Language and the Elements of Delivery

No matter the length of the presentation, there are two things you should keep in mind when presenting: audience appropriate language and elements of delivery.

You’ll be presenting to people outside of your discipline for your final presentation. As a result, you’ll need to present in a language appropriate to that audience. This may mean defining terms known by people in your discipline or removing technical terms from your work. 

Elements of delivery are… elements of your presentation delivery! These include your volume, tempo, movement, eye contact, vocal variety, and energy. Every presentation and every presenter has a different way of using the elements of delivery.

The important thing is that you use these elements, and indeed every part of your presentation, to effectively communicate with your audience. For example, a common piece of advice given about presentations is that you shouldn’t just read off of notecards or a paper. This is because the paper puts a literal barrier between you and your audience, and prevents you from making eye contact and gauging how they react to your words. In this example, the key goal is fostering communication. 

Finally, you should always practice your presentation before you give it! It can be challenging to practice a 15 minute presentation. That said, even one run through will help you identify weak points in your presentation and verify that your presentation has an appropriate length. If you’d like even more practice, you can practice in front of a camera (nobody needs to see the footage but you!) or enlist a volunteer to listen and critique. The only way to become better at presenting, is (unfortunately) presenting more.

Oral Defense

Now that the presentation’s over, can you breathe a sigh of relief? Nope! You’ve gotta go through the Oral Defense.

In the Oral Defense, you will be asked about 3-4 questions about your research and the research process . Fortunately, you’ll have access to the questions beforehand: I’ve made a copy of them below: (Found on page 59 of the CED.)

Oral Defense Questions

Research/Inquiry Process [choices made throughout the research process ]

1. How did your initial exploration of the scholarly conversation lead to your final research

question/project goal?

2. How did your review of the methods used by scholars in the field inform your selection of a

research method/process that is aligned with your research question /project goal?

3. How did the choices you made when designing or implementing your research method

impact your research process ?

4. How did you determine which results generated by your research method were most

important in informing your new understanding?

Depth of Understanding [relating student data/results to the new understanding]

1. How does your new understanding address a gap in the scholarly conversation?

2. How did the limitations of your method or data influence your new understanding?

3. What are the real-world implications or consequences related to your findings ?

4. How do your findings provide directions for future research in the field?

Reflection Throughout the Inquiry Process [how the inquiry process informs growth and self-awareness as a researcher]

1. Think back to the initial curiosity that sparked your inquiry. What other curiosities do you have

and how has this process prepared you to explore them?

2. How did you handle the uncertainty of the research process ?

3. If you could revisit your research process , what would you do differently and why?

4. What was the most important research skill you developed as a result of this process, and

how might you apply it to your future endeavors?

5. How did your expert adviser facilitate your deeper understanding of the research process ?

Note: This question should only be asked if the student engaged with an expert adviser .

Take a moment to read through these questions and start brainstorming answers to them! 

Tips for Success!

Here are some tips for Oral Defense success on the day of: 

It’s okay to ask for a minute to think or for your questioner to repeat the question if you don’t understand.

Focusing your answer on one or two solid examples can help make your answers clear and focused.

Most of all, be confident! You made your choices, stand by them! 

In the next guide, we’ll talk about two processes that might make all of this easier: self-reflection and peer review.

Let’s use the College Board’s description and rubric as a guide. Take a look at a picture of the rubric here: 

{ADD PICTURE}

Looking at the highest-scoring category, the best presentations include: 

Note that while a lot of AP Research presentations use powerpoint slides, not all of them have to. As long as you’re meeting the rubric guidelines, you can present however you want. Outside of AP Research, you’ll find that not every argument is presented in the same way: some arguments are more effective when presented in a video or a speech, or even a work of fiction, than they would be as a powerpoint presentation. 

Research Tip: If you’re stuck, take a look at other people’s AP Research Presentations! (You can find recordings online.) 

Elements of delivery are… elements of your presentation delivery! These include your volume, tempo, movement, eye contact, vocal variety, and energy. Every presentation and every presenter has a different way of using the elements of delivery. The important thing is that you use these elements to effectively communicate with your audience. For example, a common piece of advice given about presentations is that you shouldn’t just read off of notecards or a paper. This is because the paper puts a literal barrier between you and your audience, and prevents you from making eye contact and gauging how they react to your words. In this example, the key goal is fostering communication. 

Key Terms to Review ( 9 )

Expert Adviser

Future research

Limitations of your method or data

Real-world implications

Research Methodology

Research Process

Research Question

Uncertainty of the research process

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