Skip to content
fivefold
Start free
All courses
AP Seminar

AP Seminar

Read an argument like a scorer, then build your own: the three Part A answers, the four-source essay, and the research skills behind the IRR and IWA.

Category
AP Capstone
Units
5 units
Exam
Exam May 10, 2027 (in 225 days)
Start Unit 1 freeSign in

Unit 1 is free with an account. No card, no trial clock.

What the course covers

AP Seminar is the first course of AP Capstone. It has no fixed subject matter: you investigate real issues through several lenses, analyze other people's arguments, and build evidence-based arguments of your own in writing and aloud. Your AP score combines two performance tasks you complete during the year (a team project with a 1,200-word Individual Research Report, and a 2,000-word Individual Written Argument on a College Board stimulus theme, each with a presentation) and a two-hour End-of-Course Exam on May 10, 2027.

This course follows the CED's five Big Ideas as its units, using the framework's own Enduring Understanding numbers as topics. Every unit trains the scored rubric rows directly: identifying an author's full argument (A1), explaining how the claims connect (A2), evaluating specific evidence for relevance and credibility (A3), and writing a synthesis argument from at least two of four sources (Part B). Performance task units teach context, perspectives, credible evidence, citation, and the oral defense, with practice on our own topics so your real submissions stay entirely your own work, as the AP Capstone AI policy requires.

5 units

  1. Unit 1

    Question and Explore

    Free
    How inquiry begins: framing a complex issue in its context, asking research questions that invite divergent answers, testing what you already assume, finding primary and secondary sources with effective search strategies, and judging relevance and credibility. Feeds the performance task rows for context (IRR Row 1, IWA Rows 1 and 2) and source evaluation (IRR Row 3, EOC A3), plus the choices behind a researchable question.
    5 topics
    1. 1.1Contextualizing an Issue and Posing Questions
    2. 1.2Using and Questioning Prior Knowledge
    3. 1.3Finding and Managing Sources
    4. 1.4Evaluating Relevance and Credibility of Sources
    5. 1.5Aligning Methods and Information with the Inquiry

  2. Unit 2

    Understand and Analyze

    The heart of Part A. Reading critically for main idea, tone, assumptions, and perspective; stating an author's complete argument; tracing the claims in a line of reasoning and how they connect; evaluating the relevance and credibility of specific evidence; testing validity; and following an argument to its implications. Feeds EOC A1, A2, and A3 (all 15 Part A points) and IRR Rows 2 and 3.
    3 topics
    1. 2.1Reading Critically and Identifying the Main Idea
    2. 2.2Line of Reasoning and the Quality of Evidence
    3. 2.3Implications and Consequences of Arguments

  3. Unit 3

    Evaluate Multiple Perspectives

    Treating an issue as a conversation: identifying each source's perspective (a point of view conveyed through an argument, not a topic or a lens), seeing where perspectives concur, complement, or compete, and weighing competing arguments by their implications and limitations while checking your own biases. Feeds IRR Row 4 and IWA Row 3 (up to 9 points), and the Part B skill of reading four sources for a connecting theme.
    2 topics
    1. 3.1Identifying and Comparing Perspectives
    2. 3.2Weighing Competing Arguments

  4. Unit 4

    Synthesize Ideas

    Building your own argument: a clear perspective, a logically organized line of reasoning with qualifiers and counterarguments, evidence chosen and synthesized from multiple sources, commentary that explains how evidence supports claims, accurate attribution in one consistent style, original thinking, and solutions weighed against their consequences. Feeds Part B Rows 1 to 3 (18 points) and IWA Rows 4 to 6 (26 points).
    5 topics
    1. 4.1Formulating a Well-Reasoned Argument
    2. 4.2Selecting Evidence and Writing Commentary
    3. 4.3Attribution, Citation, and Academic Integrity
    4. 4.4Extending Ideas to Create New Understanding
    5. 4.5Proposing Resolutions and Weighing Consequences

  5. Unit 5

    Team, Transform, and Transmit

    Communicating and collaborating: structuring a cohesive argument for a specific audience, writing with controlled grammar, usage, and style, designing and delivering multimedia presentations, working as a team, and reflecting on your process in the oral defenses. Feeds Part B Row 4, IRR Row 6, IWA Row 7, the Team and Individual Multimedia Presentations, and both oral defenses.
    3 topics
    1. 5.1Communicating to an Audience
    2. 5.2Collaborating as a Team
    3. 5.3Reflecting on Process and Growth

The exam, part by part

2 parts, 2 h in all.

  • End-of-Course Exam, Part A: Understanding and Analyzing an Argument

    Questions
    3
    Time
    30 min
    Weight
    30%
    Format details

    Task types: A1: Identify the Argument, A2: Explain the Line of Reasoning, A3: Evaluate the Evidence

    One source (a published argument of roughly 900 to 1,200 words, often a magazine, journal, or policy article that cites its own research) and three short-answer prompts, A1, A2, and A3, that stay the same every year. Suggested time 30 minutes of the 120-minute exam; students can move between Part A and Part B freely. Complete sentences are required; outlines and bulleted lists are not accepted. Part A is 15 raw points (3 + 6 + 6) and 30% of the exam, which is 13.5% of the AP score.

  • End-of-Course Exam, Part B: Evidence-Based Argument

    Questions
    1
    Time
    1 h 30 min
    Weight
    70%
    Format details

    Task types: Part B: Evidence-Based Argument

    Four sources (A to D) from different disciplines and genres that share a broad theme, for example an essay, a poem, a historical or literary excerpt, a speech, a report, or an infographic with data. The student identifies a theme or issue connecting them, takes a perspective of their own, and argues it using at least two of the sources, cited as Source A to D or by author. Suggested time 90 minutes. 24 raw points (four rows of 6) and 70% of the exam, which is 31.5% of the AP score.

How the 1 to 5 score is set

The AP score (1 to 5) combines three College Board weighted components. Performance Task 1, Team Project and Presentation, is 20%: the Individual Research Report (1,200 words, College Board scored, 30 raw points) is half and the Team Multimedia Presentation and Defense (8 to 10 minutes, teacher scored, 24 raw points) is half. Performance Task 2, Individual Research-Based Essay and Presentation, is 35%: the Individual Written Argument (2,000 words, College Board scored, 48 raw points) is 70% of it, the Individual Multimedia Presentation (6 to 8 minutes, teacher scored) 20%, and the Oral Defense (two teacher questions, teacher scored) 10%; the presentation and defense together are 48 raw points. The End-of-Course Exam is 45%: Part A (15 raw points) is 30% of it and Part B (24 raw points) is 70%. Readers score each rubric row independently by best fit (preponderance of evidence). An off-topic, prompt-copying, or non-English response scores 0 on every row. A performance task component scores 0 if the student plagiarizes, fabricates or falsifies information, or does not complete the required teacher checkpoints (the teacher must affirm them in the AP Digital Portfolio). Performance tasks are due as final by April 30, 2027, 11:59 p.m. ET.

What you bring and get

No reference sheet and no calculator. The End-of-Course Exam is fully digital in the Bluebook app, with all sources displayed on screen; students may annotate on screen and use scratch paper, but only text typed into the response boxes is scored. The clock turns red with 5 minutes left and the proctor gives no time warnings. Performance task stimulus materials for PT2 are released to teachers in January 2027 through the AP Digital Portfolio.

Skills the exam scores

  • UAAUnderstand and Analyze Argument

    Analyze Sources and Evidence. Identify the main idea of an argument, trace the reasoning that builds it, and judge whether its conclusion is valid. Scored on EOC A1 and A2 and IRR Row 2.

  • ESEEvaluate Sources and Evidence

    Analyze Sources and Evidence. Judge the credibility and relevance of sources and of the specific evidence they present. Scored on EOC A3 and IRR Row 3.

  • ESAEstablish Argument

    Construct an Evidence-Based Argument. Develop a well-reasoned argument that clearly connects a thesis, claims, and evidence into a line of reasoning that reaches a conclusion. Scored on Part B Rows 1 and 2, IWA Row 4, TMP Row 1, and the oral defense.

  • SUESelect and Use Evidence

    Construct an Evidence-Based Argument. Choose evidence strategically so it genuinely supports claims, and synthesize it rather than stacking it. Scored on Part B Row 3 and IWA Row 5.

  • UACUnderstand and Analyze Context

    Understand Context and Perspective. Grasp the complexity of a problem or issue and connect arguments to the larger context they sit in, including why the issue matters. Scored on IRR Row 1, IWA Rows 1 and 2, TMP Row 2, and IMP Row 1.

  • UAPUnderstand and Analyze Perspective

    Understand Context and Perspective. Compare and interpret multiple, diverse perspectives (points of view conveyed through arguments) to understand an issue's complexity, drawing explicit connections among them. Scored on IRR Row 4 and IWA Row 3.

  • ENAEngage Audience

    Communicate. Choose and use effective written and oral communication techniques for the audience, context, and purpose, including presentation design and delivery. Scored on TMP Rows 3 and 4 and IMP Rows 5 and 6.

  • APCApply Conventions

    Communicate. Apply one citation style consistently and accurately, integrate and attribute source material, and write clearly in an academic register. Scored on Part B Row 4, IRR Rows 5 and 6, and IWA Rows 6 and 7.

  • COLCollaborate

    Communicate. Work constructively with teammates to reach a shared goal, contributing individually and building a productive team climate. Assessed through the Team Project, including TMP Row 5.

  • REFReflect

    Communicate. Articulate the challenges, successes, and moments of insight in your inquiry and collaboration. Scored on TMP Row 5 and the PT2 Oral Defense Row 1.