AP course offerings (subject to course interest and enrollment)
Number of credits vary with each course

AP Art and Design

The AP Art and Design Program offers studio art courses and portfolios in Two-Dimensional Design, Three-Dimensional Design, and Drawing. The AP Art and Design portfolios are designed for students who are seriously interested in the practical experience of art. Students submit portfolios for evaluation at the end of the school year.

The AP Art and Design Program consists of portfolios corresponding to the most common college foundation courses, AP Art and Design students create a portfolio of work to demonstrate the artistic skills and ideas they have developed, refined, and applied over the course of their studies in the PVA program to produce visual compositions.

AP Biology

The AP Biology Program has undergone a recent curriculum framework change. The key concepts and related content that define the revised AP Biology course and exam are organized around four underlying principles called the Big Ideas. The big ideas are evolution, cellular processes, genetics and biological interactions. A more student directed, inquiry-based lab experience supports the AP Biology course revisions and curricular requirements. By maintaining an average of 75% or greater in Science 10 AP Prep, students may continue in Biology 20 AP Prep in second semester. In Grade 11 or 12, students enrol in both Biology 30/35 AP for 8 credits, which potentially could be accompanied by a field trip to the Bamfield Marine Centre (additional costs). By May, students are prepared to write the AP exam, and in June, the Alberta Diploma Examination. 

AP Chemistry

AP Chemistry is a general introduction to chemical principles, with emphasis on problems and methods in Chemistry. The goals of the course are: 1) to introduce students to concepts required for solving problems in Chemistry and understanding chemical reactivity; and 2) to develop analytical and critical thinking skills for potential science majors. Students who earn a mark of 75% or greater in Science 10 AP Prep may register in Chemistry 20 AP Prep. Chemistry 20 AP Prep is a one semester course and begins with a microscopic description of the structures of atoms and molecules, including a description of electronic orbitals and their relationship to chemical properties. The properties of gases, liquids, solids and solutions including the basics of acids and bases are covered. The topics covered in Chemistry 30 AP Prep are chemical equilibrium, thermochemistry, electrochemistry, and organic chemistry. This program is completed first semester and students write their Diploma exam in January. During the second semester students enrol in Chemistry 35 AP (3 credits) where they take an in-depth look at thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, solution equilibria, along with advanced bonding, and prepare to write the AP exam in May.

AP Computer Science A

This course is designed for students to learn fundamental software development concepts. Students will learn foundational concepts including object-oriented program design, algorithm design and analysis, abstract data structures, and the impact of computing on other disciplines. Students will also learn to develop programs in the Java language, which is widely used in industry and academia.

Computer Science is a science that has created exciting fields such as computational linguistics, computational neuroscience, computational geometry, computational physics, etc. It is essential in econometrics, and for algorithmic trading in financial and energy markets, and has cutting edge applications in sociology and anthropology.

AP English Literature and Composition

The AP English Literature and Composition course is designed to engage students in the careful reading and critical analysis of literature. The AP method introduces students to an academic approach to reading, analysis and writing that will prepare them for post-secondary courses. One need not be an academic superstar for this course but students should have a love for reading, a keen desire to learn, the willingness to hone their skills and the curiosity to delve into the ways in which literature works.

In the course, students will learn to read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s artistic complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, explore the its historical contexts and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form. The normal course progression is ELA 10-1 AP Prep, ELA 20-1 AP Prep and ELA 30-1 AP. However, students can join the AP stream in Grade 11 or Grade 12.

AP European History 35

Prerequisite course: Social Studies 20-1

AP European History is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester introductory college or university European history course. In AP European History students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in four historical periods from approximately 1450 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical comparisons; and utilizing reasoning about contextualization, causation, and continuity and change over time.
The course also provides six themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: interaction of Europe and the world; poverty and prosperity; objective knowledge and subjective visions; states and other institutions of power; individual and society; and national and European identity.

AP Physics

Beyond the comprehensive Alberta Physics 20/30 curriculum, students will study torque, rotational statics, rotational dynamics, angular momentum, and electric circuits. In this course, students will experience university level rigor and challenge enhanced by broad scope of the AP Physics 1 curriculum. The emphasis on laboratory design, data analysis and problem-solving puts students at the center of learning. This results in a more personal connection to physics concepts in the real world.

AP Calculus AB

AP Calculus AB is designed to be the equivalent of a first semester college/university calculus course devoted and structured around three big ideas: limits, derivatives, and integrals and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. The course focus on students’ understanding of calculus concepts and provide experience with methods and applications. Through the use of big ideas of calculus (e.g., modeling change, approximation and limits, and analysis of functions), the course becomes a cohesive whole, rather than a collection of unrelated topics. The course requires students to use definitions and theorems to build arguments and justify conclusions.