At its founding in 1956, the AP program was not intended to be such a behemoth. Its founders viewed it as “an opportunity and a challenge to … the strongest and most ambitious boys and girls.” For the program’s first several decades, its growth reflected that purpose. In 1956, 2,199 AP exams were administered nationwide. That number increased by an average of 10,567 tests per year over the next 30 years. By the pandemic’s aftermath, growth had accelerated to an average of 325,000 additional tests administered per year, reaching 6.25 million in 2025.
Amidst this blitz, the New York Times asked, in a 2023 article, “Why Is the College Board Pushing to Expand Advanced Placement?” The story noted that, “for the past two decades, the College Board has moved aggressively to expand the number of high school students taking Advanced Placement courses and tests—in part by pitching the program to low-income students and the schools that serve them. It is a matter of equity, they argue.”
That move was so successful that the Times said the AP program had become “something of a de facto national curriculum.” Indeed, the financial success of the AP program is matched only by its power over American classrooms.