Advanced Placement^® Edition

Psychology

Grades 10–12

Make college level content accessible to all students without sacrificing the rigor required for success

100% aligned to the new AP^® Psychology College Board^® CED.
Concise and focused content.
Scaffolded skill development.
High quality primary sources.
AP-style assessment practice.

The program starts with four Science Practices foundational to the discipline of psychology followed by five content units. The Science Practices are revisited and developed throughout the program in Think as a Psychologist activities.

Each topic includes:

The Essential Question.
A narrative aligned to the course framework.
A reflection/review of the Essential Question.
A set of multiple-choice questions, including scenario-based and stimulus-based question types.

Extensive AP exam preparation includes hundreds of AP-style multiple-choice questions, Article Analysis questions with a source document, and Evidence-Based questions with three research studies. Three full-length practice tests are provided.

All test items have been meticulously constructed to model the format and quality of those on the exam.
Each question is tied to a specific learning objective from the course framework, allowing teachers to quickly diagnose individual and class performance.

Advanced Placement Psychology book cover

“

AMSCO has been a godsend to my students. It has made difficult information to learn much more accessible and digestible…my students were able to gain college credit at a high rate. I absolutely recommend textbooks by AMSO as a valuable tool in the AP classroom.

”

Paula W.
CCSD/Advanced Technologies Academy
Las Vegas, Nevada

Support for College Board Course Audit Approval

Perfection Learning is an OpenStax ally. We join OpenStax in the mission to improve access to affordable educational materials by providing additional resources for OpenStax books. OpenStax is committed to providing free, peer-reviewed textbook content and offering multiple options for instructors who need additional resources for their course.

The College Board-approved OpenStax Psychology digital text has been aligned with the AMSCO Psychology AP coursebook from Perfection Learning. The paired OpenStax text is:

Available at no additional charge.
Listed on the College Board example textbook list as “Psychology, OpenStax.”
Pre-approved for course audit submission.

A FREE pacing guide shows how the AMSCO and OpenStax resources work together for instruction.

OpenStax Ally logo

Advanced Placement Psychology and Openstax covers

Think as a Psychologist

Activities focus on applying and practicing the key skills introduced within the Foundational Practices chapters and are revisited within each related content unit.

A Multicultural Perspective

Written by Dr. Jeffery Mio, author of Multicultural Psychology, every unit asks students to develop and support a claim based on a reading reflecting an aspect of psychology looked at through a multicultural lens.

Study Like a Champ with Dr. G

Focuses students on the science-tested strategies to learn and remember content. Written by Dr. Regan Gurung, author of Study Like a Champ: The Psychology-Based Guide to "Grade A" Study Habits.

Making college-level content accessible to high school students is of the utmost importance in ensuring success. The AP Psychology coursebook is carefully written and designed to ensure all students:

Comprehend key ideas.
Learn and use concept vocabulary.
Build their analytical and writing skills.

Advanced Placement Psychology Readability page example

The AP Psychology coursebook is built to address the specific Practices, learning objectives, and essential knowledge for each unit. As a result, the depth and breadth of content coverage aligns precisely with the AP Psychology framework and exam.

AMSCO curriculum builds capacity, without sacrificing rigor, and supports students to develop the content knowledge and skills they need to be successful.

Initial inquiry and essay tasks are designed to be narrow in scope, allowing students to master smaller skills first.
Instruction and tasks to develop disciplinary practices and reasoning skills move from simple to complex as students gain competence.

Digital editions, with built-in Immersive Reader support, enable students to use a wealth of personalized tools to comprehend course content.

Translate and listen to the text in over 120 languages.
Customize readability by changing font type, size, and background color.

Immersive Reader translation example

Help students move from skimming and scanning to extracting key concepts, identifying events and developments, and formulating questions for further study. All highlights and notes are captured automatically in a running notebook—perfect for study and exam preparation.

Advanced Placement Psychology Streamlined Notetaking example

Develop College Readiness Skills

Students gain the critical “thinking” and “doing” skills required in rigorous college courses through extended practice in:

Evaluating authors’ perspectives.
Analyzing primary and secondary sources.
Citing textual evidence to support arguments.
Developing cohesive written arguments.

Engage students through collaboration.

Participate in dynamic, inclusive small group discussions.
Share ideas and perspectives based on meaningful, text-based questions.

Think as a Psychologist activities help students develop and strengthen the foundational practices by applying psychological concepts, identifying elements of research designs, interpreting data, and proposing defensible claims.

Advanced Placement Psychology Think as a Psychologist page examples

Success on the AP exam requires strong writing skills. The AP Psychology coursebook includes A Multicultural Perspective feature asking students to develop and support a claim based on a reading reflecting an aspect of psychology looked at through a multicultural lens.

Advanced Placement Psychology Writing Rigor & Fluency page example

“

Because the content in the AMSCO books is more accessible, concise, and focused just on what they need to know, students are actually reading the text. As a result, I’ve seen test scores go up.”

”

Mark G.
Social Studies Department Chair
AP U.S. History, AP World History: Modern, and AP Psychology Teacher
Bradenton, Florida

Advanced Placement Psychology Teacher Resources

Extensive Teacher Support

Teacher materials include:

A Teacher Resource with Answer Key. Best-choice answers are identified for each multiple-choice question. Rubrics and suggested good responses are provided for all free-response questions.
Customizable PowerPoint slides.
A day-by-day pacing guide.
Two full-length practice tests with rationales.
A correlation of each question to the College Board framework.
OER resources by topic.