Free Lesson 1.1: Understanding Social Engineering
Free AP Cybersecurity lesson for Unit 1, Topic 1.1: editable slides, guided notes, an original scenario, AP-style MCQs, a Mini-FRQ, and answer keys.
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AP Cybersecurity: a teacher's guide to the new course
The course goes national this school year and the first exam is in May 2027. Here is what is actually in it, where to get the official framework, and what your school needs before you can teach it.
Written for the 2026-27 launch year. Every figure below comes from College Board's published Course and Exam Description.
What AP Cybersecurity is
AP Cybersecurity is a new College Board course launching nationally in the 2026-27 school year, with the first exam on Wednesday, May 5, 2027. It is one of the AP Career Kickstart courses, alongside AP Business with Personal Finance, with AP Networking following in Fall 2027.
It is a full-year course with no prerequisites, built around four skill categories that spiral through every unit: analyze risk, mitigate risk, detect attacks, and collaborate. The course framework aligns to the NICE Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity, and students who earn a qualifying exam score receive the AP Career Kickstart Employer-Endorsed Credential.
In practice that means it is a career-and-technical course wearing an AP badge: less about programming than AP Computer Science A, more about how real systems get attacked and defended.
The five units, and how long each one takes
The CED publishes a suggested class-period allotment for every unit, based on 45-minute periods. They add up to about 110 periods, which is what makes this a full-year course rather than a semester elective.
| Unit | Topics | Class periods | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1: Introduction to Security | 5 | ~10 | Social engineering, suspicious website logins, staying safe on public networks, and both sides of AI: AI-based attacks and using AI in cyber defense. |
| Unit 2: Securing Spaces | 4 | ~21 | Cyber foundations, physical vulnerabilities and attacks, protecting physical spaces, and detecting physical attacks. |
| Unit 3: Securing Networks | 5 | ~26 | Network vulnerabilities and attacks, network protections and controls, and detecting attacks on a network. |
| Unit 4: Securing Devices | 4 | ~23 | Device vulnerabilities and attacks, authentication, protecting devices, and detecting attacks on devices. |
| Unit 5: Securing Applications and Data | 6 | ~30 | Application and data vulnerabilities, protecting applications and stored data, and detecting attacks against them. |
Two things stand out when you plan against this. Unit 1 is short, only about 10 periods, so the course starts fast. And the back half is heavy: Units 3, 4, and 5 together account for roughly 79 of the 110 periods, so a pacing plan that spends too long on the opening units will run out of spring.
Where to download the CED (the course framework PDF)
Free, from College Board: the AP Cybersecurity Course and Exam Description. If you have seen a link called "course framework," it redirects to this same file. There is one document, not two.
It is worth reading even if you buy curriculum, because it is the only place the topic-by-topic learning objectives and the exam weighting are stated officially. The Course at a Glance pages near the front are the fastest way to see the whole year on two pages.
Is there an AP Cybersecurity textbook?
No. There is no official College Board textbook for this course, and the CED is explicit that individual teachers are responsible for designing their own curriculum for AP courses.
That surprises people coming from AP courses with a settled textbook market, and it is the single most common thing teachers search for about this course. What it means practically: your school picks its own instructional resources, and the AP Course Audit asks you to name what you are using. A college-level cybersecurity text, a platform, a curriculum package, or materials you build yourself can all satisfy that, in whatever combination your department can afford.
The exam
2 hours 10 minutes, in two sections. Section I is 60 multiple-choice questions in 80 minutes, worth 70%. Section II is one free-response question in 50 minutes, worth 30%.
The free-response question is called Device Security Analysis. Students get simulated source material about a single digital device, which the CED says may include security policies, firewall configurations, file-system permissions, and log files, and they analyze it. It assesses the mitigate-risk and detect-attacks skill categories specifically, which is a useful thing to know when you decide how much class time to spend on hands-on analysis versus recall.
What your school needs to offer it
The AP Course Audit
Any school labeling a course "AP" has to go through the AP Course Audit, and this course is no exception. For the 2026-27 launch year the audit form window runs from March 2026 through January 2027, with syllabi not due until March 2027, so there is more runway than teachers usually expect.
Technology
The audit asks the school to confirm that participating teachers and students have computers with internet access for completing course and assessment requirements, including access to cyber range websites. That last clause is the one worth taking to your IT department early, because school filtering is exactly the kind of thing that blocks a cyber range in September.
Who can teach it
There are no student prerequisites, and the course does not assume prior programming. Plenty of the teachers picking it up are business or CTE teachers rather than computer science specialists.
Curriculum options, honestly
College Board does not publish a list of endorsed curriculum providers for AP Cybersecurity. Treat any product claiming official status carefully, including when you are reading our pages.
Cisco has announced a partnership with College Board under which Networking Academy is available as an instructional resource. For schools that choose Networking Academy, the course also prepares students for the Cisco CCST Cybersecurity certification. That conditional matters: the certification preparation follows from choosing Cisco's materials, not from the AP course itself.
Everything else on the market, ours included, is independently aligned to the public framework. That is not a weakness so long as a seller is straight about it, and you can check any claim yourself against the CED in an afternoon.
Common questions
Where do I download the AP Cybersecurity CED or course framework PDF?
From College Board, free. The Course and Exam Description is a public PDF on AP Central. The 'course framework' link redirects to the same document, so there is one file to read, not two.
Is there an AP Cybersecurity textbook?
There is no official College Board textbook for AP Cybersecurity. The CED states that individual teachers are responsible for designing their own curriculum for AP courses. Schools choose their own instructional resources, and the AP Course Audit asks you to name what you are using.
When is the first AP Cybersecurity exam?
Wednesday, May 5, 2027, in Session 1. The course launches for the 2026-27 school year, so the first cohort tests at the end of that year.
What is on the AP Cybersecurity exam?
Two sections, 2 hours 10 minutes total. Section I is 60 multiple-choice questions in 80 minutes, worth 70% of the score. Section II is one free-response question called Device Security Analysis, 50 minutes, worth 30%.
Are there prerequisites for AP Cybersecurity?
No. College Board lists no prerequisite coursework for AP Cybersecurity.
Do I have to complete the AP Course Audit?
Yes, if your school wants to label the course AP on transcripts and order exams. The audit also asks the school to confirm that teachers and students have computers with internet access for course and assessment requirements, including access to cyber range websites.
How many class periods does AP Cybersecurity take?
About 110 class periods of 45 minutes across the five units, based on the allotments published in the CED.
Does College Board endorse a curriculum provider for AP Cybersecurity?
College Board does not publish a list of endorsed curriculum providers for this course. Cisco has announced a partnership in which Networking Academy is available as an instructional resource, and for schools that choose it, the course also prepares students for the Cisco CCST Cybersecurity certification. Any other curriculum, including ours, is independently aligned to the public framework rather than College Board approved.
Teaching it this year?
We build a full-year AP Cybersecurity curriculum paced to the same ~110 class periods the CED lays out: 5 units, 24 topic packets, editable slides, guided notes, original scenarios, assessments, and answer keys. Start with the free lesson and see whether it fits how you teach.
AP Cybersecurity: Full-Year Course
Complete AP Cybersecurity curriculum: 5 units, 24 topic packets, original scenarios, AP-style assessments & 3 practice exams.
$175$256.5View the full course
Not teaching AP Cybersecurity yet?
The same five units map onto the state intro courses, including Foundations of Cybersecurity in Texas and Cybersecurity Fundamentals in Virginia. You can run the sequence now and keep the AP alignment for when the course is added.
AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this product. Our curriculum is independently aligned to the publicly available AP® Cybersecurity Course Framework. Course details on this page come from College Board's published Course and Exam Description and AP Central; check those sources for anything you are making a scheduling or budget decision on.