Since its widespread emergence in the mid-1960s, the Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum has successfully established and maintained an identity as the gold standard of transcript currency for college preparatory schools. It is something that nearly all independent school parents and students believe they understand and clearly expect, and it is what colleges and universities say they want. Independent schools are endlessly examining, analyzing, modifying, and restructuring their curricula. For some reason, the AP program is often exempted from that kind of thoughtful scrutiny because it has become something like the wallpaper of "academic excellence." Does the AP, arguably the ultimate test prep curriculum, really deserve that kind of free pass? In this article, the author presents eight questions that he believes are important to ask about the AP and how it works (or not) in one's school. Giving faculty a way to have genuine dialogue on these questions will provide some very valuable information about the beliefs, values, and priorities that inform their work and the character of one's school. (Contains 1 note.)