How to Find AP Classroom Video Transcripts

AP Classroom hosts AP Daily and other instructional videos inside the College Board's online platform. A transcript or caption track lets you review a lesson, search for a term or follow along without audio. This guide covers where to look in the video player, what to do when no transcript appears, and how to check the text you end up with.

Before you start

• A College Board account that can access the relevant course in AP Classroom, usually through a class section your teacher set up.
• An up-to-date desktop or mobile browser. Video playback, captions and any transcript are delivered online by AP Classroom. Viewing them needs no local software.
• A note of the course, unit and video title, in case you need to ask your teacher about a specific video.
• If you need transcripts as an accessibility accommodation, contact your school, such as your teacher or AP coordinator. Do not rely on caption options happening to be available.
• If you plan to make your own transcript, check the College Board terms of use and your school's policy first. Recording, transcribing or sharing course videos may not be permitted.

Caption and transcript availability can differ from video to video and can change over time. Confirm it on the video itself rather than assuming every video has the same options.

Step-by-step instructions

• 1. Sign in to AP Classroom and open the course that contains the video.
• 2. Go to the unit, topic or assignment where the video appears, and start playback.
• 3. Look at the player controls for a captions control, often labeled CC, and for any transcript option. Captions show timed text over the video. A transcript is the full text in one place, which you can read or search.
• 4. If a transcript option is present, open it. Use your browser's find function to locate terms. If a download option is offered, save the file and give it a name that identifies the course, unit and video.
• 5. If only captions are available, turn them on and check whether the player lets you adjust their size or style.
• 6. If you see neither option, write down the video title and location and ask your teacher whether a transcript is available.

Player controls can look different depending on the browser, the device and the window size. If an option seems to be missing on a phone or in a small window, try a desktop browser with the window maximized. Extensions that block scripts or media can hide player controls. Pausing such an extension for that page is easy to reverse, and you can re-enable it afterward.

If you are permitted to create your own transcript

Some videos may be ones you are allowed to transcribe, such as a recording your teacher made and shared for that purpose. For those, a transcription tool works from the audio. The video's frame rate does not matter for transcription. An audio-only capture or a lower video frame rate keeps files smaller.

• Set the capture source in your recorder to the system or browser audio output, not the microphone. Otherwise you will record room noise instead of the lesson.
• Choose a common recording format and encoding that your transcription tool accepts. Check the tool's documentation for supported formats.
• Use an audio bitrate your tool recommends for speech. A very low bitrate can make words harder to recognize.
• Find out whether the transcription tool processes files locally or uploads them to a service. Also check how long any uploaded files are kept. Treat its privacy statements as claims to verify, not guarantees.

Check the output

• Confirm that the transcript belongs to the right video by matching the title, topic and opening lines.
• Play a few short segments at the start, middle and end, and compare what you hear with the text.
• If the transcript has timestamps, check that they line up with the video at those points.
• Watch for errors in technical vocabulary, names, numbers, formulas and equations. Automatic captions often get these wrong, and you usually cannot tell whether captions were made automatically or by a person.
• A transcript does not include on-screen content such as graphs, written equations or code. Review those parts of the video directly.
• For a transcript you made yourself, make sure the recording has audio from beginning to end with no silent gaps. Also confirm that the file opens in your transcription tool without errors.

Common problems and next steps

No captions or transcript control appears: try another supported browser, maximize the player and pause any content-blocking extensions for that page. If the option is still missing, the video may not offer it. Ask your teacher, giving the video title and its location in the course.

The video does not load: confirm you are signed in to the correct College Board account and are enrolled in the right class section. Then reload the page. Access to some content depends on your class section, so your teacher may need to check it.

Captions are out of sync or incomplete: reload the page and play the video again. If the problem continues, report the video and the approximate time where it happens to your teacher.

Your own recording is silent or blank: the capture source is likely set to the microphone or the wrong output device, or the browser tab was muted. Some players also block screen or audio capture of protected content. Do not try to bypass this. Ask your teacher or school for an approved alternative.

Transcripts found outside AP Classroom: text posted on unofficial sites may be outdated, incomplete or shared without permission. Prefer the official player, materials from your teacher or an accommodation arranged through your school.