I’ve seen it used a couple of times here, but I haven’t heard or seen the term used anywhere else before. I tried googling it but didn’t find anything on it.
AP Lites are what are usually considered to be the easy APs. The term usually denotes APHG, AP Psych, APCS, and APES, although it varies from school to school and from person to person.
The depth and pace of the course may vary from school to school, but the “AP Lite” courses are pretty definite. They’re supposed to act as “gateway to AP” courses for freshmen and sophomores, as complements for juniors and seniors who are taking “core” APs, and as a challenging opportunity for students who don’t take many APs.
They are: AP Human Geog, AP Psych, AP Stats, AP Environmental Science.
Other APs are considered “core” if they focus on a core subject: English, Math (calculus), History, Foreign Language, and Science (Bio/Chem/Physics).
Finally, all other AP’s are considered academically strong but aren’t “core” subjects.