How AP exam scores work

Each score has an official meaning, shown in the table. A 3 is usually called passing. Many colleges give credit for a 3 or higher, and more selective colleges often want a 4 or 5. Your AP score is separate from your grade in the AP class at school.

A 1 or 2 doesn’t hurt your high school grades or your GPA. It just usually won’t earn college credit. Taking the class and the exam still shows colleges you took on a hard course.

Most AP exams have two parts: multiple choice and free response. Each part gets a raw score. The raw scores are weighted and added into one composite score, and the composite is then cut into a 1 to 5.

The cut points change a little every year to keep scores fair from year to year. On most exams, a 5 starts somewhere around 70–75% of the composite and a 3 starts around 45–50%, though some exams run higher or lower. You don’t need everything right. That is good news: you can miss a lot and still earn a strong score.

The weights depend on the exam. Here are a few common ones.

• There is no penalty for a wrong multiple-choice answer. Never leave one blank.
• Before you start a section, divide the minutes by the number of questions so you know your pace. Check the clock every ten questions or so.
• Mark a hard question and move on. Every question is worth the same, so don’t lose three easy ones fighting one hard one.
• On free response, answer every part, even if you are unsure. Points are given part by part, so a partly right answer can still earn something.

AP exams are held over two weeks in May, with a morning and an afternoon session each day. Your school signs you up, usually in the fall, so check with your AP teacher or counselor about the deadline and any fee.

Many AP exams are now taken in the College Board’s Bluebook app. Some are fully on screen, and some have you answer the free-response part by hand in a booklet. Your teacher will know which kind yours is.

Scores usually come out in early July, online through your College Board account.

• Credit: a high enough score can count as a college class, so you need fewer credits to graduate.
• Placement: you may skip the intro class and start in the next one, even if you don’t get credit.
• Every college sets its own rules, and they can differ by subject at the same college. Search for the college’s AP credit policy to see what score it wants for each exam.
• You choose which colleges get your scores. Many colleges don’t ask for AP scores in your application at all; they care more that you took the class and how you did in it.

For multiple choice, practice with questions in the exam’s style, one unit at a time, and read the explanation for every answer. On many AP exams, the wrong choices are real facts that just don’t answer the question being asked. Read the question before the source or passage so you know what to look for.

For free response, practice writing under time and score yourself with the rubric. Do exactly what the verb asks: identify is a short phrase, describe is a sentence or two, explain needs a because, and justify needs evidence. Answer the parts in order with their letters, and use the real terms of the course.

1. Early in the spring, take a timed practice section to see where you stand.
2. Make a list of your weakest units and drill those first.
3. Every week, write at least one free-response answer under time and check it against the rubric.
4. In the last two weeks, take a full practice exam and review every miss.
5. Use the free practice questions your teacher posts in AP Classroom. They are written by the College Board and are the closest thing to the real exam.