AP Exams Overview - AP Students (2024)

While we recommend taking the AP Exam after taking an AP course, it is not required by College Board. However, some schools require that students taking an AP class take the exam. Talk to your AP coordinator or teacher to find out what your school’s policy is.

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Yes. We recommend taking the AP course before taking an AP Exam—but it’s not required. We want to be sure homeschooled students and students in schools that don’t offer AP can take AP Exams.

You will have to arrange to take the exam at your school or, if your school doesn’t administer the exam, at a local school or testing center that administers it. See The AP Exam I want to take isn’t offered at my school. What should I do? and I’m homeschooled. How can I take an AP Exam? for details.

To prepare for the exam without taking the course, you should study the skills and content outlined in the course and exam description for your subject, which you can find on the specific course page. For most courses, this document also explains how your knowledge of the course content and skills is assessed on the exams.

Get to know the exams by reviewing free practice questions. The AP Program releases free-response questions every year for exams that have them. We also offer free-response questions from past exams along with sample student responses and scoring guidelines so you can see why a real exam taker got the score they did.

Note:AP Seminar and AP Research students who are homeschooled or taking the class through an online provider must be enrolled in both an exam only section and a teacher-led class section so:

• They can access resources assigned by the teacher.

• The teacher can submit these students’ presentation scores in the digital portfolio.

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If two of the exams you want to take are scheduled for the same time, ask your AP coordinator for information about taking one of the exams during the late-testing period. You may still register for both.

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If your school doesn’t offer the exam you want to take, you’ll need to arrange to take the exam at a local school that does administer it.

Your first step is to search the AP Course Ledger. The AP Course Ledger is the official, up-to-date, comprehensive list of schools that have passed the AP Course Audit. You can search by country, state/province, or city to find a school where you might be able to test. After finding schools near you that offer the courses you want to take exams for, do an internet search for the school’s phone number. Then call and ask to speak with the school’s AP coordinator to learn if the school is allowing students from other schools to test there this year.

Look for and contact schools as early in the school year as possible. Schools may have their own local deadlines and policies for receiving requests from outside students to test at their school, so you’ll want to give yourself as much time as possible to contact schools. Updates will be made to the AP Course Ledger every November, so if you still need to find possible schools, you can check the Ledger again in November to see if any schools in your area were added. The exam ordering deadline for schools is November 15.

When you find an AP coordinator able to administer your AP Exam(s), they are responsible for ordering your exam materials, telling you when and where to report for the exams, and collecting the exam fees.

Note: If you’re unable to find a school by November 15, you can keep looking. At their discretion, a school could add you to their order after November 15, and they could request that the late order fee be waived in that circ*mstance. But because schools can set their own deadlines and policies related to ordering and fees, start looking for a school as early as possible.

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Yes. You can’t order AP Exams directly, but you should be able to arrange to take exams at a nearby high school that administers AP Exams. Here’s how.

Your first step is to search theAP Course Ledger. The AP Course Ledger is the official, up-to-date, comprehensive list of schools that have passed the AP Course Audit. You can search by country, state/province, or city to find a school where you might be able to test. After finding schools near you that offer the courses you want to take exams for, do an internet search for the school’s phone number. Then call and ask to speak with the school’s AP coordinator to learn if the school is allowing students from other schools to test there this year.

Look for and contact schools as early in the school year as possible. Note that schools may have their own local deadlines and policies for receiving requests from outside students to test at their school, so you’ll want to give yourself as much time as possible to contact schools. Updates will be made to the AP Course Ledger every November, so if you still need to find possible schools, you can check the Ledger again in November to see if any schools in your area were added. The exam ordering deadline for schools is November 15.

When you find an AP coordinator able to administer your AP Exam(s), they are responsible for ordering your exam materials, telling you when and where to report for the exams, and collecting the exam fees.

Note: If you’re unable to find a school by November 15, you can keep looking. At their discretion, a school could add you to their order after November 15, and they could request that the late order fee be waived in that circ*mstance. But because schools can set their own deadlines and policies related to ordering and fees, start looking for a school as early as possible.

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If you’re homeschooled or you go to a school that doesn’t administer AP Exams, you’ll need to arrange to take exams at a local school that is authorized to administer them. 

Your first step is to search the AP Course Ledger. The AP Course Ledger is the official, up-to-date, comprehensive list of schools that have passed the AP Course Audit. You can search by country, state/province, or city to find a school where you might be able to test. After finding schools near you that offer the courses you want to take exams for, do an internet search for the school’s phone number. Then call and ask to speak with the school’s AP coordinator to learn if the school is allowing homeschooled students to test there this year. 

Look for and contact schools as early in the school year as possible. Note that schools may have their own local deadlines and policies for receiving requests from outside students to test at their school, so you’ll want to give yourself as much time as possible to contact schools. Updates will be made to the AP Course Ledger every November, so if you still need to find possible schools, you can check the Ledger again in November to see if any schools in your area were added. The exam ordering deadline for schools is November 15. 

When you find an AP coordinator able to administer your AP Exam(s), they are responsible for ordering your exam materials, telling you when and where to report for the exams, and collecting the exam fees.

Note: If you’re unable to find a school by November 15, you can keep looking. At their discretion, a school could add you to their order after November 15, and they could request that the late order fee be waived in that circ*mstance. But because schools can set their own deadlines and policies related to ordering and fees, start looking for a school as early as possible.

Note for students outside the U.S.: There are a few authorized AP test centers if there are no AP schools in your area or none that will administer AP Exams to external students.

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Many schools across the world offer AP Exams. If your school doesn’t administer AP Exams, please review the steps tofindan alternate school for testing.

If you’re unable to locate an alternate school for testing, you might consider expanding your search area.

Alternatively, you can consider testing at an authorized AP test center, available in the countries below:

• India: pleasevisitAP in Indiafor locations.
• China, please visitAP in China.
• Hong Kong
• South Korea
• Singapore (two administrators: Prometric and USEIC).

• Vietnam (IIG – coming soon)

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If you have a documented disability, you may be eligible for accommodations on AP Exams. Learn more about testing accommodations for AP Exams and contact your school's AP coordinator.

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Yes. Although AP Art and Design students will submit portfolios instead of taking a traditional exam, they still need to register. You’ll need to join your class section in AP Classroom in order to register for the portfolio exam.

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Check with your AP teacher or AP coordinator to find out the exact date, time, and location of your AP Exam. AP Exams are administered over several weeks beginning the first full week in May typically at the school that offers the AP course.

If you’re homeschooled or you attend a school that doesn’t administer AP Exams, you’ll need to arrange to take your exams at another school.Learn How.

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You are not permitted to bring food or drink, including bottled water, into the exam room (unless approved as an accommodation by College Board’s Services for Students with Disabilities office). During the 10-minute break between Sections 1 and 2 of the exam, with the proctor’s permission, you can leave the exam room to get a drink of water or a snack.

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Total scores on the multiple-choice section are based on the number of questions answered correctly. Points are not deducted for incorrect answers and no points are awarded for unanswered questions.

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The mean score for the 2023 AP Exams was 2.96. More than 60% of all exams taken earned a score of 3 or higher. To learn more about individual exams, visit AP Score Distributions.

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AP Exams are only given once a year, but you may repeat an exam in a subsequent year. If you do, both scores will be reported unless you request that one be withheld or canceled.

If an unexpected issue occurs during the exam you were scheduled for or that prevents you from testing on your scheduled exam dates, your AP coordinator will advise whether a late testing date is available.

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You can take an AP Exam each time it’s offered. Exams are administered once a year in May. Your score report will include your scores for all the AP Exams you have taken unless you request that one or more scores be withheld or canceled.

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