Important Updates
Now Available: 2020 AP Art and Design Exhibit
The 2020 AP Art and Design Exhibit showcases the outstanding artwork created by students for the May 2020 exam.
Coming Later This Fall: AP Daily Video Lessons
Teachers and students will be able to access short, on-demand AP Daily video lessons in AP Classroom. They can be assigned as homework to let teachers use class time for focused discussions and connecting with their students, whether they’re teaching online, in person, or both.
Course Overview
AP 2-D Art and Design is an introductory college-level two-dimensional design course. Students refine and apply skills and ideas they develop throughout the course to produce two-dimensional art and design.
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AP Art and Design Course and Exam Description
This is the core document for the Art and Design courses. It clearly describes portfolio requirements, course goals, approaches to assessment, and the AP program in general. The CED was updated in the summer of 2020 to include scoring guidelines.
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AP Art and Design CED Errata Sheet
This document details the updates made to the course and exam description (CED) in September 2019. It includes printable copies of the updated pages, which can be used as replacement sheets in your CED binder. Note: It does not include the scoring guidelines, which were added to the online CED in the summer of 2020.
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AP Art and Design CED Rubrics
This document details how student work will be assessed on the Sustained Investigation and Selected Works sections of the AP Art and Design portfolios. This information is now in the online CED, but it was not included in the binders teachers received in 2019.
Course Content
The AP Art and Design course framework is composed of course skills, big ideas, essential questions and enduring understandings, learning objectives, and essential knowledge. AP Art and Design skill categories delineate overarching understandings central to the study and practice of art and design. Each of the three skill categories consists of skills that encompass foundational to advanced learning over the span of the course. Students need to develop, practice, and apply these skills in a variety of contexts.
The AP 2-D Art and Design course framework is made up of three big ideas. As always, you have the flexibility to organize the course content as you like.
- Big Idea 1: Investigate materials, processes, and ideas.
- Big Idea 2: Make art and design.
- Big Idea 3: Present art and design.
Course Skills
The AP Art and Design framework included in the course and exam description outlines distinct skills that students should practice throughout the year—skills that will help them learn to think and act like artists. Skills 2 and 3 are specifically assessed in both portfolio sections (Sustained Investigation and Selected Works).
| Skill | Description |
| 1. Inquiry and Investigation | Investigate materials, processes, and ideas. |
| 2. Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision | Make works of art and design by practicing, experimenting, and revising. |
| 3. Communication and Reflection | Communicate ideas about art and design. |
AP and Higher Education
Higher education professionals play a key role developing AP courses and exams, setting credit and placement policies, and scoring student work. The AP Higher Education site features information on recruitment and admission, advising and placement, and more.
This chart shows recommended scores for granting credit, and how much credit should be awarded, for each AP course. Your students can look up credit and placement policies for colleges and universities on the AP Credit Policy Search.
Meet the Development Committee for AP Art and Design.