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Important Updates

2021 Exam Information
AP Exams will cover the full content in each course, giving students the opportunity to receive college credit and placement.

Given the uncertainties of the 2020-21 school year, some students may feel unsure about taking AP Exams in May. So that students feel comfortable registering by the fall deadline, this year there will be no fees whatsoever if a student decides not to test or to cancel their exams. Every AP student should keep their options open by registering for the exam on time because there will still be a $40 fee for late orders.

View the latest information on testing.

AP Questions and Feedback Throughout the Year
AP practice exams and past exam questions are available in the AP Classroom question bank. Personal progress checks are also available to ensure your students build mastery of content and skills. The progress dashboard highlights progress for every student and class across units.

Sign In to AP Classroom

Exam Overview

Exam questions assess the course concepts and skills outlined in the course framework. For more information on exam weighting, download the AP Human Geography Course and Exam Description (CED). 

Encourage your students to visit the AP Human Geography student page for exam information and exam practice.

  • Event
    • TUE, MAY 4, 2021, NOON LOCAL

    AP Human Geography Exam Day

    •  

Exam Format

The AP Human Geography Exam has question types and point values that will remain stable from year to year, so you and your students know what to expect on exam day.

Exam Updates
2019 Exam Starting with the 2021 Exam

Section I: Multiple Choice

75 Questions | 1 Hour | 50% of Exam Score

  • The specific types of questions vary from exam to exam.

Section I: Multiple Choice

60 Questions | 1 Hour | 50% of Exam Score

There will now be increased emphasis on analyzing quantitative and qualitative sources in both individual and set-based multiple-choice questions:

  • 5–8 sets will each include 2–3 questions with a quantitative or qualitative source.
  • At least 1 of these sets will include a paired set of sources.

 

Section II: Free Response

3 Questions | 1 Hour 15 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score

  • Question types vary from year to year, and may ask students to:
    • Synthesize different topical areas
    • Analyze and evaluate geographical concepts
    • Supply appropriately selected and well-explained real-world examples to illustrate geographic concepts
    • Interpret verbal descriptions, maps, graphs, photographs, and/or diagrams
    • Formulate responses in narrative form
  • Each free-response question is worth 5–8 points.

Section II: Free Response

3 Questions | 1 Hour 15 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score

  • Task and stimulus types will stay consistent from year to year, with the following focus for each of the three questions:
    1. Describe, explain, apply geographic situation or scenario (no stimulus)
    2. Describe, explain, apply geographic data using data, image, or map (one quantitative or qualitative source)
    3. Describe, explain, apply geographic data using data, image, and/or map (two sources, qualitative and/or quantitative)
  • Each free-response question will now be worth 7 points.

Exam Tasks and Content

Section 1: Multiple Choice

60 Questions | 1 Hour | 50% of Exam Score

  • Individual questions.
  • Set-based questions.
  • Approximately 30%–40% of the multiple-choice questions will reference stimulus material, including maps, tables, charts, graphs, images, infographics, and/or landscapes, roughly evenly divided between quantitative and qualitative sources.

Section 2: Free Response

3 Questions | 1 Hour 15 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score

  • Each free-response question presents students with an authentic geographic situation or scenario and assesses students’ ability to describe, explain, and apply geographic concepts, processes, or models, as they analyze geographic patterns, relationships, and outcomes in applied contexts.
    • Question 1 does not include any stimuli.
    • Question 2 includes 1 stimulus (data, image, or map).
    • Question 3 includes 2 stimuli (data, images, and/or maps).
  • At least 2 of the 3 free-response questions assess students’ ability to analyze across geographic scales to explain spatial relationships.

Exam Questions and Scoring Information

2020 Free-Response Questions

Sign in to AP Classroom to access resources including the 2020 free-response questions, personal progress checks, the question bank, and practice exams aligned to the current course.

If your students answered free-response questions on the AP Exam in 2020, you can access their responses in the Student Response Portal. Learn more about how to access 2020 FRQs and students’ exam responses.

To preserve the large number of new FRQs for teacher use, only teachers have access to the 2020 FRQs. If you are a higher education faculty member interested in seeing questions, please fill out this request form.

2019 Free-Response Questions

For free-response questions (FRQs) from the 2019 exam, along with scoring information, check out the table below.

Be sure to review the Chief Reader Report. In this invaluable resource, the chief reader of the AP Exam compiles feedback from members of the AP Reading leadership to explain how students performed on the FRQs, summarize typical student errors, and address specific concepts and content with which students have struggled the most that year.

2019: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions

Free-Response Questions - Set 1

Free-Response Questions - Set 2 

Scoring Guidelines - Set 1

Scoring Guidelines - Set 2

Chief Reader Report - Set 1

Chief Reader Report - Set 2

Scoring Statistics - Set 1

Scoring Statistics - Set 2

Sample Responses Q1 - Set 1

Sample Responses Q1 - Set 2

Sample Responses Q2 - Set 1

Sample Responses Q2 - Set 2

Sample Responses Q3 - Set 1

Sample Responses Q3 - Set 2

Scoring Distribution

Past Exam Questions and Scoring Information

For free-response questions and scoring information from the 2018 and earlier exams, visit Past Exam Questions.

Score Reporting

Policies