AP U.S. Government and Politics Past Exam Questions

Free-Response Questions

Download free-response questions from past exams along with scoring guidelines, sample responses from exam takers, and scoring distributions.

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2022: Free-Response Questions

2022: Free-Response Questions

Questions

Scoring

Samples and Commentary

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

Score Distributions

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

Sample Responses Q4 - Set 1

Sample Responses Q4 - Set 2

2021: Free-Response Questions

2021: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions - Set 1 Free-Response Questions - Set 2	Scoring Guidelines - Set 1 Scoring Guidelines - Set 2 Chief Reader Report Scoring Statistics – Set 1 Scoring Statistics – Set 2 Scoring Distributions	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 Sample Responses Q4 – Set 1 Sample Responses Q4 – Set 2

2020: Free-Response Questions

The 2020 free-response questions are available in the AP Classroom question bank.

2019: Free-Response Questions

2019: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Chief Reader Report Scoring Statistics Scoring Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2018: Free-Response Questions

2018: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Chief Reader Report Scoring Statistics Scoring Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2017: Free-Response Questions

2017: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Chief Reader Report Scoring Statistics Scoring Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2016: Free-Response Questions

2016: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2015: Free-Response Questions

2015: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2014: Free-Response Questions

2014: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2013: Free-Response Questions

2013: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
Free-Response Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2012: Free-Response Questions

2012: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2011: Free-Response Questions

2011: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2010: Free-Response Questions

2010: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Score Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2009: Free-Response Questions

2009: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Grade Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2008: Free-Response Questions

2008: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Grade Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2007: Free-Response Questions

2007: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Grade Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2006: Free-Response Questions

2006: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples and Commentary
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Grade Distributions	Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Sample Responses Q4

2005: Free-Response Questions

2005: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Grade Distributions	Sample Responses

2004: Free-Response Questions

Questions

Scoring

Samples

Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics

Grade Distributions

Sample Response Q1

Sample Response Q2

Sample Response Q3

Sample Response Q4

2003: Free-Response Questions

2003: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary Scoring Statistics Grade Distributions	Sample Response Q1 Sample Response Q2 Sample Response Q3 Sample Response Q4

2002: Free-Response Questions

2002: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary Student Performance Q&A Grade Distributions	Sample Response Q1 Sample Response Q2 Sample Response Q3 Sample Response Q4

2001: Free-Response Questions

2001: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary Student Performance Q&A	Sample Response Q1 Sample Response Q2 Sample Response Q3 Sample Response Q4

2000: Free-Response Questions

2000: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary	Sample Response Q1 Sample Response Q2 Sample Response Q3 Sample Response Q4

1999: Free-Response Questions

1999: Free-Response Questions
Questions	Scoring	Samples
All Questions	Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary	Sample Response Q1 Sample Response Q2 Sample Response Q3 Sample Response Q4