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AP U.S. Government and Politics Exam Questions

Free-Response Questions and Scoring Information

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

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Note: Some questions and scoring guidelines from the 2023 and earlier AP U.S. Government and Politics Exams may not perfectly align with the course and exam updates that took effect in the 2023-24 school year. These questions remain available because teachers say that imperfectly aligned questions still provide instructional value.

2025: Free-Response Questions

2025: Free-Response Questions

Questions

Scoring

Samples and Commentary

Free-Response Questions - Set 1

Free-Response Questions - Set 2

2024: Free-Response Questions

2024: 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

2023: Free-Response Questions

2023: 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

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