AP Exam Development
AP Exams include three possible types of questions or tasks: multiple-choice questions, free-response questions, and through-course performance tasks.
Most AP Exams are a mix of multiple-choice and free-response questions. All questions are constructed to measure skills and knowledge using the evidence-centered approach to assessment design.
Exam Development Step by Step
Developing an AP Exam is a multiyear process that takes place in parallel with the development of the course. Here are the steps.
- Set exam specifications. First, using AP Exam data and recommendations from advisory groups, including the test development committee, decisions about the exam’s overall nature are determined, such as:
- How long will the exam be?
- What types of questions should it include?
- What evidence of student learning does each type of question elicit?
- How many of each type of question should appear?
- How much time should students devote to each section?
- How are the course content and skills distributed across each section?
- Write questions. When the specifications are set, the committee and content experts, in collaboration with assessment specialists, design questions that conform to them.
- Review the questions. The committee reviews every potential exam question for alignment with the course framework, content accuracy, and other criteria that ensure the integrity of the exam.
- Test the questions. Before considering questions appropriate for inclusion on an exam, AP test developers conduct different types of pilot testing to determine the statistical properties of exam questions, including different types of exam questions. These pilot studies help AP test developers improve the questions that are put on an AP Exam.
- Put the exam together and review. When assembling an exam, the committee members conduct a final review to ensure conformity with the specifications.
Once the exam is constructed, we determine what should be required to earn each possible specific score. Learn how we set scores for AP Exams.
Question Types
Multiple-Choice Questions
Multiple-choice questions are initially written by college faculty who teach college courses that correspond to a particular AP course as well as by experienced AP teachers. The development committee reviews these questions to ensure that:
- Questions adhere to standards of quality and fairness.
- Questions are of appropriate difficulty for the test-taking population.
- Each exam will distinguish among students with different levels of knowledge and skills.
A percentage of multiple-choice questions from prior exams are reused every year, supporting the statistical reliability of each AP Exam from year to year.
In the multiple-choice sections of Advanced Placement Exams, several unscored questions are incorporated among the scored questions and are indistinguishable. This is called embedded pretesting, a standard psychometric practice among large-scale assessments, which establishes the statistical validity of the pretested items. In embedded pretesting, a limited number of pretest (unscored) questions are administered on each test among the operational questions. This model maximizes the motivation and attention of students to answer pretest questions as they would any operational questions and thereby enhances the statistical validity of the pretest items. The pretest questions are designed to be indistinguishable from the operational (scored) items. The allotted time to complete the AP Exams accounts for the inclusion of these questions and only a small number (2-3) of pretest items are used in any given exam version.
Free-Response Questions
Free-response questions are created and reviewed by content experts. Once a question is chosen for inclusion in an exam, it goes through several rounds of review and revision by the committee, a process that typically takes up to two years.
Projects or Performance Tasks
Several AP courses include through-course project and/or performance tasks, either in place of or in addition to multiple-choice or free-response questions.
The development committees for these courses have reviewed every facet of the performance or project tasks and each potential exam question for alignment with the course framework, content accuracy, conformity with specifications, and other criteria that ensure the integrity of the assessment.