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What Students Should and Should Not Bring

This page offers a summary to help you prepare for the 2025 AP Exams. Review complete information in the AP Coordinator’s Manual, Part 2.

It’s important that students bring only the items permitted in the exam room. A student observed with any of the prohibited items during testing or breaks may be dismissed from the exam, the device may be confiscated, the student’s score may be canceled, and no retest may be permitted.

Note: Depending on the type of exam a student is taking (fully digital, hybrid digital, paper), there are differences between what a student can and cannot bring to the exam room. 

Important: For digital AP Exams (fully digital and hybrid digital) on exam day, students need to remember their College Board student account information to sign in to Bluebook™ to access their digital AP Exam. Saving their password on their device won’t work. 

What Students Should Bring

For All Exams:

  • A watch that isn’t a smartwatch.
  • A government-issued or school-issued photo ID if they don’t attend the school where they’re taking the exam. 

For Fully Digital AP Exams:

  • Fully charged testing device and charging cord. 
  • Pencils or pens for taking notes on school-provided scratch paper. 
  • External mouse (optional). 
  • External keyboard: An external keyboard is required for students testing on a tablet or iPad. For students taking a hybrid digital exam with an iPad, an external keyboard is recommended but not required. External keyboards are not permitted for students testing on a laptop.
  • For AP Environmental Science Exams: up to 2 calculators with the necessary capabilities.    

For Hybrid Digital AP Exams: All the items listed under Fully Digital AP Exams apply, plus: 

  • 2 No. 2 pencils (with erasers) or 2 pens with black or dark blue ink. 
  • Up to 2 calculators with the necessary capabilities.
  • For an AP Physics Exam: a ruler or straightedge. 

For Paper AP Exams: 

  • 2 No. 2 pencils (with erasers). 
  • 2 pens with black or dark blue ink. 
  • For the AP French, German, Italian, and Spanish Language and Culture Exams and the AP Music Theory Exam: School-owned and -controlled recording devices that meet AP Program criteria are allowed for these exams only.

Students Must Not Bring*

  • Electronic equipment of any kind except devices being used for digital AP Exams. Prohibited: phones, smartwatches, smart glasses or wearable technology of any kind, laptops, tablet computers, Bluetooth devices, portable listening or recording devices, cameras or other photographic equipment, devices that can access the internet, separate timers of any type, and any other electronic or communication devices. 
  • All stylus pens, Apple pens, smart pens, iPad pencils, and other electronic writing instruments.
  • Books, notebooks, compasses, correction fluid, dictionaries, highlighters, or notes.
  • Mechanical pencils, No. 3 pencils, or colored pencils. 
  • Rulers or straightedges (these are allowed only for Physics exams). 
  • Protractors.
  • Scratch paper.
  • Computers or calculators (except as previously noted).
  • Reference guides, keyboard maps, or other typing instructions. 
  • Watches that beep or have an alarm. 
  • Food or drink.  
  • Clothing or shoes with subject-related information.  
  • New: Head coverings (hats, brimmed caps, etc.) are not permitted while testing. Head coverings worn for medical or religious reasons are permitted during testing provided they do not obstruct testing staff’s ability to view the test taker’s eyes and ears. 
  • Ear plugs or headphones. 
  • Clipboards. 
  • Privacy screens. 
  • Separate computer monitors.

*Unless an item has been preapproved as an accommodation by the College Board SSD office before the exam date.

AP Coordinator’s Manual, Part 2

Download the Manual

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