Score Setting and Scoring
AP Exam scores are a weighted combination of student scores on the multiple-choice and free-response sections. The final score is on a five-point scale.
Setting AP Exam Scores
We use the following steps to define the knowledge and skills required to earn scores of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 on an AP Exam.
- Gather data. First, we survey college and university faculty to gather data on performance of college students in comparable introductory courses. Higher ed faculty review AP Exams and provide information about exam difficulty based on a comparison to their grade-level expectations.
- Conduct college comparability studies. In subject areas with high consistency in content across college classrooms, higher ed faculty teaching the comparable AP college course administer the AP Exam to students in their related college course. Student AP scores are correlated to their final exam and course grades.
- Conduct standard-setting studies. During a standard-setting study, a body of data and evidence is assembled, including:
- data and evidence of AP student performance and qualifications
- higher ed faculty expectations for comparable course performance
- college student grades and academic similarities and differences between the population of students taking the subject in college and the AP population
Psychometricians utilize this assembled information to identify appropriate standards for setting AP scores that will be valid in predicting success when students are placed ahead into subsequent courses in the same discipline at a range of colleges and universities. These processes ensure that AP Exam scores achieve the “predictive validity” that has been a hallmark of the AP Program for decades. As a result of these processes, annual studies of AP student performance in college consistently find that AP students with scores of 3 or higher outperform in subsequent college coursework the comparison groups of college students who took the colleges’ own AP-equivalent course.
While colleges and universities are responsible for setting their own credit and placement policies, AP scores provide evidence and recommendations for how qualified students may receive college credit or placement. Review the following table.
| AP Exam Score | Recommendation | College Course Grade Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Extremely well qualified | A+ or A |
| 4 | Very well qualified | A-, B+, or B |
| 3 | Qualified | B-, C+, or C |
| 2 | Possibly qualified | |
| 1 | No recommendation |
How AP Exams Are Scored
The multiple-choice sections of AP Exams are scored by computer. The free-response sections and through-course performance assessments, as applicable, are scored by AP teachers and college faculty who have experience teaching corresponding college courses. Exams are scored at the annual AP Reading, with college faculty and high school educators participating both on-site and online. Readers are selected to ensure an appropriate balance in gender, race, ethnicity, school locale and setting, years of teaching experience, and other factors.
The chief reader for each exam guides the development of the scoring guidelines used to score all free-response questions, oversees day-to-day scoring activities, and selects readers and Reading leadership. Chief readers are always college or university faculty members.
Readers undergo rigorous training to ensure that they have a thorough understanding of the scoring guidelines. Their work is monitored throughout the Reading for accuracy, consistency, and fairness.