AP U.S. History

The AP U.S. History course is scored:

Section I is worth 60% of the total AP exam score, with 40% of the total exam score derived from the student's performance on the multiple choice section and 20% of the total exam score derived from the student's performance on the short answer questions. The remaining 40% of the total exam score is derived from section II; the document-based question is worth 25% of the total exam score, while the long essay question is worth 15% of the total exam score. Since 2007, the score distributions are:

Score 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
5 11.1% 8.5% 11.0% 11.0% 11.1% 11.7% 10.6% 11.0% 9.4% 11.9% 10.8% 10.7% 11.8% 13.0% 10.1% 10.8% 10.6% 13%
4 19.9% 18.2% 19.3% 18.8% 20.8% 21.3% 21.5% 21.3% 18.0% 17.9% 17.7% 18.4% 18.4% 19.2% 15.9% 15.6% 14.8% 33%
3 22.2% 21.4% 22.1% 22.8% 21.0% 21.6% 21.6% 20.1% 23.7% 22.5% 22.3% 22.7% 23.4% 26.6% 21.2% 21.9% 22.1% 26%
2 26.2% 25.4% 25.2% 25.8% 26.7% 26.6% 27.0% 28.0% 24.8% 23.3% 23.5% 22.7% 22.0% 20.4% 21.6% 23.0% 22.7% 20%
1 20.6% 26.5% 22.2% 21.6% 20.5% 18.8% 19.2% 19.6% 24.0% 24.3% 25.6% 25.5% 24.3% 21.0% 31.2% 28.8% 29.8% 8%
% of Scores 3 or Higher 53.2% 48.1% 52.5% 52.6% 52.8% 54.6% 53.8% 52.4% 51.2% 52.4% 50.9% 51.8% 53.7% 58.7% 47.2% 48.2% 47.5% 72%
Mean 2.75 2.57 2.72 2.72 2.75 2.80 2.77 2.76 2.64 2.70 2.65 2.66 2.71 2.83 2.52 2.57 2.54 3.23
Standard Deviation 1.29 1.28 1.30 1.29 1.29 1.29 1.28 1.29 1.28 1.33 1.32 1.32 1.33 1.31 1.34 1.33 1.33 1.15
Number of Students 333,562 346,641 360,173 387,416 406,086 427,796 442,890 462,766 469,689 489,281 505,302 501,530 496,573 472,697 454,204 456,520 467,975

Composite score range
The College Board has released information on the approximate composite score range required to obtain each grade. As of 2022, the total possible composite score is 130. Exact cutoffs are set annually by the Chief Reader only after the scoring of that year's examinations.

Final Score Range (1996) Range (2001) Range (2002) Range (2006) Range (2022)
5 117–180 114–180 115–180 111–180 97–130
4 96–116 92–113 94–114 91–110 80–96
3 79–95 74–91 76–93 76–90 63–79
2 51–78 42–73 46–75 57–75 44–62
1 0–50 0–41 0–45 0–56 0–43
The above composite score cut points from 1996 to 2006 reflect the pre-2011 grading formula, which deducted 0.25 points for every incorrect multiple choice answer.