Over the last two school years, AP students have had a very different experience than their predecessors during the end-of-year AP exams. In 2020, the AP exams were conducted virtually and were slightly shortened to accommodate for changes. Last year, AP exams could be taken either in-person, meaning on paper, or online at home. However, this year the College Board has decided to return to the standard AP test formula. All students who register to take the exams will have to take them in-person at their school, and since College Board has eliminated the digital option, the tests will be on paper. Like in pre-pandemic years, each AP test is scheduled at a time slot during a two-week period. This year, week one will be May 2–6, and week two will be May 9–13. The majority of the tests will begin either at 8 AM or 12 PM. Like all years, the AP exams are scored on a scale from one to five, and students will need to receive at least a three in order to potentially get college credit for the class. 

Here are the formats for a few of the most popular AP exams:

AP US History and AP European History

These two exams follow the same format. The first section consists of 55 multiple choice questions, which students will have 55 minutes to complete. The second section is 40 minutes long and contains 3 short answer questions. The final section of the exam is 1 hour and 40 minutes long and requires two essays: a DBQ and an LEQ. College Board recommends that students use 1 hour to write the DBQ, then immediately switch to the LEQ for the remaining 40 minutes.

AP US Government and Politics

Like APUSH and AP Euro, the first section of the AP Gov exam contains 55 multiple choice questions. However, in this exam, students will receive 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete the questions. The second half of the exam has four free response questions: a Concept Application, Quantitative Analysis, SCOTUS Comparison, and an Argument Essay. The allotted time for the second section is 1 hour and 40 minutes.

AP Physics 1

This exam only has two sections, however it still totals to 3 hours. The first section has 50 multiple choice questions, which account for 50% of the score. This section lasts 1 hour and 30 minutes. The second section contains 5 free response questions, which also lasts 1 hour and 30 minutes. Students will need a calculator for both sections of the exam.

AP Environmental Science

With a whopping 80 multiple choice questions in its first section, the APES exam takes the cake for the most number of multiple choice questions on any of the AP science exams. Students will have 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete this section. The second section is 1 hour and 10 minutes long, where students will have to answer 3 free response questions.

AP Calculus AB

This exam also has two sections, but each section is divided into a calculator and a non-calculator portion. For the multiple choice section, there are 45 questions, which students will have 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete. The first 30 questions are non-calculator, and the last 15 require a calculator. In the second section, there will be 6 free response questions: 2 non-calculator and 4 using a calculator.