AP score distributions

Every covered year

How the share scoring 3 or higher moved

Where this exam sits against the rest

The biggest movers

What each AP score means

AP Exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5. The AP score scale table gives the recommendation each score carries about how qualified a student is for college credit and placement, plus an equivalent college course grade.

Composite scores get translated onto that 5-point scale using statistical processes designed so that a 3 this year reflects the same level of achievement as a 3 last year. That's why the years in the table above are worth reading side by side.

Where these numbers come from

Every percentage, student count and mean score here is read from a source-stamped dataset built from the published AP score distributions, then rendered in code. None of it is typed into the copy, and none of it is recalled from memory. Each year in the table links the sheet its figures came from, so you can check any row against the original.

I transcribe each distribution sheet from the test maker's official release myself and version-stamp it with the exam and the year before it reaches a page. The calculators here refuse to show a cutoff whose vetted table hasn't loaded. Same rule applies on this page. Where a year or a single field is missing you'll see that said plainly, never a zero, and never a line drawn between two years I don't have.

Distributions verified 2026-08-06 against the College Board pages linked with each year.

The fine print

Every figure above is a published distribution figure read from the dataset, not a score this tool estimates. ExamScoreCalc's standing notes apply across the site.