Frequently Asked Questions
The following categories and questions will help clarify some of the basics for all three Studio Art courses.

Planning a Portfolio
Preparing the Portfolio
The Evaluation Process
The AP Studio Art Poster
AP Studio Art Resources

Planning a Portfolio

Which portfolio should my students submit if their work consists of drawings, sculpture, and 2-D design?
While we encourage students to work with a variety of media and approaches to making art, the three AP portfolios are each intended to address a different set of issues. The reason for this is that the new portfolios more closely correspond to college courses in drawing, 3-D, and 2-D design, respectively, and it makes it easier for colleges to grant appropriate credit for AP work. Students must determine in which area they would like to place their focus and submit a single portfolio that represents these efforts. For more information see the Studio Art Student Performance Q&A 2004."
  Studio Art Performance Q&A 2004

If my students' work bridges the territory covered by 2-D Design and Drawing, which of those two portfolios should the students submit?
Although there are distinctions between the Drawing and the 2-D Design Portfolios, some works might be appropriate for either one (see crossover work in Examples of Artwork for Drawing Portfolio and 2-D Portfolio, below). For instance, a pen and ink image might be beautifully and expressively drawn, while simultaneously demonstrating an effective use of positive/negative space and symmetrical balance. Ultimately, the student must decide whether s/he wants to earn credit for a drawing class or a 2-D Design class and emphasize the principles and qualities appropriate for that activity (see the AP Poster and AP Studio Art Course Description for further explanations and examples).

How can I tell whether my student's work is "three-dimensional enough" for the 3-D Design Portfolio?
For a working definition of what constitutes 3-D work, consider the following:

The artwork occupies actual physical space. Height, width, depth, and gravity are essential elements of the construction and effect of the artwork.

The unoccupied space (the space between the masses, edges, and parts) are significant contributors to the effect of the artwork.

Directional light changes, reveals, and conceals the appearance of the form.

The form has no "back" - all aspects of the physical object must be experienced to have full information about the artwork.

The form's literal structure and its material properties influence and affect the interpretation of the artwork.

What is the minimum number of works required in a Concentration?
Twelve slides are required, but up to six of these could be second views. The use of second views or details would be appropriate for Drawing or 2-D work that is extraordinarily elaborate or detailed, or for 3-D work that needs a second view in order to be fully understood.

It is expected that most students submitting Drawing or 2-D Concentrations will create 12 or more works from which they will select their best 12 works. Because 3-D work often represents a large investment of time, a 3-D Concentration may be considered successful with significantly fewer than 12 works.

Can the requirement for Section III (Breadth) be met with work in a single medium?
The best demonstrations of breadth clearly show experimentation and a range of conceptual approaches to the work. It is possible to do this in a single medium or in a variety of media. If a student chooses to use a single medium, the work must show a range of approaches, techniques, compositions, and subjects.

May students work from photographs or other published images?
While the use of appropriated images is common in the professional art world today, many colleges and art schools continue to stress strongly the value of working from direct observation. In aspiring to college-level work, students who make use of borrowed images should demonstrate a creativity and sophistication of approach that transcends mere copying. This policy is clearly stated on the AP Studio Art Poster:

If you submit work that makes use of photographs, published images, and/or other artists' works, you must show development beyond duplication. This may be demonstrated through manipulation of the material(s), formal qualities, design, and/or concept of the original work. It is unethical, constitutes plagiarism, and often violates copyright law to simply copy an image (even in another medium) that was made by someone else.

• Use a decent quality 35mm camera with a 50mm or macro lens.
• Always use a neutral background, unless the background is part of the piece itself (as in installation works). Otherwise, a solid white, gray, or black background makes it easiest to see your work without distraction.
• Fill the viewfinder of the camera with the artwork. Show as little as possible of the background.
• Match the film with the light source recommended. If you don't, your slides may end up with an unpleasant orange or blue cast. Slides shot outdoors should be taken on clear days between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with daylight slide film. Slides shot indoors with tungsten lighting should be taken with tungsten film. No other light should be present in the room when using tungsten film.
• Never photograph artwork in fluorescent light.
• Use a film speed between 50 and 160 ASA/ISO for the best results. Films with lower speed (or ASA/ISO numbers), such as Kodachrome 25 have better resolution, color saturation, and contrast, but require a great deal of light. Films with higher speeds (ASA/ISO 200 to 400) have more grain and offer less detail.
• Shooting with higher f-stops (smaller apertures) increases the "depth of field." This means it is easier to keep three-dimensional works in focus with faster film (100 to 160 ASA/ISO) or with more available light, because you'll be able to use f 8, f16, or f22 instead of f 4 or f5.6.
• Never photograph artwork through glass or Plexiglas. Unframe flat works before shooting slides of them.
• Slide films naturally have slight color preferences. Kodachrome 25, for example, shifts slightly red. Warm-colored works often look very good when photographed with this film. Ektachrome, on the other hand, shifts slightly to the blue. Try several types of film to find the one that suits your work.
• Make sure that your piece is "squared up" in the view finder - i.e., that the camera is not tilted up or down, thereby causing the work to take on a trapezoid shape in the slide.
• Use a tripod and cable release or self-timer whenever possible to be more assured of focused slides.
• Take slides early in the school year to allow for learning and reshooting.
• Consult the Teacher's Guide to AP Courses in Studio Art for a more complete description of effective slide shooting procedures. Other helpful resources include:
  • The AP Central article Photographing Artwork for Reproduction
      Photographing Artwork for Reproduction
  • Photographing Your Artwork, 2nd edition, by Russell Hart; Buffalo, NY: Amherst Media, 2001
  • Photographing Your Craftwork: A Hands-On Guide for Craftspeople, by Steve Meltzer; Wilmington, DE: Crafts Report, 1997

All original works should be backed with some kind of rigid board, or mounted.

Cover the surface to protect the work. Reflective materials, such as acetate or shrink-wrap, provide the best protection but may cause glare that makes the work difficult to see. A sturdy, opaque overleaf that is hinged to one edge of the backing, so that it may be easily lifted, provides excellent protection and is highly recommended.

Works should not be rolled, framed, or covered with glass or Plexiglass.

Do not submit work that may still be wet, or that contains glue or other materials that may cause it to stick to the piece on top of it.

Use fixative on works that may smudge. How should students label the slides for their portfolios?
The following information must be written on each slide mount:

• The section - either I (for the 3-D portfolio), II or III - in which the slide is being submitted
• The number of the slide within the section
• The dimensions of the work shown in the slide
• The medium (or media) of the work shown
• A dot on the lower left corner of the mount

The student's name and/or the name of the school should not appear on the slide mount.

When placing the slides in the plastic sheets, be sure to insert the slides so that the top of the image is toward the top of the plastic sheet. The writing on the slide mount can be either vertical or horizontal - as long as it's legible, the direction in which it's written is not an issue.

Does the student's AP number have to be written on each slide?
No, it does not. It's true that the AP number is useful in the unlikely event that a slide falls out of the slide sheet and needs to be reunited with the rest of the slides. This is rare, and the amount of time and space that it takes to write the AP number so many times led to the decision to stop requiring it. Students are, of course, free to put it on each slide if they prefer.

How should the slides be inserted in the slide sheets?

Drawing Portfolio, 2-D Design Portfolio, and 3-D Design Portfolio, Section II, Concentration:
There is no required order; rather, the slides should be organized to best show the development of the concentration. In most cases, this would be chronological. Some of the 12 slides required for each of these portfolios may be details.

Slides should be placed in the slide sheet like this:

slide 1 slide 2 slide 3 slide 4 slide 5 slide 6 slide 7 slide 8 slide 9 slide 10 slide 11 slide 12

Drawing Portfolio and 2-D Design Portfolio, Section III (Breadth):
There is no required order. Remember, you may not include slides of the same work that you submitted for Section II.

Slides should be placed in the slide sheet like this:

slide 1 slide 2 slide 3 slide 4 slide 5 slide 6 slide 7 slide 8 slide 9 slide 10 slide 11 slide 12

3-D Design Portfolio, Section I (Quality):
Students are asked to submit two views of their best five works, for a total of 10 slides. They may be separate, distinct works, or they may be directly related to one or more of the other works submitted in this section. The second view of each work should be taken from a different vantage point. All slides should be labeled with dimensions (height x width x depth) and material.

Slides should be placed in the slide sheet like this:

#1, view 1 #1, view 2             #2, view 1 #2, view 2     #3, view 1 #3, view 2     #4, view 1 #4, view 2     #5, view 1 #5, view 2

3-D Design Portfolio, Section III (Breadth):
Students are asked to submit two views of eight three-dimensional works, for a total of 16 slides. Remember, you may not include slides of the same work that you submitted for Section II.

Slides should be placed in the slide sheet like this:

#1, view 1 #1, view 2 #2, view 1 #2, view 2 #3, view 1 #3, view 2 #4, view 1 #4, view 2 #5, view 1 #5, view 2 #6, view 1 #6, view 2 #7, view 1 #7, view 2 #8, view 1 #8, view 2

The Evaluation Process
How are the portfolios evaluated?
All of the Readers (the people who evaluate the portfolios) are either AP Studio Art teachers or teachers of first-year college courses. When they arrive, the portfolios have already been checked in and the sections separated. Each section is scored separately, and an intensive standard-setting session is held before the scoring of each section is begun. Standard-setting is the process of developing a common understanding of the scoring rubric for each section. Actual scoring does not begin until the Chief Reader is satisfied that the Readers as a group share such an understanding and can apply the rubric with a high degree of consistency.

Once the actual scoring begins, Readers work independently of each other and do not see the scores that anyone else has given to the same work. Section I (Quality) is graded by three Readers; Sections II and III are each scored by two Readers. If there is a wide divergence in the scores assigned by two Readers to the same section of a portfolio, the section is pulled out and is forwarded to the Chief Reader or one of his/her assistants for review and resolution of the scores.

Because of this structure, a minimum of three and a maximum of seven Readers score the various parts of an individual's portfolio. In fact, as the group of Readers has grown over the years, the number of Readers is much more likely to be at the high end than the low end of that range.

Once the Reading is completed, the scores assigned to a portfolio are converted to a composite raw score. The Chief Reader, in consultation with technical staff from ETS and the College Board, and in light of a detailed debriefing session with the whole group of Readers, decides what the lowest composite score will be for each of the AP grades.

What is an irregular portfolio?
Any portfolio that does not meet the specifications for submission is considered "irregular." Although the specifications are deliberately flexible enough to accommodate a huge range of work, it is expected that teachers and students will take seriously the limits that exist. Because of the inherent unfairness of allowing some students to bend the rules while other students adhere to them, portfolios that are irregular are handled in the following ways:

• Extra works submitted for Section I, Quality, are held aside and are not scored.
• Works submitted for Section I, Quality, of the Drawing Portfolio or the 2-D Design Portfolio that are larger than 18"x 24" are held aside and are not scored. This is also the case for oversized work that is folded to make it fit inside the portfolio.
• Original works that are submitted for Section II, Concentration, or Section III, Breadth, are held aside and are not scored.
• If extra slides are submitted for Section II, Concentration, or Section III, Breadth, those that exceed the maximum number are held aside and are not scored.
• Actual sculpture submitted for Section I, Quality, of the 3-D Design portfolio is held aside and is not scored.
• Videotapes are NOT accepted. (Slides of stills from a videotape may be submitted in the Design Portfolio.)
• If too few works are available for any section, the remaining works are graded. The effect on the score given for that section (whether is is lowered and, if so, to what extent) is at the discretion of each Reader. This is true whether the reason for the section being incomplete is that too few works were submitted by the student, or that some works were held aside because they did not meet the specifications.
• Multipage works should not be submitted in the Quality section of the Drawing or 2-D Design portfolios. They will be opened at random to a single page for evaluation. Slides of books (or pages from books) may be submitted in Section II or Section III of the Drawing and 2-D Design Portfolios, as appropriate, or in any section of the 3-D Design Portfolio, if the books are themselves three-dimensional works of art.

Whenever an irregular portfolio is submitted, the student's grade report will carry a message saying that the AP grade is based on an incomplete or otherwise irregular portfolio. No one involved in the Reading derives any pleasure from holding aside work that, in many cases, is obviously the result of effort and concentration by the student. However, the basic issue is equity. For every student who submits irregular work, there are certainly many others who would also have liked to submit work that didn't meet the specifications, or who pushed themselves to create work that did meet the specifications. The procedures outlined above are therefore carried out uniformly and without bias.

The AP Studio Art Poster
Why is the AP poster so useful?
On the front side of each year's poster are reproductions of student works, chosen after the completion of the previous June's Reading by a group of the most experienced Readers. The back contains a condensed version of the basic information in the AP Studio Art Course Description, and is intended for students as well as teachers. Frequently, the poster also contains updated information about the portfolio specifications, which has not yet been incorporated in the Course Description.

When and how can teachers get the current AP Studio Art poster?
In the fall, posters are automatically sent to each school that had students submit portfolios in the previous year. The schools are sent a quantity of posters based on their previous year's number of AP Studio Art students, plus a percentage for growth. New schools receive posters after their AP Coordinators submit the AP Participation Form, specifying the number of students in the AP studio art class(es). Posters can also be ordered from the College Board Store for $3 each. A school that has been in the program and does not receive enough posters for the current year's students may request more from AP Services by calling 609 771-7300 or 877 274-6474 (toll free in the U.S. and Canada) or via email to apexams@info.collegeboard.org.
  The College Board Store

AP Studio Art Resources
See the Bibliography section of the Course Description for a detailed list of recommended books and the Teachers' Resources area of AP Central to read reviews of books, Web sites, videos, and more.
  AP Studio Art Course Description
  Teachers' Resources

See also...

• Images from the Studio Art Poster
• MacWorld
• AP Studio Art: Drawing Course Home Page
• AP Studio Art: 2-D Design Course Home Page
• AP Studio Art: 3-D Design Course Home Page
• Course Home Page Index