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Home > AP Courses and Exams > AP Exam Questions > The AP Art History Exam

The AP Art History Exam

Exam Content

The first AP Art History Exam was administered in 1972. In 1998, the AP Art History Exam premiered the long essay question requiring informed discussion of art beyond the European tradition.

Changes to the AP Art History Exam beginning with the 2010 exam administration:
  1. Change in the order of the free-response questions:
    • Questions 1 and 2 will be 30-minute essay questions. Question 1 will require students to incorporate in their response at least one example of art beyond the European tradition.
    • Questions 3 through 9 will be 5- or 10-minute essay questions based on color images and/or text.
  2. Decision to not count prehistoric examples:
    • The AP Art History Development Committee has been concerned over the years about students' use of prehistoric examples when answering the 30-minute long essays. These long essays typically ask the student to provide contextual information about the work of art, but there is little known about the particular cultures that produced prehistoric art. Students who use prehistoric examples cannot earn full credit because they cannot provide a factual discussion of the context. Therefore, beginning with the 2010 exam, prehistoric examples such as the Woman of Willendorf, the caves of Lascaux, and Stonehenge will not be accepted as appropriate examples.
  3. Emphasis on using examples from non-Western cultures other than Egypt and the Ancient Near East:
    • The Development Committee is also concerned about the overuse of Egyptian and Ancient Near East examples for the essay question that asks students to discuss art beyond the European tradition. To address this issue, the committee will add the following statement to the Course Description for 2010: "One of the 30-minute essay questions requires students to incorporate at least one example of art beyond the European tradition into their essays. Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East are fully covered in the multiple-choice questions in Part I and the short-answer essays in Part II of the exam. The intent of this essay question is to draw from areas such as Africa (beyond ancient Egypt), the Americas, Asia, Islamic cultures, and Oceania."


Multiple-Choice Questions

For sample multiple-choice questions, refer to the Course Description.
  AP Art History Course Description (.pdf/1.1MB) New!

Free-Response Questions

Below are free-response questions from past AP Art History Exams. Included with the questions are scoring guidelines, sample student responses, and commentary on those responses, as well as exam statistics and the Chief Reader's Student Performance Q&A for past administrations.

Free-Response Questions 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 1999-2002


2009: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions
All Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics
Sample Responses Q1
Sample Responses Q2
Sample Responses Q3
Sample Responses Q4
Sample Responses Q5
Sample Responses Q6
Sample Responses Q7
Sample Responses Q8
Sample Responses Q9
Grade Distributions


2008: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions
All Questions Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics
Sample Responses Q1
Sample Responses Q2
Sample Responses Q3
Sample Responses Q4
Sample Responses Q5
Sample Responses Q6
Sample Responses Q7
Sample Responses Q8
Sample Responses Q9
Grade Distributions


2007: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions
All Questions Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics
Sample Responses Q1
Sample Responses Q2
Sample Responses Q3
Sample Responses Q4
Sample Responses Q5
Sample Responses Q6
Sample Responses Q7
Sample Responses Q8
Sample Responses Q9
Grade Distributions


2006: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions
All Questions Scoring Guidelines

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics
Sample Responses Q1
Sample Responses Q2
Sample Responses Q3
Sample Responses Q4
Sample Responses Q5
Sample Responses Q6
Sample Responses Q7
Sample Responses Q8
Sample Responses Q9
Grade Distributions


2005: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions
All Questions Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics
Sample Responses Grade Distributions


2004: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions
All Questions Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics
Sample Responses Q1
Sample Responses Q2
Sample Responses Q3
Sample Responses Q4
Sample Responses Q5
Sample Responses Q6
Sample Responses Q7
Sample Responses Q8
Sample Responses Q9
Grade Distributions


2003: Free-Response Questions
Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions
All Questions Scoring Guidelines

Scoring Commentary

Student Performance Q&A

Scoring Statistics
Sample Responses Q1
Sample Responses Q2
Sample Responses Q3
Sample Responses Q4
Sample Responses Q5
Sample Responses Q6
Sample Responses Q7
Sample Responses Q8
Sample Responses Q9
Grade Distributions



Important Note: PDF Files
The links to exam questions for this course are in Adobe® PDF format, and you will need to use the Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® to view them. If you don't have Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher installed on your computer, choose the link for the Adobe Web site below for installation instructions. For help downloading and printing PDF files, choose the link "PDF Troubleshooting" below in "See also."


  
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