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AP Art History

Advanced Placement course and exam From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Advanced Placement (AP) Art History (also known as APAH) is an Advanced Placement art history course and exam offered by the College Board in the United States.

Logo of AP Art History as of 2025

AP Art History is designed to allow students to examine major forms of artistic expression relevant to a variety of cultures evident in a wide variety of periods from the present to the past. Students acquire an ability to examine works of art critically, with intelligence and sensitivity, and to articulate their thoughts and experiences. The course content covers prehistoric, Mediterranean, European, American, Native American, African, Asian, Pacific, and contemporary art and architecture.[1]

Course

The course is designed to teach the following art historical skills:

  • Visual Analysis
  • Contextual Analysis
  • Comparisons of Works of Art
  • Artistic Traditions
  • Visual Analysis of Unknown Works
  • Attribution of Unknown Works
  • Art Historical Interpretations
  • Argumentation

The course is also built on five core "Big Ideas":

  • Culture
  • Interactions with Other Cultures
  • Theories and Interpretations
  • Materials, Processes, and Techniques
  • Purpose and Audience

Starting in the 2015–2016 school year, College Board has introduced a new curriculum and exam for students to apply art historical skills to questions.[2][3]

More information Unit, Time Period ...
Topic Outline[1]
Unit Time Period Approximate Exam Weighting
Unit 1: Global Prehistory 30,000 – 500 BCE 4%
Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean 3500 BCE – 300 CE 15%
Unit 3: Early Europe and Colonial America 200 – 1750 CE 21%
Unit 4: Later Europe and Americas 1750 – 1980 CE 21%
Unit 5: Indigenous Americas 1000 BCE – 1980 CE 6%
Unit 6: Africa 1100 – 1980 CE 6%
Unit 7: West and Central Asia 500 BCE – 1980 CE 4%
Unit 8: South, East, and Southeast Asia 300 BCE – 1980 CE 8%
Unit 9: The Pacific 700 – 1980 CE 4%
Unit 10: Global Contemporary 1980 CE to Present 11%
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Exam

More information Multiple Choice (50% of Score), Free Response (50% of Score) ...
Multiple Choice (50% of Score) Free Response (50% of Score)
  • 80 Questions in 1 Hour
  • Approximately 8 Sets of 3–6 Questions Based on Color Images
  • 35% Individual Multiple Choice Questions
  • Based on the Knowledge of the 250 Required Images
  • 6 Essay Questions in 2 Hours
  • Two 30-Minute Essay Questions
    • 7 Points Each
  • Four 15-Minute Essay Questions
    • 5 Points Each
  • Essay Questions Often Include Images of Works of Art as Stimuli
  • Based on the Knowledge of the 250 Required Images
  • Response Written in Academic Essay Format
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Score distribution

The multiple-choice section of the exam is worth 50% of a student's score and the free response is worth 50%. Each correctly answered multiple choice question is worth one point. Wrong and omitted questions do not affect the raw score.[4] For the free-response section, the four short essays are each graded on a scale of 0 to 5 and the two long essays are each graded on a scale of 0 to 7.

More information Final Score, % of Scores 3 or Higher ...
Final Score 2016[5] 2017[6] 2018[7] 2019[8] 2020[9] 2021[10] 2022[11] 2023[12] 2024[13] 2025[14]
5 11.1% 11% 12.8% 11.9% 15.8% 12.0% 14.1% 13.8% 13.9% 16.0%
4 22.6% 23.1% 24.3% 24.6% 24.9% 19.6% 21.0% 23.8% 21.5% 23.3%
3 27.7% 27.3% 27.6% 26.6% 28.0% 23.8% 26.3% 27.0% 27.2% 26.2%
2 27.6% 26.2% 25.5% 24.7% 21.3% 30.1% 26.9% 23.8% 24.8% 24.1%
1 11.0% 12.4% 9.8% 12.2% 10.0% 14.6% 11.6% 11.6% 12.5% 10.3%
% of Scores 3 or Higher 61.4% 61.4% 64.7% 63.1% 68.7% 55.3% 61.5% 64.6% 62.7% 65.6%
Mean Score 2.95 2.94 3.05 2.99 3.15 2.84 2.99 3.04 3.00 3.11
Standard Deviation 1.18 1.19 1.18 1.21 1.21 1.24 1.23 1.22 1.23 1.23
Number of Students 25,523 25,178 24,964 24,476 23,567 20,633 20,970 24,624 27,362 25,584
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Works studied

The current curriculum, which began in 2015, focuses on 250 works of art and architecture across 10 units, beginning with prehistoric art and ending with contemporary art.[15]

Global Prehistory (30,000 – 500 BCE)

Ancient Mediterranean (3500 BCE – 300 CE)

Early Europe and Colonial Americas (200 – 1750 CE)

Later Europe and Americas (1750 – 1980 CE)

  1. [a]
    Painting by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.
  2. [b]
    Photograph by Louis Daguerre.
  3. [c]
    Painting by Claude Monet.
  4. [d]
    Painting by Henri Matisse.
  5. [e]
    Painting by Wifredo Lam.
  6. [f]
    Painting by Helen Frankenthaler.

Indigenous Americas (1000 BCE – 1980 CE)

  1. [a]
    Produced by the Delaware people.
  2. [b]
    Made by Cotsiogo.

Africa (1100 – 1980 CE)

West and Central Asia (500 BCE – 1980 CE)

South, East, and Southeast Asia (300 BCE – 1980 CE)

The Pacific (700 – 1980 CE)

  1. [a]
    Wooden cult figures from Rarotonga.
  2. [b]
    Wooden sculptures from Nukuoro.

Global Contemporary (1980 CE – Present)

Notes

  1. [a]
    Painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
  2. [b]
    Painting by Song Su-nam.
  3. [c]
    Mixed-media presentation by Bill Viola.
  4. [d]
    Mixed-media presentation by Mariko Mori.

References

Further reading

External links

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