Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology (also known as AP Psych) and its corresponding exam are part of the College Board's Advanced Placement Program. This course is tailored for students interested in the field of psychology and as an opportunity to earn Advanced Placement credit or exemption from a college-level psychology course. It was the shortest AP exam until the AP Physics C exam was split into two separate exams in 2006.
AP Psychology is often considered one of the easier AP exams; relative to the other tests, the material is rather straightforward and much easier to self-study. Among all the social studies Advanced Placement exams, the Psych exam had the second-highest passing rate in 2018.[1]
Topics covered
The College Board provides a course of study to help educators prepare their students for the AP Psychology exam. The exam covers the following 9 areas. The percentage indicates the portion of the multiple-choice section of the exam focused on each content area:[2]
| Topic | Percent |
|---|---|
| Scientific Foundations of Psychology | 10-14% |
| Biological Bases of Behavior | 8-10% |
| Sensation and Perception | 6-8% |
| Learning | 7-9% |
| Cognitive Psychology | 13-17% |
| Developmental Psychology | 7-9% |
| Motivation, Emotion, and Personality | 11-15% |
| Clinical Psychology | 12-16% |
| Social Psychology | 8-10% |
Exam
The exam includes two sections: a 70-minute multiple choice section (100 questions) and a 50-minute free response section (2 prompts). The multiple choice provides two-thirds of the grade and the free-response provides the remaining third.[3]
Beginning with the May 2011 AP Exam administration, total scores on the multiple-choice section are based only on the number of questions answered correctly.[4] Points are no longer deducted for incorrect answers. Grading (the number of points needed to get a certain score) is slightly more strict as a result.
Grade distribution
The exam was first held in 1992. Grade distributions for the Psychology exam scores since 2010 were:
| Score | 2010[5] | 2011[6] | 2012[7] | 2013[8] | 2014[9] | 2015[10] | 2016[11] | 2017[12] | 2018[13] | 2019[14] | 2020[15] | 2021[16] | 2022[17] | 2023[18] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 19.6% | 20.1% | 20.7% | 21.2% | 18.7% | 20.2% | 19.1% | 19.1% | 21.1% | 20.2% | 22.4% | 14.1% | 17.0% | 16.9% |
| 4 | 26.6% | 26.3% | 26.0% | 26.6% | 26.9% | 26.2% | 26.1% | 25.1% | 26.3% | 25.4% | 25.4 % | 21.2% | 22.2% | 23.2% |
| 3 | 20.0% | 19.8% | 19.4% | 19.5% | 19.9% | 19.8% | 19.1% | 20.0% | 18.3% | 18.8% | 23.5 % | 18.0% | 19.1% | 19.5% |
| 2 | 12.7% | 12.9% | 13.5% | 13.0% | 13.5% | 13.1% | 14.2% | 14.6% | 14.5% | 13.7% | 9.6 % | 15.2% | 13.1% | 12.4% |
| 1 | 21.1% | 20.9% | 20.3% | 19.7% | 20.9% | 20.7% | 21.6% | 21.2% | 19.8% | 22.0% | 19.1 % | 31.5% | 28.5% | 28.0% |
| % of Scores 3 or higher | 66.2% | 66.2% | 66.1% | 67.3% | 65.5% | 66.2% | 64.2% | 64.2% | 65.7% | 64.4% | 71.3% | 53.3% | 58.3% | 59.6% |
| Mean | 3.11 | 3.12 | 3.13 | 3.17 | 3.09 | 3.12 | 3.07 | 3.06 | 3.14 | 3.08 | 3.22 | 2.71 | 2.86 | 2.89 |
| Standard Deviation | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.41 | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.44 | 1.40 | 1.45 | 1.47 | 1.46 |
| Number of Students | 177,708 | 197,719 | 220,361 | 238,962 | 259,789 | 276,971 | 293,350 | 302,369 | 311,759 | 311,215 | 295,621 | 288,511 | 292,501 | 321,329 |
Controversies
In August 2023, the Florida Department of Education ruled that AP Psychology was in violation of the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act due to content on sexual orientation and gender identity in the course, effectively banning the course in the state of Florida.[19] The department told school officials that the course may only be taught if material on sexual orientation and gender identity was removed from the curriculum. College Board responded that if such topics were removed, the class would not be compliant with college requirements, and thus not be eligible for Advanced Placement.[20] The ban came amidst a broader backlash against the teaching of LGBTQ+ topics in the United States.[21]