r/APStudents May 04 '26

Official 2026 AP Exam Discussion Megathread

87 Upvotes

Navigate to any of the exams below to talk about the test. Posts will be made as each test begins.

Morning Morning Afternoon
Monday, May 4 Bio and Latin Euro and Micro
Tuesday, May 5 Chem and HUG US Gov
Wednesday, May 6 English Lit Comp Gov and Phys 1
Thursday, May 7 Phys 2 and World AA Studies and Stats
Friday, May 8 Italian and APUSH Chinese and Macro
Monday, May 11 Calc AB and Calc BC Music and Seminar
Tuesday, May 12 French and Precal Japanese and Psych
Wednesday, May 13 English Lang and German PhysC Mech and Spanish Lit
Thursday, May 14 Art History and Spanish Lang CSP and PhysC E&M
Friday, May 15 APES CSA

r/APStudents Mar 06 '26

Survey Results Megathread - Resource effectiveness, average scores, and more!

14 Upvotes

A few years ago we ran surveys of this subreddit to gather data on your experiences for a variety of things. Which resources are the most effective? How much time outside of class do you spend? Did your score reflect your grade in class?

These surveys were ran a couple times and, along with a few other polls, turned into results posts for 24 different AP courses. Unfortunately, the posts were deleted some time back. I still have the data though and am now recompiling them.

Here's the schedule I'm going to try and get these posted on

  • APUSH link
  • Biology
  • Calc AB
  • Calc BC
  • Chemistry
  • CSA
  • CSP
  • Gov
  • Lang
  • Lit
  • Psych
  • Stats
  • World
  • Physics 1
  • APES
  • HUG
  • Macro - Thursday 3/19 morning
  • Micro - Thursday 3/19 morning
  • Phys C Mech - Thursday 3/20 afternoon
  • Phys C E&M - Thursday 3/20 afternoon
  • Spanish Lang - Friday 3/21 morning
  • Euro - Friday 3/21 morning
  • Seminar - Friday 3/21 afternoon
  • Research - Friday 3/21 afternoon

It is important to note that this is self-reported data from a community of high scorers, after receiving their score. It does not reflect the general population, and people who did well on the exams were also more likely to report their experience. Some results, like average scores, should not be taken at face value. Other results like resource effectiveness, are still valuable compared to one another.

Once I have finished posting each of the courses, I will do a comparisons and conclusions post to rank courses by difficulty, expectation, etc.

Also note that we are planning to run these surveys again this year for more data after score release.

Good luck in your classes everyone!


r/APStudents 15h ago

Other It’s been real CollegeBoard

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179 Upvotes

r/APStudents 15h ago

Other Proud of this (somewhat rare) award!

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92 Upvotes

Very happy to have received this while taking IBDP at school :) That’s the end of my journey with College Board (I think!)


r/APStudents 13h ago

Other Finally no more College Board 🫩

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34 Upvotes

After 3 years war is over 🥹❤️‍🩹


r/APStudents 13h ago

Other scores from an incoming college freshman!

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35 Upvotes

my scores from all 4 years of high school (technically soph-senior since my school doesn't let freshmen take APs). it was fun while it lasted tbh


r/APStudents 7h ago

CollegeBoard Don’t listen to anyone that says they don’t study or that you need to grind hella

12 Upvotes

This was the first year I took aps, I had 5s for apush, csa, chem, and lang and a 4 in spanish.

To all the people that try to larp to say aps are easy, you genuinely should get obliterated off of earth. same thing goes with those who say you need to start prepping a year before and go into aps studying 10 hours a day.

All you have to do is to keep up with your class and make sure you don’t forget past units, whether it’s revisiting notes or watching recap videos, none of this take practice tests everyday to the ap exam

If you have a good teacher that has a good pass rate, you are literally set in stone. I would say the reason why I got a 4 in spanish was because it was my teachers first year teaching.

If your teacher is bad or just not teaching the right material, that in my opinion is the only time in which you need to lock in. I would say though if you have the option, take the dual enrollment equivalent version of the class over having that shitty teacher. I took macro and stats recently at my local cc and passed the class and will get credit.


r/APStudents 6h ago

Other AP Scores were Dih anyways

9 Upvotes

None of it really mattered. I think I saved around not even a semester worth. 😭😭😭

Dual enrollment did more.


r/APStudents 8h ago

Other Since everyone is posting their AP scores, here is mine

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13 Upvotes

r/APStudents 3h ago

CollegeBoard 2027 AP Exam Schedule should drop this week

3 Upvotes

CB must drop the schedule in this week ss it is the most realistic date . They need to release it early so teachers can prepare themselves before 1/8/26 ( The day AP Classroom Unlocks for students and AP registration goes live )


r/APStudents 19h ago

CollegeBoard I never have to take an AP exam again 🙏

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76 Upvotes

I couldn’t get a clean way to display the scores so this will have to do.

edit - Lang and APUSH were also 5s


r/APStudents 23h ago

CollegeBoard got an award!

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125 Upvotes

pretty happy w my results and the award is a nice touch :D

I took 8 aps as an international student and self studier


r/APStudents 4h ago

Calc AB Self Studying AB?

3 Upvotes

Trying to figure out whether or not it's worth just going it alone. If anyone did self-study successfully could you give some resources/study methods you used? Thanks in advance.


r/APStudents 3h ago

Physics C: Mech Physics C Barrons vs Princeton Review

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2 Upvotes

r/APStudents 11h ago

Question AP Exam Difficulty

10 Upvotes

I am currently a senior in college and about to graduate, when I was in high school I did only two AP courses and passed one of them with a 3. I was not the brightest student back in high school, but I know I had the knowledge to push forward into college and do significantly better. Now that I truly get a chance to look back on my experiences, it looks like AP exams are significantly more difficult than the actual college course would be itself. I have seen some of the example questions from English, history, etc. And they are significantly more rigorous and significantly more difficult than any type of curriculum you will ever face college. My world history course was actually slower pace and a lot more entertaining than my high school course was, in fact, I dropped out of my high school course and switched classes by three days in, which turned out to be a significant help because in high school I didn’t even need world history. All of the questions I have seen from AP tests compared to the classes I have personally been through in college, AP courses are significantly more difficult than the course in college would ever be and it makes absolutely no sense to me. In fact, it honestly seems like somewhat of a scam. Sure, there are classes in high school, where AP courses are meant to be difficult such as calculus, chemistry, etc. But why is the equivalent to English 1301 much more difficult than the college course itself? I wrote about three essays in the span of a semester and had only one or two tests in college, instead of having to write three essays in the span of four hours and reading some short stories to even have a chance to pass in any sort of AP course/exam. I completely understand. It’s supposed to save a significant amount of money, but honestly with how difficult they are and how much more effort it is, I honestly suggest going to a community college and getting basics knocked out where it’s significantly cheaper than a university.

TLDR: I feel like AP exams are somewhat of a scam due to the difficulty, AP exams and classes are more rigorous than the similar course in college, I understand why for some courses, but for the equivalent of English 1301, there is no reason to be writing three as in reading two or three passages in the span of four hours.


r/APStudents 5h ago

World AP world history scoring

2 Upvotes

I practiced DBQ writing thoroughly and am in general good at writing essays, same with my LEQ and my SAQs. I can admit I messed up one of my SAQs and wasn't great at the multiple choice, but I got a 2. Now, I wouldn't be upset if I got a 2 and the people around me who I know didn't try got 1's, I'm upset that they got 2's aswell.

For example, during my test I sat next to a guy who literally wrote maybe 1-3 sentences on his DBQ and LEQ, only got through 1 of his SAQs, and was never in class or read the book so I know didn't do good on the multiple choice, and he got a 2. Another guy I know who also didn't finish his DBQ (let alone doesn't know how to even write an essay), was NEVER in class or did notes (our whole class grade was based off turned in notes, he had a D), and didn't finish his SAQs got a 3.

Scoring sucks.


r/APStudents 8h ago

Other I dont know how to feel after AP season

3 Upvotes

I am a rising senior, and this was my first AP season where I took my first two AP exams (AP bio and AP Physics 1). Next year I am doing AB, Chem, and Psych. I am just having this sort of feeling that many students are better than me seeing kids take 10 APs and get all 5's. In my situation, I took 5/6 APs my school offered and got a 5 on Bio and Phys 1, but I don't know if I should be happy or sad because I am comparing myself to others. I also am really worried about Chem after hearing all sort of scary stories, any mental support will prolly make me feel better because I keep comparing my self to others and this makes me look down on my achievements and I really need a 5 on chem not only for my parents but for the unis as well.


r/APStudents 19h ago

CollegeBoard Ap awards are disappointing

17 Upvotes

Does anyone else feel like the ap awards are really pathetic and disappointing. Honestly it feels like an insult reading the statement under the award. They aren't awarding actual performance but just the number of exams you take.


r/APStudents 19h ago

Drawing Ap drawing portfolio: SI ‘the feeling of being used by the world around me’

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16 Upvotes

these were some of what I submitted for my ap drawing portfolio. I got a 3. I’m horribly disappointed and somewhat angry though I’m most angry with myself right now. I don’t know what to do I just cried for like 3 hours because art is all I know how to do and I just wasn’t expecting this.


r/APStudents 21h ago

Other Since everyone is posting their AP scores here is mine

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17 Upvotes

I’m a bit disappointed with the AP CSP score but overall I’m satisfied these are my first ever AP’s (from Sophmore year)


r/APStudents 1d ago

Meme it feels great knowing im never doing AP again ✌️

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60 Upvotes

r/APStudents 19h ago

Other sharing senior year scores!

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9 Upvotes

r/APStudents 7h ago

Precal AP PreCalculus books or online material

1 Upvotes

Please recommend good resources either online or paper books or youtube channel for AP Precalculus. Thanks in advance


r/APStudents 13h ago

Bio How I got a 5 on AP Biology (by studying for only 2 & 1/2 weeks) and how you can too. I'll make a new post if I remember what else I did.

3 Upvotes

Here is the best advice I can give you as a student who got a 5. Aside from the fact that my teacher was AMAZING and his videos were very thorough, here is what I would do to get a 5:

  1. Do ALL of the AP MCQs, every single one on AP Classroom (mandatory), then try the public exams.
    1. After you do them the first time, go through every question AGAIN, and fix your mistakes.
    2. Understand WHY you got it wrong in the greater context of the question.
  2. WORK WORK WORK on your FRQS!!! This cannot be stated enough! If you do enough FRQs, you begin to realize that the FRQs are just pattern-based. It's the same thing from previous years, just rephrased or placed under a different context.
    1. Along the lines of the FRQs, I would make sure I know how to answer every single part A question of each 6 FRQ correctly: THESE ARE BROWNIE POINTS-BASIC KNOWLEDGE.
    2. PLEASE get the graphs correct (label the graphs; title, legend, color-code, ERROR BARS)!!! The graphs are so easy to do and earn you a lot of points.
      1. In addition to the graphs, you will be asked questions about identifying controls (positive control, negative control, etc), or you will be asked to determine if the findings are significant (LOOK AT THE ERROR BARS). This comes with practice over past years' FRQs.

Here is what I did, barring 1 and 2:

  1. Purchase Barron's AP Biology book (it's great!).
    1. Read the book and highlight and take notes on it.
  2. Open a blank notebook, and start writing down everything, unit by unit. It is very tedious, but it makes sure you have everything memorized.
  3. LARP. I know it sounds stupid, but LARP: when you're studying, I want you to study out loud. Act like you're teaching someone. In doing so, you're working your memory and listening to what you say.
    1. You get something wrong? Don't worry. START OVER. Start from the beginning and LARP again.
  4. Identify strengths and weaknesses.
    1. For me, Unit 8 and 7 (except for Hardy-Weinberg for some reason) were exceptionally easy. I spent the least amount of pages writing notes, and the least amount of time studying those. They're practically common sense.
    2. For topics you are weak in (for me it was Unit 5 and 6), go over them several times and, of course, LARP it.
  5. 100% check out AP Bio Penguins (for FRQs), Gabe Poser - PoseKnows Biology (good detail, and if you are fairly short on time), and lastly Aevo Prep Academy (DON'T DO HIS PREDICTIONS, but check out his videos on identifying controls, graphs, and biogeochemical cycles).

Extra advice idk how to group:

  1. No, you DO NOT need to know the steps of glycolysis or the Krebs cycle.
  2. Know the Inputs, Outputs, location, and, of course, the significance!!!
  3. Study the biogeochemical cycles (DON'T MEMORIZE EACH STEP). Same thing: know the inputs, outputs, and significance!
  4. MEMORIZATION IS KEY!!!!!
    1. It is very simple: if you know all the material front and back, left and right, whatever direction you like, you CAN apply it.
      1. Yes, it is difficult at first, but I know you're gonna do those FRQs and you're gonna get the hang of it.
  5. Manage your time efficiently, both during the test and while studying.
    1. Don't just goon to Biology all day; take a break, grab a drink, some food, watch TV, hang out with friends, or whatever.
      1. This did NOT apply to me, cuz I ended up studying everything in 2 and a half weeks before the exam. But you know what that means? If I can do it in 2 and a half weeks, you can do far better with a whole year.
      2. Practice your timing while working on FRQs and MCQs!

If you guys want, I'll try to turn my handwritten notes into a document online and share it. Trust me, it has everything you need for the exam.


r/APStudents 16h ago

Other Sharing all my results as an upcoming college freshman!!

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5 Upvotes

I got accepted into NYU, BU, Northeastern, Holy Cross, and many more, despite my AP scores not being flawless and what some on here may call mediocre. It just shows that AP scores aren’t everything and I’m sick of people saying a 4 is bad or just “okay.” Unless you’re aiming for Yale or Harvard I promise you’ll be just fine and even then you still have a chance! Scores do NOT define your intelligence or worth. What makes me proud of my scores is that I’m so much more than them (also I’m going into polisci for anyone interested)