AP Art History


Advanced Placement 'Art History' is an Advanced Placement art history course and exam offered by the College Board in the United States.
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 art|Asian], Pacific, and contemporary art and architecture.

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.
UnitTime PeriodApproximate Exam Weighting
Unit 1: Global Prehistory30,000 – 500 BCE4%
Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean3500 BCE – 300 CE15%
Unit 3: Early Europe and Colonial America200 – 1750 CE21%
Unit 4: Later Europe and Americas1750 – 1980 CE21%
Unit 5: Indigenous Americas1000 BCE – 1980 CE6%
Unit 6: Africa1100 – 1980 CE6%
Unit 7: West and Central Asia500 BCE – 1980 CE4%
Unit 8: South, East, and Southeast Asia300 BCE – 1980 CE8%
Unit 9: The Pacific700 – 1980 CE4%
Unit 10: Global Contemporary1980 CE to Present11%

Exam

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. 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.
Final Score2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
511.1%11%12.8%11.9%15.8%12.0%14.1%13.8%13.9%16.0%
422.6%23.1%24.3%24.6%24.9%19.6%21.0%23.8%21.5%23.3%
327.7%27.3%27.6%26.6%28.0%23.8%26.3%27.0%27.2%26.2%
227.6%26.2%25.5%24.7%21.3%30.1%26.9%23.8%24.8%24.1%
111.0%12.4%9.8%12.2%10.0%14.6%11.6%11.6%12.5%10.3%
% of Scores 3 or Higher61.4%61.4%64.7%63.1%68.7%55.3%61.5%64.6%62.7%65.6%
Mean Score2.952.943.052.993.152.842.993.043.003.11
Standard Deviation1.181.191.181.211.211.241.231.221.231.23
Number of Students25,52325,17824,96424,47623,56720,63320,97024,62427,36225.584

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.
Global Prehistory
Ancient Mediterranean
Early Europe and Colonial Americas
Later Europe and Americas
Indigenous Americas
Africa
West and Central Asia
South, East, and Southeast Asia
The Pacific
Global Contemporary
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