AP Art History

Advanced Placement Art History (AP Art History, AP Art, or APAH) is an Advanced Placement art history course and exam offered by the College Board.

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 present times into 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 focuses on European, African, Hindu, South Asian, East Asian, Islamic, and Prehistoric art.

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.[1][2]

Topic Outline[3]

Ancient Through Medieval (30%)	Renaissance to Present (50%)	Beyond European Tradition (20%)
Greece and Rome: 10-15% Early Christian, Byzantine, Early Medieval: 5-10% Romanesque: 3-7% Gothic: 7-10%	14th-16th Centuries: 12-17% 17th-18th Centuries: 10-15% 19th Century: 10-15% 20th Century: 10-15%	Africa (including Egypt) The Americas Asia and Near East Oceania Global Islamic Tradition

Exam

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

Scoring

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.

Final Score	2016[5]	2017[6]	2018[7]	2019[8]	2020[9]
5	11.1%	11%	12.8%	11.9%	15.6%
4	22.6%	23.1%	24.3%	24.6%	24.6%
3	27.7%	27.3%	27.6%	26.6%	27.7%
2	27.6%	26.2%	25.5%	24.7%	21.4%
1	11.0%	12.4%	9.8%	12.2%	10.7%
% of Scores 3 or Higher	61.4%	61.4%	64.7%	63.1%	67.9%
Mean Score	2.95	2.94	3.05	2.99	3.13
Standard Deviation	1.18	1.19	1.18	1.21	1.22
Number of Students	25,523	25,178	24,964	24,476

Examples of Works Studied

• Global Prehistory 30,000-500 B.C.E: "The Apollo 11 Stones" [10]
• Ancient Mediterranean 3,500-300 B.C.E: "Great Pyramids of Giza" [11]
• Early Europe and Colonial Americas 200-1750 C.E: "Bayeux Tapestry" [12]
• Later Europe and Americas 1750-1980 C.E: "Liberty Leading the People" [13]
• Indigenous Americas 1000 B.C.E.-1980 C.E: "Great Serpent Mound" [14]
• Africa 1100-1980 C.E: "Aka elephant mask" [15]
• South, East and Southeast Asia 300 B.C.E.-1980 C.E: " Ryoan-ji" [16]
• The Pacific 700-1980 C.E: "Ahu 'ula (feather cape)" [17]
• Global Contemporary 1980 C.E. to present: "Pink Panther" [18]

References

1. Urist, Jacoba (February 2016). "Rewriting Art History". The Atlantic.
2. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/exam/exam_information/2053.html
3. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap-art-history-course-description.pdf
4. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/212187.html
5. Total Registration. "2016 AP Exam Score Distributions" (PDF). secure-media.collegeboard.org. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
6. Total Registration. "2017 AP Exam Score Distributions" (PDF). secure-media.collegeboard.org. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
7. https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/research/2018/Student-Score-Distributions-2018.pdf
8. "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
9. Total Registration (2020-07-07). "2020 AP Exam Score Distributions". www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
10. "Apollo 11 Stones". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
11. "The Great Pyramids of Giza". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
12. "The Bayeux Tapestry". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
13. "Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
14. "Fort Ancient Culture: Great Serpent Mound". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
15. Elephant Mask, Kuosi Society, Bamileke Peoples, Cameroon, retrieved 2019-02-16
16. "Ryōanji (Peaceful Dragon Temple)". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
17. "Feather cape". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
18. "Jeff Koons, Pink Panther". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-02-16.

Further reading

• The College Board, AP® Art History Course and Exam Description, Effective Fall 2015, November 20, 2015; revised and corrected edition April 21, 2017. Includes sample tests and curricula, with appendices on 250 required works.
• Harris, Beth; Zucker, Steven (January 25, 2017). "Required works of art for AP Art History". Smarthistory. Retrieved June 14, 2018. An open educational resource for art history, with free images and texts on 250 required works of art in revised exam.
• Khan Academy, AP® Art History, free study resource keyed to revised exam.
• Nici, John A. (2015). Barron's AP Art History (3rd. ed.). Hauppage, NY: Barron's. ISBN 978-1-4380-0493-8. Text with CD-ROM ISBN 978-1-4380-7513-6 Third edition focused on 250 required works in revised exam.

External links

• AP Art History at CollegeBoard.com