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When Do AP Scores Come Out? Can You Get Them Early?
What’s Covered:
- When Do AP Scores Come Out?
- Can You Get Your AP Scores Early?
- What is a Good AP Score?
- How Do AP Scores Impact Your College Chances?
You’ve put a year’s worth of work into preparing for your AP tests. Now that you’ve gotten through them, the hard part is over—at least, to some extent.
You’ve sat for the several-hour exams, and now you want to know: when will you be able to see how you did? Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little longer to find out.
When Do AP Scores Come Out?
Exam scores will be available beginning on Monday, July 8, 2024. Previously, scores were released in waves by different states. This will likely be the case this year as well, so you may not get your scores until after July or August.
The reasoning behind the long wait is because free-response questions are graded by hand by actual humans and can’t simply be scanned by a machine. While the wait can be anxiety-provoking, it’s necessary so that graders can be thorough and fair.
All scores should be reported by August 15, 2024. If you haven’t received your score by this time, contact AP Services for Students.
Can You Get Your AP Scores Early?
It’s not possible to get your AP scores before the first release date. If the College Board releases scores in some states earlier than others as they have done previously, theoretically, you could see your score a little earlier if you were to do one of the following things:
- Travel to another state with an earlier release date.
- Ask a friend in another state to access your scores through your account.
- Use a VPN and set your location to a state with an earlier release.
However, the trouble is probably not worth it—the difference is a matter of a day or two.
Be very wary of scam sites claiming to let you see your scores early. Only the College Board can show you your scores. Some sites may have servers in states with the earliest release dates, but you will have to log into your College Board account through them, and we do not recommend giving away your login information to a third-party site.
What is a Good AP Score?
At most schools, the minimum score required for earning college credit is a 3 or 4 (usually 4 at more selective schools). Bear in mind that some colleges only award credit for select AP exams, or don’t award credit at all. Still, they might use your scores for placement purposes, such as in foreign language or math courses.
If you’re unsure about the AP credit policies at your top choice schools, you can check using College Board’s AP Credit Policy Search tool, or contact their admissions office directly for clarification.
Once you get your scores back, if you want to gauge how you did on the test compared to your peers, take a look at the percentage of test-takers last year who earned a 3 or above on the APs you took, in the chart below.
2023 AP Scores
|
AP Exam |
Percentage of Students Who Scored 3 or Higher |
|
Chinese Language and Culture |
88.4% |
|
Seminar |
85% |
|
Studio Art: Drawing |
84.8% |
|
Research |
84.4% |
|
Spanish Language and Culture |
83.8% |
|
Studio Art: 2-D Design |
83.6% |
|
Calculus BC |
78.5% |
|
English Literature and Composition |
77.2% |
|
Japanese Language and Culture |
76.9% |
|
Chemistry |
75.1% |
|
French Language and Culture |
74.7% |
|
Physics C: Mechanics |
73.5% |
|
Italian Language and Culture |
72.9% |
|
Studio Art: 3-D Design |
72.1% |
|
Government and Politics – Comparative |
70.8% |
|
Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism |
70.2% |
|
Physics 2 |
69.8% |
|
German Language and Culture |
68% |
|
Computer Science A |
68% |
|
Microeconomics |
68% |
|
Spanish Literature and Culture |
67.4% |
|
Macroeconomics |
64.7% |
|
World History |
64.7% |
|
Art History |
64.6% |
|
Biology |
64.4% |
|
Computer Science Principles |
63.1% |
|
Music Theory |
60.7% |
|
Statistics |
60% |
|
Psychology |
59.6% |
|
European History |
59.4% |
|
Calculus AB |
58% |
|
Latin |
56.7% |
|
English Language and Composition |
56.1% |
|
Human Geography |
54.4% |
|
Environmental Science |
53.7% |
|
Government and Politics – United States |
49.2% |
|
United States History |
47.5% |
|
Physics 1 |
45.6% |
As you can see, the score distribution varies for each exam. Check out our blog post about the difficulty of AP exams for more information.
How Do AP Scores Impact Your College Chances?
While AP scores themselves don’t play a major role in the college admissions process, having AP classes on your transcript can be a crucial part of your application, especially at highly selective institutions. College admissions officers want to see that you enjoy challenging yourself intellectually and that you’re capable of handling college-level coursework, and taking AP classes demonstrates both of those qualities.
If you’re wondering how your course rigor will stack up at the colleges you’re considering, check out CollegeVine’s free chancing engine, which evaluates a variety of factors like grades, course rigor, extracurriculars, and standardized test scores to estimate your odds of being accepted at over 1,600 schools across the country. Our admissions calculator can also give you suggestions for how to boost your chances of acceptance—for example, by taking more AP classes in your junior or senior year.
