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AP Art History

In 2021, AP Art History is offered online on 2 dates:

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2021 Test Information and Resources

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Test Details

The AP Art History exam will consist of 2 online free response questions. The total time for the exam will be 45 minutes. The test is open note and open book. Read more about the College Board's academic integrity policy.

Time on the exam will be divided between two questions. Each question will have a 5 minute upload period for students to submit their work. After a student submits their work for the first question, they will not be able to return back to it.

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Units Covered

The units covered on the 2021 AP Art History exam will be adjusted to encourage fairness amongst students who have missed varying levels of school due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Units covered: Units 1–6
Units not covered: Units 7–10

Test Questions

Essay: Comparison

Question #1
Time: 25 minutes
Weight: 65%

Question 1 is a long essay question that assesses students’ ability to compare 2 works of art:

  • The first work is required and is part of the image set. Although an image of this work will be provided as part of the question prompt, there will be no identifying information.
  • The second work is selected by the student from a list of suggested works from the required image set (but with no images provided). Students may instead select a different work of art from any content area to compare with the required work.

This question assesses students’ ability to do the following:

  • Use specific and relevant evidence to explain how the 2 works of art are similar and different in how they convey meaning.
  • Use specific and relevant evidence to explain the meaning or significance of similarities and differences between the 2 works of art.
Short Essay: Continuity and Change

Question #2
Time: 15 minutes
Weight: 35%

Question 2 is a short essay question that assesses students’ ability to analyze the relationships between a work of art from the image set (image provided as part of the question prompt, but without any identifying information) and a related artistic tradition, style, and/or practice. This question assesses students’ ability to do the following:

  • Explain how or why the work of art demonstrates continuity or change within an artistic tradition or practice.
  • Analyze meaning or significance of an art historical interpretation of the work of art provided.

Academic Integrity

College Board is taking a strong stance against cheating on the 2021 online Art History test. The following anti-cheating measures will be deployed on testing day to prevent cheating amongst students:

Students found violating the academic integrity policy will suffer severe consequences, including:

All data sourced from College Board AP Coronavirus Updates site. Read more here.