The official 2026 AP score distributions are out for every subject. Below: the exact share of students earning each score (5 down to 1) and the pass rate (3 or higher) for all 40 AP exams, sorted by pass rate. Data is College Board's official release. Last updated July 14, 2026.
Official 2026 distributions — all 40 subjects
| Subject | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Pass rate (3+) |
|---|
| AP Research | 17% | 31% | 42% | 8% | 2% | 90% |
| AP Seminar | 10% | 21% | 57% | 10% | 2% | 88% |
| AP Chinese Language & Culture | 48% | 19% | 18% | 6% | 9% | 85% |
| AP 2-D Art and Design | 12% | 30% | 43% | 12% | 3% | 85% |
| AP Drawing | 16% | 31% | 36% | 14% | 3% | 83% |
| AP Spanish Language & Culture | 21% | 31% | 31% | 14% | 3% | 83% |
| AP Calculus BC | 46% | 22% | 14% | 14% | 4% | 82% |
| AP Precalculus | 29% | 29% | 24% | 11% | 7% | 82% |
| AP African American Studies | 20% | 30% | 27% | 17% | 6% | 77% |
| AP Chemistry | 15% | 31% | 30% | 18% | 6% | 76% |
| AP US Government & Politics | 23% | 28% | 25% | 16% | 8% | 76% |
| AP 3-D Art and Design | 7% | 25% | 43% | 23% | 2% | 75% |
| AP English Language | 15% | 28% | 32% | 15% | 10% | 75% |
| AP Physics C: E&M | 24% | 24% | 27% | 17% | 8% | 75% |
| AP European History | 16% | 33% | 25% | 18% | 8% | 74% |
| AP Psychology | 15% | 35% | 24% | 18% | 8% | 74% |
| AP US History (APUSH) | 14% | 37% | 23% | 18% | 8% | 74% |
| AP English Literature | 16% | 26% | 31% | 16% | 11% | 73% |
| AP Latin | 20% | 29% | 24% | 17% | 10% | 73% |
| AP Physics 2 | 20% | 29% | 23% | 21% | 7% | 72% |
| AP Physics C: Mechanics | 20% | 25% | 27% | 17% | 11% | 72% |
| AP Japanese Language & Culture | 47% | 10% | 15% | 7% | 21% | 72% |
| AP Biology | 15% | 25% | 31% | 21% | 8% | 71% |
| AP French Language & Culture | 15% | 23% | 33% | 23% | 6% | 71% |
| AP Spanish Literature & Culture | 20% | 23% | 28% | 20% | 9% | 71% |
| AP Comparative Government | 15% | 22% | 33% | 18% | 12% | 70% |
| AP Environmental Science | 13% | 29% | 27% | 15% | 16% | 69% |
| AP Italian Language & Culture | 19% | 22% | 28% | 20% | 11% | 69% |
| AP Microeconomics | 19% | 26% | 23% | 20% | 12% | 68% |
| AP Physics 1 | 19% | 24% | 25% | 15% | 17% | 68% |
| AP German Language & Culture | 24% | 17% | 27% | 22% | 10% | 68% |
| AP Art History | 15% | 25% | 27% | 24% | 9% | 67% |
| AP Human Geography | 19% | 26% | 21% | 24% | 10% | 66% |
| AP Macroeconomics | 19% | 22% | 25% | 20% | 14% | 66% |
| AP World History: Modern | 14% | 36% | 16% | 26% | 8% | 66% |
| AP Computer Science A | 25% | 26% | 15% | 11% | 23% | 66% |
| AP Calculus AB | 20% | 28% | 17% | 24% | 11% | 65% |
| AP Computer Science Principles | 10% | 23% | 30% | 21% | 16% | 63% |
| AP Statistics | 17% | 23% | 22% | 17% | 21% | 62% |
| AP Music Theory | 18% | 17% | 24% | 26% | 15% | 59% |
Source: College Board's official 2026 score distributions (apstudents.collegeboard.org). Percentages are official figures; pass rate is the sum of 3/4/5. Every row sums to 100%.
2026 standouts
- Hardest exams to pass in 2026: AP Music Theory (59%), AP Statistics (62%), and AP Computer Science Principles (63%) had the lowest pass rates.
- Easiest 5s by the numbers: AP Chinese (48%), AP Japanese (47%), and AP Calculus BC (46%) — all heavily self-selected groups, not easy exams.
- Sharpest splits: AP Computer Science A (25% fives, 23% ones) and AP Japanese (47% fives, 21% ones) — preparation gap, not coin flip.
- APUSH's 4-rate (37%) was the highest single 4 bucket of any exam — over half of APUSH students earned a 4 or 5.
How to read these numbers
- A high 5-rate usually means self-selection, not an easy exam. Calculus BC and the heritage-heavy language exams are taken mostly by students already deep in the subject.
- A "hard" distribution isn't destiny. AP exams are scored against fixed rubrics, not a forced curve — the distribution describes who showed up, not your odds.
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