Advanced Placement course and exam
Advanced Placement (AP ) Art History (also known as 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 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 ,
Pacific , and
contemporary art and architecture.
[1]
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.
[2]
[3]
Topic Outline
[1]
Unit
Time Period
Approximate Exam Weighting
Unit 1: Global Prehistory
30,000 - 500
BCE
4%
Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean
3500 BCE - 300 CE
15%
Unit 3: Early Europe and Colonial America
200 - 1750 CE
21%
Unit 4: Later Europe and Americas
1750 - 1980 CE
21%
Unit 5: Indigenous Americas
1000 BCE - 1980 CE
6%
Unit 6: Africa
1100 - 1980 CE
6%
Unit 7: West and Central Asia
500 BCE - 1980 CE
4%
Unit 8: South, East, and Southeast Asia
300 BCE - 1980 CE
8%
Unit 9: The Pacific
700 - 1980 CE
4%
Unit 10: Global Contemporary
1980 CE to Present
11%
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
Four 15-Minute Essay Questions
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
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.
[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]
2021
[10]
2022
[11]
2023
[12]
5
11.1%
11%
12.8%
11.9%
15.8%
12.0%
14.1%
13.8%
4
22.6%
23.1%
24.3%
24.6%
24.9%
19.6%
21.0%
23.8%
3
27.7%
27.3%
27.6%
26.6%
28.0%
23.8%
26.3%
27.0%
2
27.6%
26.2%
25.5%
24.7%
21.3%
30.1%
26.9%
23.8%
1
11.0%
12.4%
9.8%
12.2%
10.0%
14.6%
11.6%
11.6%
% of Scores 3 or Higher
61.4%
61.4%
64.7%
63.1%
68.7%
55.3%
61.5%
64.6%
Mean Score
2.95
2.94
3.05
2.99
3.15
2.84
2.99
3.04
Standard Deviation
1.18
1.19
1.18
1.21
1.21
1.24
1.23
1.22
Number of Students
25,523
25,178
24,964
24,476
23,567
20,633
20,970
24,624
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 .
[13]
Global Prehistory (30,000 - 500 BCE)
Ancient Mediterranean (3500 BCE - 300 CE)
White Temple and its ziggurat
Palette of King Narmer
Statues of votive figures, from the Square Temple at Eshunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq)
Seated scribe
Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs at Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq)
Great Pyramids (Menkaura, Khafre, Khufu) and Great Sphinx
King Menkaura and queen
The Code of Hammurabi
Temple of Amun-Re and
Hypostyle Hall
Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut
Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and three daughters
Tutankhamun's tomb , innermost coffin
Last judgement of Hunefer, from his tomb (page from the
Book of the Dead )
Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad, Iraq)
Athenian agora
Anavysos
Kouros
Peplos Kore from the Acropolis
Sarcophagus of the Spouses
Audience Hall (apadana) of Darius and Xerxes
Temple of Minerva (Veii, near Rome, Italy) and
sculpture of Apollo
Tomb of the Triclinium
Niobides Krater
Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)
Acropolis
Grave Stele of Hegeso
Winged Victory of Samothrace
Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon
House of the Vettii
Alexander Mosaic from the House of Faun, Pompeii
Seated boxer
Head of a Roman patrician
Augustus of Prima Porta
Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater)
Forum of Trajan
Pantheon
Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus
Early Europe and Colonial Americas (200 - 1750 CE)
Catacomb of Priscilla
Santa Sabina
Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well and Jacob Wrestling the Angel, from the
Vienna Genesis
San Vitale
Hagia Sophia
Merovingian looped fibulae
Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George
Lindisfarne Gospels : St. Matthew, cross-carpet page; St. Luke portrait page; St. Luke incipit page
Great Mosque
Pyxis of al-Mughira
Church of Sainte-Foy
Bayeux Tapestry
Chartres Cathedral
Dedication Page with Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France, Scenes from the Apocalypse
Röttgen Pietà
Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel , including Lamentation
Golden Haggadah (The Plagues of Egypt, Scenes of Liberation, and Preparation for Passover)
Alhambra
Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece)
Pazzi Chapel
The Arnolfini Portrait
David
Palazzo Rucellai
Madonna and Child with Two Angels
Birth of Venus
Last Supper
Adam and Eve
Sistine Chapel ceiling and
altar wall frescoes
School of Athens
Isenheim altarpiece
Entombment of Christ
Allegory of Law and Grace
Venus of Urbino
Frontispiece of the
Codex Mendoza
Il Gesù , including
Triumph of the Name of Jesus ceiling fresco
Hunters in the Snow
Mosque of Selim II
Calling of Saint Matthew
Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de' Medici, from the
Marie de' Medici Cycle
Self-Portrait with Saskia
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
Angel with Arquebus, Asiel Timor Dei
Las Meninas
Woman Holding a Balance
The Palace at Versailles
Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and hunting scene
The Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe)
Fruit and Insects
Spaniard and Indian Produce a Mestizo
The Tête à Tête , from Marriage à la Mode
Later Europe and Americas (1750 - 1980 CE)
Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery
The Swing
Monticello
The Oath of the Horatii
George Washington
Self-Portrait
[a]
Y no hai remedio (And There's Nothing to Be Done), from
Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) , plate 15
La Grande Odalisque
Liberty Leading the People
The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm)
Still Life in Studio
Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On)
Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament)
The Stone Breakers
Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art
Olympia
The Saint-Lazare Station
[b]
The Horse in Motion
The Valley of Mexico from the Hillside of Santa Isabel (El Valle de México desde el Cerro de Santa Isabel)
The Burghers of Calais
The Starry Night
The Coiffure
The Scream
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building
Mont Sainte-Victoire
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
The Steerage
The Kiss (Klimt)
The Kiss (Brâncuși sculpture)
The Portuguese
Goldfish
[c]
Improvisation 28 (second version)
Self-Portrait as a Soldier
Memorial Sheet for Karl Liebknecht
Villa Savoye
Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow
Illustration from The Results of the First Five-Year Plan
Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure)
Fallingwater
The Two Fridas
The Migration of the Negro, Panel no. 49
The Jungle
[d]
Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park
Fountain (second version)
Woman, I
Seagram Building
Marilyn Diptych
Narcissus Garden
The Bay
[e]
Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks
Spiral Jetty
House in New Castle County
Indigenous Americas (1000 BCE - 1980 CE)
Africa (1100 - 1980 CE)
West and Central Asia (500 BCE - 1980 CE)
South, East, and Southeast Asia (300 BCE - 1980 CE)
The Pacific (700 - 1980 CE)
Global Contemporary (1980 CE - Present)
Notes
References
^
a
b
"Art history course" (PDF) . collegeboard.org . Retrieved 16 April 2023 .
^ Urist, Jacoba (February 2016).
"Rewriting Art History" . The Atlantic .
^
"AP Art History Exam" . 10 July 2006.
^
"Home - AP Central | College Board" . 14 March 2017.
^ Total Registration.
"2016 AP Exam Score Distributions" (PDF) . secure-media.collegeboard.org . Retrieved 2016-07-01 .
^ Total Registration.
"2017 AP Exam Score Distributions" (PDF) . secure-media.collegeboard.org . Retrieved 2017-06-15 .
^
"Student Score Distributions, AP Exams - May 2018" (PDF) . The College Board . Retrieved December 24, 2022 .
^
"STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF) . www.totalregistration.net . Retrieved July 9, 2020 .
^
"STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF) . Retrieved June 9, 2021 .
^ "
STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS " (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2024.
^ "
STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS " (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2024.
^ "
STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS " (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2024.
^
AP® Art History Course and Exam Description, Effective Fall 2015 , November 20, 2015; revised and corrected edition April 21, 2017. The College Board.
Further reading
External links
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 4 April 2020
(2020-04-04 ) , and does not reflect subsequent edits.