Curious about AP World Score Calculations?

So I've been wondering about how the AP World History scoring works, in particular the curve aspect. Can anyone explain how the exam is curved or where to find this information? A little guidance would be much appreciated.

Sure, I'd be happy to explain. AP Exams, including AP World History, aren't technically curved in the way that school tests often are. Rather than adjusting scores based on the actual performance of all students taking the test in a given year, the College Board uses a process known as equating.

Equating is a statistical process that is used to adjust the scale used to interpret your raw score (the number of points you've earned from correctly answered questions) to account for the slight variations in difficulty between different versions of the test that are administered in different years.

Your raw score is converted into a composite score out of 100. The multiple-choice section contributes 40% to this score and the free-response section contributes 60% (which is further divided into short-answer questions (SAQs), document-based question (DBQ), and long essay question (LEQ)).

The composite score then gets converted into the familiar 1-5 AP score. This is where it might seem like a curve comes into play, but remember, despite yearly variations, each score is intended to represent the same level of performance.

Unfortunately, the College Board doesn't provide the exact charts it uses for this process ahead of time, and it’s hard to predict how they might change from year to year. However, you can often find score distributions after the scores are released, which can help give you a sense of what percentage of students earn each score.

One thing to note is while it could seem like a daunting task to get a 5, it doesn't require a perfect or near-perfect raw score. On many AP exams, a significant number of missed points still can result in a high AP score. So while you should always strive to do your best, don’t be discouraged if you find some of the material challenging while studying. What's most important is having a solid understanding of the main concepts the exam is designed to test.