🎙️ Welcome to The Education Equation, a podcast by @collegeboard.org President Jeremy Singer that explores how to make real, scalable progress in education using data-driven strategies and ideas. Follow wherever you listen to podcasts. TheEducationEquation.org

"In an era of inflated grades, AI disruption, and other major changes to education, the SAT provides a research-backed, reliable, and highly secure common measure across students, schools, and states. Any college entrance exam should be held to that high bar."

Encouraging to see the early impact of AP Precalculus. Grateful to the many educators and colleagues who brought this course into being.

NEW: Students can practice for the SAT every day, keep track of their stats and earn badges with SAT Question of the Day! Try it here: qotd.collegeboard.org/

2025 AP Exam scores are available starting today. Students can access their scores via their College Board account. 💻 View your AP Exam Scores: spr.ly/60174muz5

With equating and standard settings complete, this next week we’ll format and upload the exam data into the score reports for students and educators.

If you’re interested in the Evidence-Based Standard Setting process that determines the performance levels needed to earn AP scores of 2, 3, 4, and 5, we’ve just posted an overview that outlines the process and links to specific findings for each of this year’s subjects: cb.org/apexams2025

The 2025 AP Human Geography Exam scores: 5: 17%; 4: 25%; 3: 23%; 2: 25%; 1: 10%

The 2025 AP Environmental Science Exam scores: 5: 12%; 4: 28%; 3: 29%; 2: 15%; 1: 16% Multiple-Choice Questions Students earned the highest average scores across questions about Energy Resources and Consumption (Unit 6); 44% of students answered all or all but one of these questions right.

The 2025 AP English Language and Composition Exam scores: 5: 13%; 4: 28%; 3: 33%; 2: 16%: 1: 10%

The 2025 AP English Literature & Composition Exam scores: 5: 16%; 4: 27%; 3: 31%; 2: 16%; 1: 10%

The 2025 Physics C: Mechanics Exam scores: 5: 20%; 4: 24%; 3: 28%; 2: 17%; 1: 11% Multiple-Choice Questions AP Physics C: Mechanics students scored exceptionally well on questions about Linear Momentum (Unit 4): 29% answered all such questions right.

The 2025 Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism Exam scores: 5: 23%; 4: 24%; 3: 25%; 2: 19%; 1: 9%

The 2025 AP Psychology Exam scores: 5: 15%; 4: 32%; 3: 25%; 2: 19%; 1: 9% Multiple-Choice Questions Students scored quite evenly and well across all topics, especially on “Cognition” (Unit 2); on those questions, 15% answered each of these items right.

The 2025 AP Physics 2 Exam scores: 5: 20%; 4: 29%; 3: 23%; 2: 21%; 1: 7%

The 2025 AP Physics 1 Exam scores: 5: 18%; 4: 25%; 3: 23%; 2: 14%; 1: 20%

OK, I’ve got the final 9 subjects’ results to share today. These subjects took longer than the others, since after the AP Readings, each of these subjects was also scheduled for a standard setting...

2025 AP World History: Modern Exam scores: 5: 14%; 4: 33%; 3: 17%; 2: 27%; 1: 9% Multiple-Choice Questions: Students performed very well across all 9 units, but two units in particular stood out, those focused on 1750-1900 CE: Unit 5 (Revolutions) and Unit 6 (Consequences of Industrialization).

The 2025 AP Spanish Language and Culture Exam scores: 5: 22%; 4: 32%; 3: 31%; 2: 12%; 1: 3% ¡Buen trabajo AP Spanish Language and Culture students and teachers! The percentage of students scoring 3 or higher increased by 2% compared to 2024, and 1,987 more students earned a top score of 5.

The 2025 AP Music Theory Exam scores: 5: 18%; 4: 18%; 3: 24%; 2: 25%; 1: 15%

The 2025 AP Biology Exam scores: 5: 19%; 4: 24%; 3: 28%; 2: 21%; 1: 8%

The 2025 AP Seminar scores: 5: 10%; 4: 19%; 3: 57%; 2: 12%; 1: 2%

The 2025 AP French Language and Culture Exam scores: 5: 13%; 4: 25%; 3: 35%; 2: 21%; 1: 6% 73% of AP French Language and Culture students earned a 3 or higher—up 2 percent from 2024. Félicitations to students and teachers! 1 in 4 test takers are heritage speakers, consistent with prior years.

The 2025 AP Italian Language and Culture Exam scores: 5: 21%; 4: 24%; 3: 28%; 2: 19%; 1: 8% 73% of students scored 3 or higher—the highest since the pandemic years, and 2% higher than in 2024. Complimenti! 24% of test takers are heritage speakers this year.

The 2025 AP German Exam scores: 5: 19%; 4: 23%; 3: 27%; 2: 19%; 1: 12% Wir gratulieren to AP German Language and Culture students and teachers - this year, 69% of students earned a score of 3 or higher, a 2% increase from 2024!

The 2025 AP Calculus BC Exam scores: 5: 44%; 4: 22%; 3: 13%; 2: 15%; 1: 6%

2025 AP Calculus AB Exam scores: 5: 20%; 4: 29%; 3: 15%; 2: 23%; 1: 13% Multiple-Choice Questions AP Calculus AB students scored highest on questions related to Unit 2: Differentiation: Definition and Fundamental Properties. 50% of students answered all or all but one of these questions right.

The 2025 AP African American Studies Exam scores: 5: 16%; 4: 33%;3: 30%; 2: 16%; 1: 5% This is the second year of the AP African American Studies course and exam, and there’s much to celebrate:

The 2025 AP Precalculus Exam scores: 5: 28%; 4: 26%; 3: 27%; 2: 11%; 1: 8%

The 2025 AP Computer Science Principles scores: 5: 11%; 4: 20%; 3: 32%; 2: 22%; 1: 15% Multiple-Choice Questions Students scored highest on questions about the impact of computing; 44% answered 14+ correct of the 16 total questions on this topic.

The 2025 AP US History Exam scores: 5: 14%; 4: 36%; 3: 23%; 2: 19%; 1: 8%.

The 2025 AP Spanish Literature and Culture Exam scores: 5: 8%; 4: 23%; 3: 39%; 2: 21%; 1: 9% ¡Felicidades to AP Spanish Literature and Culture students and teachers! This year marks the highest percentage of scores of 3 or higher since the pandemic — a 4% increase from 2024.

The 2025 AP Latin Exam scores: 5: 13%; 4: 17%; 3: 29%; 2: 25%; 1: 16% Gratulationes to AP Latin students and teachers — this year marks the highest % of 3+ scores since the pandemic, up 2% from 2024! Pergite ita facere!

The 2025 AP US Government and Politics Exam scores: 5: 24%; 4: 25%; 3: 23%; 2: 18%; 1: 10%

The 2025 AP Chemistry Exam scores: 5: 17%; 4: 29%; 3: 32%; 2: 16%; 1: 6% As a reminder, these data only include the results of the AP Chemistry exam taken on the standard testing date, Tuesday, May 6.

The 2025 AP Statistics Exam scores: 5: 17%; 4: 21%; 3: 22%; 2: 16%; 1: 24%

The 2025 AP Microeconomics Exam scores: 5: 19%; 4: 24%; 3: 24%; 2: 21%; 1: 12% AP Microeconomics Multiple-Choice Questions: again this year, students showed they were well-prepared for core analytical applications in microeconomics.

The 2025 AP Research scores: 5: 15%; 4: 28%; 3: 46%; 2: 10%; 1: 2% Nearly 44,000 students submitted academic papers this year, up from 36,000 last year.

The 2025 AP Drawing Portfolio scores: 5: 17%; 4: 32%; 3: 36%; 2: 12%; 1: 3% This year’s Drawing portfolios were especially strong, such that scores of 5 increased by 2%.

The 2025 AP Art and Design: 3D Portfolio scores: 5: 7%; 4: 25%; 3: 40%; 2: 24%; 1: 4% 9% of AP 3-D Art and Design students earned all or most of the available points on their Selected Works.

The 2025 AP Art and Design: 2D Portfolio scores: 5: 12%; 4: 29%; 3: 42%; 2: 14%; 1: 3% 20% of AP 2-D Art and Design students earned all or most of the available points for their Selected Works.

The 2025 AP Macroeconomics Exam scores: 5: 18%; 4: 23%; 3: 25%; 2: 22%; 1: 12% High praise for AP Macroeconomics students/teachers: this year’s students demonstrated significantly stronger mastery of the content than last year’s, so scores increased from 62% earning 3+ in 2024 to 66% this year.

The 2025 AP European History Exam scores: 5: 13%; 4: 35%; 3: 24%; 2: 19%; 1: 9% AP European History MCQs: strong performance on Unit 1: Renaissance and Exploration, and Unit 2: Age of Reformation (c. 1450- c. 1648); 39% of students earned all or nearly all points in these areas.

2025 AP Art History Exam scores: 5: 16%; 4: 24%; 3: 26%; 2: 24%; 1: 10% Congrats to AP Art History students/teachers: this year’s students demonstrated stronger mastery of the 250 works than any group since I began posting in 2011, so scores increased from 63% earning 3+ in 2024 to 66% this year.

The score information and exam analyses I’m posting only include exams from the main AP exam administration weeks of May 5-16; these posts do not include any scores or data from the make-up testing dates that followed.

The 2025 AP Comparative Government & Politics Exam scores: 5: 16%; 4: 23%; 3: 34%; 2: 16%; 1: 11% This year’s AP Comparative Government & Politics students demonstrated very similar, solid levels of mastery as last year’s, so the rate of 3+ scores remains ~73%.

The 2025 AP Japanese Language and Culture Exam scores: 5: 40%; 4: 12%; 3: 21%; 2: 8%; 1: 19% (Total group scores, including heritage speakers) ~52% of students who took this year’s AP Japanese Exam were heritage speakers of the language.

The 2025 AP Chinese Language and Culture Exam scores: 5: 51%; 4: 19%; 3: 18%; 2: 5%; 1: 7% (Total group scores, including heritage speakers) ~72% of students who took this year’s AP Chinese Exam were heritage speakers of the language.

The 2025 AP Computer Science A (Java) Exam scores: 5: 25%; 4: 22%; 3: 20%; 2: 10%; 1: 23%. AP Computer Science A MCQs: strong performance on primitive types, Boolean expressions, and if statements (units 1 & 3); 44% of students earned 7-8 of these 8 points.

It’s that time of year when AP Readers begin finishing the scoring of AP essays, portfolios, and free-response questions, so as the data roll in, I’ll post that info here. A few reminders follow. (1/13)