Policies regarding standardized testing in college admissions have shifted dramatically in recent years. Many schools adopted test-optional or test-blind policies for the SAT and ACT during the COVID-19 pandemic, and recently this has been followed by a return to test-required policies among Ivy League institutions and a general shift towards test-preferred admissions. Yet the value of Advanced Placement (AP) exams has remained steadfast. Since the discontinuation of the SAT Subject Tests in 2021, AP exams have become the primary way to demonstrate mastery of subject-specific content outside of designated curricula like IB or A-Levels. AP scores also serve as a crucial benchmark in this era of GPA inflation, providing a standardized calibration metric that allows top-scoring students to differentiate themselves academically beyond their transcripts. Even test-blind institutions like the University of California schools have, in some cases, followed up with students or school counselors to request AP scores, especially from students applying to capped majors in STEM fields. Similarly, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge require AP scores from U.S. applicants, while Yale’s “flexible standardized testing requirement” announced in February 2024 requires students to submit standardized test scores from one of four options, one of which is “all [AP] subject exams completed prior to applying.”
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MAJOR CHANGES FOR 2025: DIGITAL EXPANSION
A major shift in AP testing this year is the expanded offering of digital exams. The College Board first introduced digital AP exams when they quickly transitioned to the online format during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but that initial implementation was plagued by access and connectivity challenges. The return to in-person exams in 2021 was followed by a second, more gradual rollout of 7 exams with a digital option in 2023, and then 8 in 2024. As reported in EducationWeek, the subsequent plan—as recently as September 2023—was to roll out additional digital exams slowly over the next 5 to 10 years.
That rollout strategy was upended when the College Board announced this summer that it would accelerate its digital transition. The underlying reason for this shift is a response to an increase in widespread cheating incidents involving the paper versions of AP tests. In the May 2024 exam administration, exam materials were reportedly leaked online and shared via social media platforms like TikTok and encrypted platforms like Discord where groups of students joined to pool resources to buy exams on the black market. The increased number of students who purchased stolen exam materials resulted in record numbers of delayed test results and canceled exam scores. By shifting exams to its digital Bluebook platform and while continuing exam administration in testing centers and schools, the College Board aims to close security gaps associated with the printing, shipping, and collection of paper exams to thousands of locations worldwide.
This May, of the 39 AP exams offered, 28 will be digital (non-optional):
- 16 exams will be fully digital:
- AP African American Studies (U.S. only)
- AP Art History
- AP Comparative Government and Politics
- AP Computer Science
- AP Computer Science Principles
- AP English Language and Composition
- AP English Literature and Composition
- AP Environmental Science
- AP European History
- AP Human Geography
- AP Latin
- AP Psychology
- AP Seminar
- AP United States Government and Politics
- AP United States History
- AP World History: Modern
- 12 exams will be partially digital with multiple-choice questions online plus a handwritten free-response component:
- AP Biology
- AP Calculus AB
- AP Calculus BC
- AP Chemistry
- AP Macroeconomics
- AP Microeconomics
- AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based
- AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based
- AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
- AP Physics C: Mechanics
- AP Precalculus
- AP Statistics
Additional exams, primarily those for foreign languages, will go digital in 2026, leaving only those with inherently non-digital components such as AP Studio Art and AP Music Theory.
Many students welcome the digital transition as they are more comfortable typing and editing essay responses rather than handwriting them, and will no longer need to worry about properly filling in or fully erasing answer “bubbles.”
2025 AP EXAM SCHEDULE
CONTENT AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN 2025 AP EXAMS
Beyond the move to digital exams, three AP exams will undergo content and format updates this year:
- AP Chemistry – There have been some detailed shifts in sequence and titles, and an update to the equation sheet.
- AP Physics – There have been some detailed shifts in content between the 4 physics exams and in the number of each question type and timing.
- AP Psychology – This exam has been restructured into five thematic categories to match guidelines from the American Psychological Association, and new topics like positive psychology have been added. There will be fewer multiple-choice questions (with four answer choices instead of five) and an addition of two free response questions.
As The Wall Street Journal reports in “It Is Now Easier to Pass AP Tests,” AP scores have been steadily rising, making it more crucial than ever for high-achieving students to earn top scores of 5’s as strong data points for their applications to selective universities. While many high schools, especially private schools, have phased out AP courses to allow for greater pedagogical flexibility, students can still take AP exams since enrollment in an official AP course is not required to sit for these tests. As the AP exams evolve into their digital phase, a strong record of AP scores remains one of the most valuable standardized metrics available to college applicants.
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After attending Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California, Heidi graduated cum laude with an Honors thesis from Dartmouth College as a double major in Classical Archaeology and Comparative Literature. At the University of Pennsylvania, Heidi was a Williams Fellow in the graduate program of Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. She has conducted archaeological field work in Sardinia, Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey.
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