AP World History Exam: 2021 Results

The following data reflect the 264,254 students worldwide who took either the paper or the digital AP World History Exam in May. Data from students who tested in June are not yet available.

AP World History score distributions, 2019 vs. 2021

The following table enables comparisons of student performance in 2021 to student performance on the comparable full-length exam prior to the covid-19 pandemic.

The May 10 In-School Paper Exam

The largest exam date for AP World History was May 10, so the following information is specific to the exam version administered on that date.

As usual, students scored significantly higher on the multiple-choice section than on the free-response questions.

Multiple-choice section:

• Course Periods/Units:
  • AP World History students scored fairly consistently across all units, with somewhat higher performance on Units 1–4 (c. 1200–c. 1750) than on Units 5–6 (c. 1750–c. 1900). Performance on Unit 7–8 (c. 1900–present) was slightly stronger than on Units 5–6.
• Historical Thinking Skills:
  • AP World History students’ strongest skill in the multiple-choice section was Skill 3, Contextualization. 17% of students answered virtually every such question correctly.
  • The most challenging skill for students in the multiple-choice section was Skill 5: Making Connections, which involves identifying patterns of causation, continuity, and change. Students performed slightly stronger on questions about causation than on questions about continuity/ change.

Free-response section:

Short Answer Questions

• The highest performance in the free-response section was on Short Answer Question 2, in which students analyzed continuities and changes within gender roles in the late 19th century. 18% of students earned perfect scores for their responses to this question.
• The lowest performance within this year’s AP World History Exam was on Short Answer Question 4, continuity and change in South or Southeast Asia in the period 1750–1900. Only 22% of students chose this question option, but of those who did, 14% earned perfect scores on it and 40% received 0 points.

Document-Based Question (DBQ)–Economic Factors and the Outbreak of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920)

• 79% of students earned the thesis point
• 30% of students earned the contextualization point
• Evidence: 11% of students earned all 3 evidence points; 41% earned 2 points; 40% earned 1 point; 8% earned 0 points.
• Analysis & Reasoning: 2% earned 2 points; 15% earned 1 point; 83% earned 0 points.

Long Essay Question

• Students demonstrated different strengths within the 3 different long essay options:
  • The most popular topic was “Afro-Eurasian trade, 1200–1450,” chosen by 57% of students.
    • 53% of these students earned the thesis point;
    • 21% earned the contextualization point;
    • 52% earned both evidence points, 15% earned 1 evidence point, 33% earned no evidence points;
    • 2% earned both analysis and reasoning points, 43% earned 1 analysis and reasoning point, 55% earned no analysis and reasoning points.
  • 17% of students chose “the economies of East and/or South Asian states, 1450–1750” topic.
    • 49% of these students earned the thesis point;
    • 38% earned the contextualization point;
    • 30% earned both evidence points; 29% earned 1 evidence point; 41% earned no evidence points;
    • 3% earned both analysis and reasoning points; 34% earned 1 analysis and reasoning point; 63% earned no analysis and reasoning points.
  • 26% of students chose "responses to the Great Depression outside the U.S." topic.
    • 36% of these students earned the thesis point;
    • 53% earned the contextualization point;
    • 24% earned both evidence points, 31% earned 1 evidence point, 45% earned no evidence points;
    • 1% earned both analysis and reasoning points; 13% earned 1 analysis and reasoning point; 86% earned no analysis and reasoning points.

The May 20 Digital Exams

To support student access, different testing modes—paper and digital—were essential. To protect exam security, many different exam versions were necessary. Accordingly, to provide students with similar opportunities for success regardless of which version they took, each version of the exam had to be analyzed separately by psychometricians to identify its unique difficulty level so that standards for scores of 3, 4, and 5 could then be separately identified for each exam version. Analyses focused on:

1. Differences in the testing mode (paper or digital). For sections of the exam that proved easier to take digitally, the digital versions require more points for each AP score. For sections of the exam that proved easier to take on paper, the paper exam requires more points for each AP score.
2. Differences in the difficulty of specific questions. When exam questions prove easier, more points are required for each AP score, and when exam questions prove more difficult, fewer points are required on one version than another.
3. Differences in versions of the exam. The net result for this year’s AP World History Exams is that out of 140 points possible, the digital versions were consistently easier than the paper version. As a result:
   1. On the easiest digital version, a student needed to earn 11 more points to receive an AP score of 3 or higher than students who took the paper version.
   2. On the other digital versions, students needed to earn from 0–10 more points, depending on their version.