Hardest (and Easiest) AP Classes — Based on Data | Fiveable (2024)

Hardest and Easiest AP Classes

We’re here to answer a very variable question: what is the hardest and what is the easiest AP class one can take? But first, here’s a list of them all.

What is the hardest and easiest AP class?

The short answer: it depends.

This is more of a personal question than anything. Every AP class is theoretically hard because it’s a lot of work at high levels of rigor. But depending on your background knowledge or productivity skills, some classes may be easier for you.

In general, your first AP class will be the hardest one you take, no matter which subject. It’s a learning curve to get used to the pace and scoring structure. Don’t worry though! Once you know what to expect, it’ll get easier.

With all that said, we can try to find out which exam is the hardest for the most students. We’ll use a few different data sets to narrow it down ⬇️

Hardest AP Classes by Student Opinion

We asked ~2k Fiveable students which APs are the HARDEST and this is what they said:

1. AP Chemistry
2. AP Biology
3. AP Calculus BC
4. AP Physics 1
5. AP US History
6. AP World History: Modern

And here’s what they said for which classes are the EASIEST:

1. AP Human Geography
2. AP Psychology
3. AP Computer Science Principles
4. AP Environmental Science
5. AP English Language
6. AP World History: Modern

The easiest top 4 ^^^ make a ton of sense. While there’s a lot of vocab-heavy content, the exam itself is not graded with confusing rubrics. It’s pretty straightforward multiple choice + free response questions.

Hardest AP Classes by Essay Scores

After exams are scored, statistics are published about every essay. We looked at the mean scores + the total possible points to find out what % of essay points students earned.

This data set is from the 2023 AP Exams. A few notes to consider:

• For all World Languages, we used the “standard group” which only includes students who do not speak that language natively.
  • In general, native speakers do exceptionally well on language exams in their native language (makes sense). So this shows you how hard those exams are for non-native speakers.
• AP Human Geography is likely high on this list because 70% of students are freshman, so it’s their first exam. Like we said above, the first exam is always the hardest.

Hardest AP Classes by “Cut Off” Score

The “cut off” score is what percentage of points you need to earn a 3, 4, 5, etc. These are not publicized by college board so we don’t know the exact data here. But we can estimate based on data from previously released exams.

You can use the AP Score Calculators to see what these cut offs look like in practice.

The top 6 courses with the highest “cut off” for passing (not including world languages or art):

• AP Computer Science Principles — You need 62% of all points to get a 3
• AP Microeconomics — 56%
• AP US Government — 55%
• AP Macroeconomics — 54%
• AP English Literature — 54%
• AP Biology — 53%

^ These higher “cut off” points might suggest that a lot of students get the points, so a higher bar is set for passing.

The top 6 courses with the lowest “cut off” for passing (not including world languages or art):

• AP Physics C: E&M — You need 33% of all points to get a 3
• AP Physics C: Mechanics — 37%
• AP Calculus AB/BC — 38%
• AP Statistics — 38%
• AP Physics 1 — 40%
• AP Physics 2 — 41%
• AP Chemistry — 41% (tied)

^ These lower “cut off” scores suggest that the exam might be harder for students. In order to ensure enough pass, the line has to be drawn lower.

Hardest AP Classes by Score Distribution

We have a longer post where you can see all of the AP score distributions for 2023. This data is somewhat useful for finding the hardest classes, but you have to think about self-selection bias ⬇️

Students who opt to take a class are typically more motivated or have stronger backgrounds in that subject compared to the general student population. Because these students are likely more prepared and capable in that subject area, a higher proportion of them achieving the highest score does not necessarily reflect the difficulty level of the class — it reflects the abilities and preparation of the students who choose to enroll.

What percent of students get 5s on each AP exam?

The top 6 subjects with the LEAST amount of 5s:

• AP 3-D Art & Design – 7.10%
• AP Environmental Science – 8.30%
• AP Spanish Literature – 8.50%
• AP Physics 1 – 8.80%
• AP English Language – 10.30%
• AP US History – 10.60%

The top 6 subjects with the MOST amount of 5s:

• AP Chinese – 54.20%
• AP Japanese – 50.80%
• AP Calculus BC – 43.50%
• AP Physics C: E&M – 33.60%
• AP Computer Science A – 26.80%
• AP Physics C: Mechanics – 26.40%

You can definitely see the self-selection bias at play with the subjects that have the most 5s. These courses are highly specialized, so the students who take them are likely to have strong backgrounds in those subject areas.

The top 6 subjects with the most 5s (not including world languages or art):

• AP Calculus BC
• AP Physics C: E&M
• AP Computer Science A
• AP Physics C: Mechanics
• AP Calculus AB
• AP Microeconomics

Which AP exams have the highest pass rate?

If you look specifically at the distribution of scores & add together 3s, 4s, and 5s, then you can see the “pass rate” for that exam.

% of 3s + % of 4s + % of 3s = Pass rate

The top 6 subjects with the highest pass rates:

• AP Chinese – 88.40%
• AP Seminar – 85%
• AP Art & Design: Drawing – 84.70%
• AP Research – 84.40%
• AP Spanish Language – 83.90%
• AP Art & Design: 2D – 83.70%

The top 6 subjects with the lowest pass rates:

• AP Physics 1 – 45.60%
• AP US History – 47.50%
• AP US Government – 49.20%
• AP Environmental Science – 53.70%
• AP Human Geography – 54.40%
• AP English Language – 56.10%

These 6 lowest pass rate subjects ^^ also have some of the most test-takers. So even though the pass rates are lower, WAY more students take them in the first place.

Hardest AP Classes By Number of Test Takers

First, let’s just look at the sheer number of test takers. Which are the most popular tests taken?

Top 6 Most Popular AP Exams:

• AP English Language – 562,328
• AP US History – 467,975
• AP English Literature – 356,043
• AP World History: Modern – 350,353
• AP US Government – 329,132
• AP Psychology – 321,329

It makes sense that those subjects have the most test takers because they are likely offered at the most schools. So let’s get a different number that shows total test takers divided by total schools.

Top 6 exams with the highest likelihood of enrollment if offered:

• AP World History: Modern
• AP English Language
• AP US History
• AP Human Geography
• AP Psychology
• AP Seminar

There are a few new ones that pop up there, mainly AP Human Geo and AP Seminar. That might indicate that they are not considered too hard to take.

Here’s the flip side — Which exams have lowest likelihood of enrollment if offered?

The top 10 are is entirely made up of world languages (Japanese, German, Italian, Latin, French, Chinese), all three studio art courses (3D, 2D, and Drawing), and Music Theory.

Let’s look at the next 6, if we ignore world language and art considering those are extremely specialized.

• AP Physics C: E&M
• AP Physics 2
• AP Art History
• AP Spanish Literature
• AP Computer Science A
• AP Research

TLDR - Conclusion

Based on all of this data, which APs can we definitively say are the hardest? There’s a few answers to this question.

If you are a native speaker of a language with an AP class, then those will be relatively easy for you if you can speak, read, and write in that language. Those include Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.

If you have significant experience in the arts, than those classes will be relatively easy for you. Those include AP Art & Design 2D, 3D, and Drawing.

Both world languages and art courses would be considered HARD if you do not have significant background knowledge.

Beyond those categories, we can say fairly definitively that the top 6 hardest AP classes are:

• 🎡AP Physics 1 — Lowest pass rate, least 5s, hard to get essay points, Lower cut off, and students say it’s hard
• 🧬AP Biology — Hard to get essay points and students say it’s hard
• 🇺🇸AP US History – Low pass rate, not many 5s, and students say it’s hard
• ♾️AP Calculus AB/BC — Lower cut off, both are hard to get essay points, and students say they are hard
• 🧪AP Chemistry — Lower cut off and we’re taking students’ word for it on this one
• 💡AP Physics C: E&M — Lowest cut off, not many students take it (even if offered), and it’s hard to earn the essay points

And the top 6 easiest AP classes are likely:

• ⌨️AP Computer Science Principles — Highest cut off rate and students say it’s easy. This is the class that technically has the lowest bar to pass.
• 🚜AP Human Geography — High enrollment, students say it’s easy, and lack of complicated rubrics for the FRQs make this course fairly straightforward.
  • Lower pass rates likely due to high rate of freshman, but if you take this as a junior or senior it’ll include a lot of information you’ve learned before.
• 🧠AP Psychology — High enrollment, students say it’s easy, and lack of complicated rubrics for the FRQs make this course fairly straightforward.
• ♻️AP Environmental Science — Similar to Human Geo and Psych because of fairly straightforward FRQs, plus students say it’s easy
• 🤑AP Microeconomics — Higher cut off rate, high number of 5s, can be covered in a semester
• 🔍AP Research — Students earned 74% of all points offered, the highest of any course. It’s not offered or taken as much, but we think this class might be fairly manageable.

It’s all relative though.

You probably disagree with one or more of our conclusions and that’s ok! What’s “hard” or “easy” for one student might be totally flipped for another.

You should make your own lists based on your background knowledge and interests. If you genuinely want to learn about the subject, then it will surely be easier to put the work in. Here’s a concrete list of all the AP classes one can take.