AP Exam Information
This page offers information about the AP exam and preparation for the exam.
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Click here to access the Collegeboard AP chemistry course description booklet.
The AP Chemistry exam is scheduled for 8:00 am on the first Monday in May.
The 2014 exam cost is $ 87.00.
Multiple Choice Scoring Changes (for the 2011 exam)
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Beginning with the May 2011 AP Exam administration, there will be a change to the way AP Exams are scored. Total scores on the multiple-choice section will be based on the number of questions answered correctly. Points will no longer be deducted for incorrect answers and, as always, no points will be awarded for unanswered questions.
Collegeboard. (2010). Multiple Choice Scores. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/212187.html |
The Exam Content
The AP Chemistry Exam covers a full-year introductory college course in chemistry with laboratory. The multiple-choice questions in Section I cover the breadth of the curriculum. Section II, the free-response part of the exam, includes three quantitative problems, one question on writing chemical reactions and predicting products, and two essays. One of the questions in Section II is based on laboratory; this question can either be a quantitative problem in Part A or an essay in Part B. There is no choice among the questions; all students must answer all six questions.
Multiple-Choice Questions
There are 75 Multiple Choice questions. Beginning this year there is no penalty for answering MC questions.
(no calculator and only a periodic table may be used)
Free-Response Questions
Section II consists of six free response questions:
(3) multipart quantitative questions, (Equation tables and a calculator may be used)
(1) question on writing balanced chemical equations and answering a short question for three different sets
of reactants,
(2) multipart questions that are essentially nonquantitative. (Equation tables, but no calculators in this section)
Calculators are allowed on the free-response section for the first 55 minutes. During that time, students will work on three required problems. For the last 40 minutes, calculators must be put away as students work on the remaining free-response questions.
The free-response section emphasizes solving in-depth problems and writing essays where knowledge of which principles to apply and how to apply them is the most important aspect of the solution to these problems.
Calculator Policy
Calculators
"The policy regarding the use of calculators on the AP Chemistry Exam was developed to address the rapid expansion of the capabilities of scientific calculators, which include not only programming and graphing functions but also the availability of stored equations and other data. For the section of the exam in which calculators are permitted, students should be allowed to use the calculators to which they are accustomed, except as noted below.* On the other hand, they should not have access to information in their calculators that is not available to other students, if that information is needed to answer the questions. Therefore, calculators are not permitted on the multiple-choice section of the AP chemistry Exam. The purpose of the multiple-choice section is to assess the breadth of students’ knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts of chemistry. The multiple-choice questions emphasize conceptual understanding as well as qualitative and simple quantitative applications of principles. Many chemical and physical principles and relationships are quantitative by nature and can be expressed as equations. Knowledge of the underlying basic definitions and principles, expressed as equations, is a part of the content of chemistry that should be learned by chemistry students and will continue to be assessed in the multiple-choice section. However, any numeric calculations that require use of these equations in the multiple-choice section will be limited to simple arithmetic so that they can be done quickly, either mentally or with paper and pencil. Also, in some questions the answer choices differ by several orders of magnitude so that the questions can be answered by estimation. Refer to sample questions on pages 16–18 (#6, 8, 11, 12, 16, and 17), which can be answered using simple arithmetic or by estimation. Students should be encouraged to develop their skills not only in estimating answers but also in recognizing answers that are physically unreasonable or unlikely. Calculators (with the exceptions previously noted) will be allowed only during the first 55 minutes (Part A) of the free-response section of the exam. During this time, students will work on three problems. Any programmable or graphing calculator may be used, and students will NOT be required to erase their calculator memories before or after the exam. Students will not be allowed to move on to the last portion of the free-response section until time is called and all calculators are put away. For the last 40 minutes (Part B) of the exam, students will work without calculators on the remaining portion of the free-response section" (Collegeboard, 2010, p. 16-17.).
Collegeboard. (2010). Course Description, Chemistry. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_chemistry_coursedesc.pdf
