Read below for detailed answers to the most common questions about the 2025 AP® United States Government and Politics exam.

Is AP® US Government easy? What can make it hard?

The AP® US Government and Politics exam is more difficult than a regular high school-level government and politics course. AP® courses are generally meant to mimic introductory college-level courses. The AP® exams are crafted to test content understanding higher than most high school courses. 

On the 2024 AP® US Government and Politics exam, 73% of students who took the exam scored a 3 or better. The mean score for 2022 was 3.38. In general, scores on the AP® US Government and Politics exam are a bit lower on average than other AP® exams.

The statistics above are based on an average of approximately 300,000 yearly exam takers.  In 2024, there were 350,257 test-takers. The AP® US Government and Politics exam is among the more popular exams in the AP® course catalog.

Most Common Units on the AP® US Government and Politics Exam

If you want to achieve the highest score possible on the AP® US Government and Politics exam, you must understand which of the course’s units carry more weight than others. This knowledge will help you focus on those units as you study.

The AP® US Government and Politics exam has two units that carry between 45% and 63% of the total exam. Unit 2: Interactions Among Branches of Government is 25-36%, and Unit 5: Political Participation is 20-27%. Focusing half of your study time on these two sections will prepare you for about half of the exam questions. 

The rest of the units for the AP® US Government and Politics exam are weighted as follows:

• Unit 1: Foundations of American Democracy (15-22%)
• Unit 3: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (13-18%)
• Unit 4: American Political Ideologies and Beliefs (10-15%)

While the percentage weighting for Units 1, 3, and 4 are lower than that for units 2 and 5, they still make up a significant portion of the exam, so you should be sure to cover all AP® US Government and Politics course content topics in preparation for the exam. 

Achieving a score of 3 or better on the AP® US Government and Politics exam is no easy feat. You may find it helpful to know precisely how many questions you must correctly answer in each section to pass this exam. Albert’s AP® US Government and Politics score calculator (previewed below) shows that you would need to answer at least 28 of the 55 multiple-choice questions correctly and at least half of the total possible points on the free-response questions to get a score of 3 or higher.

Is AP® US Government and Politics worth it?

There are many reasons why students feel that taking AP® US Government and Politics is worth it for them. First, taking AP® courses shifts students’ mindset toward the critical thinking and analysis required in college courses. Doing well in the course can help students to build their confidence academically. 

When applying to colleges, the AP® courses on your high school transcript will show admissions counselors that you are prepared for college’s rigors. According to College Board research, “students who receive a score of 3 or higher on AP® Exams typically experience greater academic success in college and have higher graduation rates than their non-AP® peers.”

Of course, parents will be very interested in the potential cost-savings of taking AP® courses. At many colleges, students who pass an AP® exam can substitute that exam for the class in college. This translates into savings on college tuition and can sometimes mean that the student can graduate early, if they entered college with a significant number of college credits at high school graduation. 

This chart shows just a few of the hundreds of colleges that typically accept the AP® US Government exam for college credit, along with the number of credit hours they award for a passing grade and the potential tuition savings from using the AP® course for credit.

School	Minimum Score Required	Number of Credits
University of Southern California	4	4
Northeastern University	4	4
Boston University	4	4
Penn State University	4	3
University of San Francisco	3	4
Baylor University	3	3
George Washington University	4	3
Syracuse University	4	3

Given that the average cost per credit hour ranges anywhere from $406 (for in-state residents at a public 4-year college) and up to $1,469 (for a private 4-year university) or greater, this can result in a savings of at least $1,218 to $5,876. As you can see, the academic benefits combined with the financial benefits make taking the AP® US Government exam worth your time and effort.

When is the 2025 AP® US Government and Politics exam?

The 2025 AP® US Government and Politics exam will be given in person using paper-and-pencil tests. The 2025 AP® US Government and Politics exam will take place on:

Tue, May 6, 2025 at 12pm local time

Curious about when other AP® exams are happening in 2025? View or download the complete AP® exam schedule here.

Return to the Table of Contents

When do AP® US Government and Politics scores typically come out?

According to the latest update from the College Board exam season timeline, students will receive their AP® scores in July 2025. Historically, the College Board typically releases AP® scores early in the month of July.

You’ll be able to access your AP® scores online with your College Board account username and password.

Return to the Table of Contents

How is AP® US Government and Politics scored? What’s the weighting of different questions? 

Below is a breakdown of the scoring for the AP® US Government and Politics exam:

Section	Questions	Time	% of Exam Score
1: Multiple Choice	55 questions	1 hour and 20 minutes	50%
2: Free Response	4 questions	1 hour and 40 minutes	50%

Multiple Choice Section

The first section of the AP® US Government and Politics exam consists of 55 multiple-choice questions. You will have one hour and 20 minutes to complete this section. This section consists of approximately 30 individual questions and 25 set-based questions. The set-based questions will cover analysis of quantitative material, text-based primary and secondary sources, and qualitative visual information. 

Free Response Section

Section 2 of the AP® US Government and Politics exam is the free response portion. This section consists of four questions you must answer within the one hour and 40 minute time limit. The first question will be a concept application in which you must describe and explain the effects of a particular political scenario, institution, behavior, or process. 

The second question will require a quantitative analysis of supplied data. From this data, you must identify any trends or patterns you see and relate these to a political scenario, institution, behavior or process. 

The third question will require a comparison of a non-required and required Supreme Court case with an explanation of which elements from the required case are relevant to the non-required case.

NOTE: Although the Supreme Court recently overturned Roe v. Wade, this case is still required course content and is part of Unit 3, along with Griswold v. Connecticut and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Any of these cases can be assessed in AP® questions, but none of them will be the focus of Free Response Question 3.

The fourth free-response question is an argument essay. In this response, you will need to develop an essay-length argument using supplied documents and relevant course concepts.

Reminder: When creating a thesis statement to answer the free-response questions, make sure that you establish a strong position. Simply restating the prompt does not go far enough in creating a strong thesis statement. 

The AP® US Government and Politics exam is weighted as follows:

Units	Exam Weighting
Unit 1: Foundations of American Democracy	15-22%
Unit 2: Interactions Among Branches of Government	25-36%
Unit 3: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights	13-18%
Unit 4: American Political Ideologies and Beliefs	10-15%
Unit 5: Political Participation	20-27%

Return to the Table of Contents

What happens if you fail AP® US Government and Politics?

The important thing to remember if you fail the AP® US Government and Politics exam is not to panic. You can retake the exam as many times as you choose in order to pass or even to achieve a higher score. Note that you will have to pay the exam fee each time you retake the exam.

If you are worried about the impact of failing the AP® US Government and Politics exam on your high school GPA, don’t worry. Most schools do not use your AP® US Government and Politics exam score as part of your course grade. Instead, they base that grade on your coursework, class tests and assignments. So failing this AP® US Government and Politics exam should not have any impact on your GPA.

If you are using the AP® US Government and Politics exam for college credit, failing the exam would disqualify you from getting credit for the course. If you receive a score of 3 or higher on the exam, you’ll want to check with your college of choice to see if your score qualifies for college credit. Typically, scores lower than 3 do not qualify for credit.

You can minimize the impact of failing the AP® US Government and Politics exam on your college admissions chances if you retake the exam and pass it. Students are in control of which colleges receive their AP® scores, so you have the option of not sending your low score to particular colleges. Even if you do send them a low score, most schools will allow you to replace that score with a higher score if you retake the exam. 

When do students typically take AP® US Government and Politics? When is best?

The AP® US Government and Politics exam is one that students typically take in their last two years of high school. 

When you should take the AP® US Government and Politics exam will depend on the requirements of your high school. Some schools will require students take certain prerequisite courses, typically an introductory U.S. History course, so taking AP® US Government and Politics in your freshman year could be a challenge. 

Many students wait until their junior or senior year to take AP® US Government and Politics. By the second half of your high school career, you are better able to manage the demands of high school courses and may have even taken one or two other AP® courses and are more aware of what to expect. 

If you take other AP® courses prior to taking the AP® US Government and Politics exam, you will have more experience with the types of questions required in AP® courses and the level of detail required in the free-response section of this exam. All of this experience will help you be more successful in this course detailing the United States government and political process. 

The decision of when to take the AP® US Government and Politics exam will be different for each student. Your parents, guidance counselor, and teachers can assist you with this decision and help you decide when is the right time to take AP® US Government and Politics.

Return to the Table of Contents

Where can I find past AP® US Government and Politics exams?

You can find past AP® US Government and Politics exam questions on the College Board’s AP® Central website.

The College Board has also provided online access to the practice questions for students to review. These questions allow you to understand the academic rigor and see what kinds of answers have resulted in full credit. 

Below are links to the AP® US Government and Politics exam practice tests for the last five years:

• 2024 AP® US Government and Politics Free-Response Questions (Set 1)
• 2024 AP® US Government and Politics Free-Response Questions (Set 2)
• 2023 AP® US Government and Politics Free-Response Questions
• 2022 AP® US Government and Politics Free-Response Questions (Set 1)
• 2022 AP® US Government and Politics Free-Response Questions (Set 2)
• 2021 AP® US Government and Politics Free-Response Questions (Set 1)
• 2021 AP® US Government and Politics Free-Response Questions (Set 2)

The course content was updated in 2023.

If you are interested in examples of multiple choice questions for the AP® US Government and Politics exam, you can access those here. The number of multiple-choice questions in the guide is limited, so it won’t encompass all of the content and learning objectives that the actual exam will cover. However, it does provide a glimpse into what to expect from the multiple-choice portion of the exam.

If you want to get more practice on the multiple choice portion of the AP® US Government and Politics exam, visit Albert to find hundreds more multiple choice practice questions that are aligned with the learning objectives and units covered by the AP® US Government and Politics.

Scoring Reports and Guidelines

The AP® Central website contains a wealth of other useful information that you should consider reviewing in order to maximize your chances at a high score on the AP® US Government and Politics. These resources include:

• AP® US Government and Politics Scoring Guidelines: 2024 (Set 1) / 2024 (Set 2) / 2023 / 2022 (Set 1) / 2022 (Set 2) / 2021 (Set 1) / 2021 (Set 2) / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016
• AP® US Government and Politics Chief Reader Reports: 2024 (Set 1) / 2024 Set 2 / 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016
• AP® US Government and Politics Scoring Reports: 2024 (Set 1) / 2024 (Set 2) / 2023 / 2022 (Set 1) / 2022 (Set 2) / 2021 (Set 1) / 2021 (Set 2) / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016

Scoring Guidelines

Viewing the scoring guidelines can be useful because they will show you how the points are assigned for each short answer question.

While the multiple choice questions are straightforward at one point each, the short answer questions are more subjective to grade. The scoring guidelines above can provide examples of the types of answers awarded full or partial credit on past exams. 

Understanding the Chief Reader Report

The Chief Reader Reports are very useful for getting even more insight into the grading process for the short answer and essay questions. This report explains the expectations for each question and provides guidance on the information and elements that are necessary for a successful response.  Using this report you can find out what kinds of information you must include and get a glimpse of where other students fell short in answering the question. 

For example, the 2019 Chief Reader Report for AP® US Government and Politics revealed that many students struggled with establishing a unique line of reasoning. Instead, they often just restated the question prompt.  The reader felt that this signaled a tentativeness in their argument.  

The Scoring Report

The Scoring Report for AP® US Government and Politics is useful because it shows you which questions were most missed by students in past exams and which ones were most often answered successfully. For example, in 2019, question #3 had a mean score of 1.74 out of 4 possible points, which was the lowest mean score of all of the questions. 

The correct answer to this question required students to read a Supreme Court case summary and compare it to the required course case. Students also had to identify the common clause in the Constitution that applied to the cases. Combining this information with the Chief Reader Report, one can understand more deeply where this lower average comes from. For example, students often identified the wrong clause. Those who did identify the correct clause missed points by discussing the ruling rather than the facts of the case.

Sample Responses

Once you’ve reviewed all of the resources above, you should also review the sample responses for the AP® US Government and Politics. Three sample responses are provided for each question. At the end of the three responses, there is a breakdown of how many points each would have received as well as detailed explanations of why they earned or failed to earn points. 

Multiple Choice Practice

The AP® Central website provides a wealth of information about essay questions for the AP® US Government and Politics exam. With this emphasis on these questions, it can be easy to forget that 50% of the exam score comes from your performance on multiple-choice questions. Albert provides thousands of multiple-choice practice questions aligned with the AP® US Government and Politics. Each question includes a detailed explanation of each question and the correct answer. 

Click here to learn more about Albert

Return to the Table of Contents

Who should take AP® US Government and Politics? What sort of students may like it more than others?

There are a variety of factors to consider when deciding if you should take AP® US Government and Politics. If you enjoy current events and the workings of the American political system, the course will interest you. The course overview can give you more insight into what the course will cover. 

Of course, no student is required to take AP® US Government and Politics in order to graduate. If the content outlined in the course overview does not align with your interests and strengths, you might want to choose a different AP® course.  

Taking the AP® US Government exam can be a good idea if you plan on attending college. This is especially true if you plan to major in political science, history, or any other writing and reading-intensive major. AP® courses like AP® US Government and Politics can help you acclimate to college-level courses’ rigors. They can also signal to admissions counselors that you are serious about and prepared for college academics. 

Achieving a perfect score on any AP® exam is a difficult task. You should choose AP® courses that align with your skills and interests rather than choosing those with the best chance for a perfect score. While the final choice is up to you, the decision of which AP® courses to take should be made in consultation with your teachers, your guidance counselor, and your parents. 

How do students typically score on AP® US Government and Politics? What’s the score distribution?

How students typically score on the AP® US Government and Politics exam depends on how well they studied for the exam, their aptitude for the subject, and their writing ability. The chart below outlines the score distributions for the AP® US Government and Politics exam for the last 5 years. 

Year	% of 5s	% of 4s	% of 3s	% of 2s	% of 1s	Pass Rate %
2024	24.3%	25.0%	23.7%	18.1%	8.9%	73.0%
2023	12.8%	11.3%	25.1%	24.0%	26.8%	49.2%
2022	12.0%	10.9%	25.8%	25.7%	25.7%	48.6%
2021	12.0%	11.6%	26.9%	25.8%	23.8%	50.4%
2020	15.3%	16.2%	25.1%	21.8%	21.6%	56.6%

This exam has historically yielded a passing rate of around 50% or better. The number of AP® US Government and Politics exam test-takers has remained relatively stable over those years.

The 2024 AP® US Government and Politics exam mean score was 3.38. This mean was based on 350,257 students who took this exam in 2024. 

Return to the Table of Contents

Need help preparing for your AP® US Government exam?

Albert has hundreds of AP® US Government practice multiple-choice questions, free-response questions, and full-length practice tests to try out.