What Are the Hardest AP Classes and Tests?

In May 2024, high schoolers sat down to take 5.7 million Advanced Placement (AP) exams. And not everyone passed. In fact, for the hardest AP tests, around half — or less than half — of the students passed.

What are the hardest AP classes? If you’re looking at test pass rates, Physics 1 is the toughest AP exam. Less than 11% of test-takers received a perfect score. Of course, the hardest AP exam depends on your strengths.

If you’re deciding what AP classes to take — or preparing for an AP exam — it’s worth learning more about the hardest AP classes and exams.

AP exam pass rates and the frequency of perfect scores can help you gauge the hardest AP classes. The pass rate demonstrates the percentage of students who received a passing score of 3 or higher, while the perfect score rate reflects the percentage of students who received a 5 (i.e., the highest possible score).

You should also consider the teacher and your academic strengths — two important factors that influence the difficulty of AP classes.

Note that AP Capstone exam scores were not considered for this table.

This class combines physics, scientific inquiry, and algebra. AP Physics 1 is considered one of the hardest AP classes. Covered topics include Newtonian mechanics and electrical charge and force. You also spend about 25% of your class time performing college-level laboratory experiments and writing reports.

This AP test consists of four free-response questions and 40 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) asking you to explain physical phenomena, solve mathematical equations, interpret conceptual models, and design experiments.

AP Environmental Science is a broad course, covering topics from biology, geology, chemistry, and more. The class also explores Earth and its resources. You’ll perform lab experiments and fieldwork, analyze environmental problems, and apply quantitative methods to find possible solutions.

The AP test comprises 80 MCQs and three free-response questions, which test your ability to analyze research, interpret data, and solve problems using mathematical equations. You also analyze an environmental issue and propose a solution.

In this class, you’ll read nonfiction texts to dissect and analyze the writer’s intent and create evidence-based arguments using the text and other supporting sources. You’ll have to understand what point writers are conveying in their texts and build a strong case typically for or against that perspective.

The AP test has 45 multiple-choice questions — divided into 23-25 reading questions and 20-22 writing questions — alongside three free-response questions that test your ability to synthesize and rhetorically analyze a reading passage and create an argument based on it.

The course explores human migration and land use and how these factors alter the Earth’s landscape and resources. You learn to analyze geospatial data, interpret maps, and recognize patterns.

The AP test consists of 60 MCQs and three free-response questions. The exam covers migration, as well as cultural, political, and agricultural land use patterns and relationships. You analyze maps, graphs, and satellite images to explain spatial relationships.

AP Latin explores the root language of the Romance languages and its texts. You’ll learn about ancient Rome’s history and culture and how to read, translate, and analyze Vergil and Caesar’s writings. You’ll be participating in discussions, debates, and presentations.

The exam is made of 52 multiple-choice and five free-response questions. For the MCQs, you’ll have two syllabus reading sections and two sight reading sections on poetry and prose. In your free responses, you’ll be tested on your translation skills and analytical reasoning.

AP Music Theory covers the foundations of music. You will be taught how to understand musical concepts through listening, reading, singing, and writing music. Not only will you get to know a whole new language, but you’ll learn to dissect how music works and the science behind scales, harmonies, chords, and more.

The exam is atypical from the rest of the courses on this list. There are 75 MCQs worth 45% of your score, seven free-response questions on harmonization, dictation, and music writing, and two sight-singing questions worth 10%. For sight-singing, you’ll record two diatonic melodies of about 4-8 bars after being given 75 seconds to look at it and practice.

This course covers mental processes, cognition, social psychology, and experimental methods. As a college-level introductory psychology course, many students find AP Psych challenging because many of the concepts are new.

The AP Psychology exam contains 75 MCQs and two free-response questions. MCQs count for two-thirds of the score, while the free-response section represents one-third. You’ll need to apply psychological theories, analyze research studies, and define concepts on the exam.

This course introduces you to statistics and what makes the best practices for data collection, analysis, conclusions, and predictions. You might be tasked with creating a survey, collecting data from a sample, running your own research analysis, and using your findings to justify claims.

The exam has 40 multiple-choice questions and six free-response questions testing your understanding in collecting and analyzing data, use of statistical reasoning to draw conclusions, and assessment of patterns.

You’ll learn about artwork from prehistoric times through today. You will study art’s history and the different artistic styles and traditions of the times. And you will dive into what you think the art is supposed to mean by building informed arguments.

Your final exam is 80 MCQs based on images you’ll analyze and contextualize within their histories. You’ll also compare artwork and analyze historical interpretations. For your free-response questions, you’ll complete two long essays and four short essays comparing artwork, connecting artistic traditions, and analyzing details to build a statement about art pieces.

In this course, you’ll learn about history from 1200-present, going through different eras including globalization, empires, colonization, revolutions, industrialization, and conflict.

The exam has 55 MCQs, three short answer, and two free-response questions where you’ll analyze primary sources from an era — sometimes a text, a photo, or even a cartoon — and provide historical context for it and create arguments based on it.

While a helpful indicator, a test’s pass rate does not fully reflect the difficulty of an AP class. For example, the pass rate for AP Japanese Language was 76.1% in May 2024.

In contrast, AP Environmental Science only had a pass rate of 54.1%. However, only 3,125 students took the AP Japanese Language exam, while 236,579 students took the AP Environmental Science test.

A low pass rate may result from more underprepared students, while a higher pass rate may speak to a highly specialized, dedicated, smaller group of students.

Three better predictors of difficulty may be your academic strengths, the amount of course material covered, and the teacher. For instance, if you excel in calculus, chances are good you’ll be able to commit to the workload in AP Calculus.

Additionally, if the teacher for AP Biology has earned a tough reputation, they may also possess a great track record in helping students prepare for and pass the biology exam.