Concept Number : Limits
Ap Calculus Ab Exam 2022
Unlike 2020 and 2021, when the College Board modified the AP exams as a response to the disruption caused by COVID-19, the 2022 AP exams will return to its original format.
This year, the AP exams will take place over a two-week period in May: May 26 and May 913.
The College Board may change the format, however, if schools are disrupted in the spring due to COVID-19.
Well continue to monitor global, national, and local health conditions, putting the health and safety of students first, and if there are widespread school closures in spring 2022, well provide options similar to those offered in 2021, the College Board noted here.
We will, of course, update this guide if that should happen.
The AP Calculus AB exam for 2022 will be a full-length paper-and-pencil exam that students can take in school only.
Here is what you need to know to do well in the upcoming AP Calculus AB exam.
Ap Calculus Ab Lecture Notes
Pros: Broad scope and easy to understand review notes.Cons: No quiz or practice test material included.Best For: Supplementing other review materials.Our Rating: 4 / 5
This entry is somewhat different from the rest of the entries in this list. Rather than a structured review guide with practice tests, its a set of lecture notes with examples and explanations.The book is well done and well reviewed, but we recommend it as a supplement to other prep materials rather than using it as your only resource. Features included in the book:
- Full slides and review of all Calculus AB curriculum topics and exam.
- List of formulas and theorems required for the test.
- Concise and accurate explanations of all example problems.
AP Calculus AB Lecture Notes by Rita Korsunsky is a useful and thorough resource for students preparing for the AP exam. Overall, its best used as a supplement to another morecomprehensive resource, but it definitely has a strong place in the list of Best AP Calculus AB books.
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Ap Exam Score Distributions
Curious About the College Board’s Finances? View a summary of the last 13 years of finances. Data was obtained from the College Board’s 990s . It turns out, they are a very profitable“Not For Profit”.
Total Registration has compiled the following scores from Tweets that the College Board’s head of AP*, Trevor Packer, has been making during June. These are preliminary breakdowns that may change slightly as late exams are scored.
as we Tweet every time this page is updated. Please let others know about these AP Exam Score Distributions
In 2022, 395,000 students registered themselves online for over 770,000 AP Exams at1020 schools using Total Registration’s service. Request a no obligation estimate to see how cost effective this service is. Schools report saving over 120 hours by simplifying their registration using Total Registration.
AP Score Distributions |
This table is sortable by clicking on the header – Clicking on an Exam Name will show a comparison of the score distributions for all years compiled
Is Ap Calculus Ab Hard A Complete 2022 Guide

How difficult is the AP Calculus AB exam? Discover what to expect in an AP Calculus AB course and learn how the math test is scored.
- AP Calculus AB is a college-level course you can enroll in while in high school.
- Students must complete prerequisite math classes, like precalculus.
- The average pass rate of AP Calculus AB exams is lower than that of all other AP exams.
- You can earn college math credit for passing the AP Calculus AB exam.
Each year, thousands of students enroll in AP courses and sit through hours-long AP exams. AP courses provide students an opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school. Unlike dual enrollment, AP courses are typically taught by teachers who already work at your high school.
Learn more about what the AP Calculus AB course and exam cover and whether AP Calc is considered one of the hardest AP classes.
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Early Solutions To The 2021 Ap Calculus Ab Free Response
Teaching AP Calculus is challenging but the 48 hours between the exam and the free response release are probably the hardest! We love seeing the new questions and working through them, always amazed at the original ways the College Board incorporates multiple concepts into a single question. You can see this years AB questions here. Although the official scoring guidelines dont release until the summer, heres a first attempt at solutions.
Big Idea : Analysis Of Function
- Close loopholes so a conclusion about a function is always true
- Understand how the change of two units of measurement relate to one another, and the rate at which they change.
- Interpret what numbers might tell you about other rates of change
- Apply the Mean Value Theorem to to justify a conclusion
- Include additional information in a sound mathematical argument that optimizes a simple equation
- Integrate to find areas related to differentiating to find slopes
- Calculate derivatives and antiderivatives
- Evaluate definite integrals
- Analyze graphs defined using parametric equations or polar functions using chain rules.
- Apply definite integrals to problems involving the average value of a function, motion, and area and volume.
- Analyze differential equations to obtain general and specific solutions
- Interpret, create, and solve differential equations from problems in context
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Unit : Contextual Applications Of Differentiation
Big takeaways:
Content to Focus On:
- Rates of Change
- Position, Velocity, Acceleration
- Velocity is the derivative of position, and acceleration is the derivative of velocity. Velocity has a direction. If the velocity and acceleration match signs, the particle is speeding up. If their signs are opposite, the particle is slowing down. Speed is the absolute value of velocity and does not have direction. On the AP test, you can be asked to map out the path of a particle, which direction it is going and if it is speeding up or slowing down.
- Related Rates have to do with nothing other than relating rates! There are a set of steps to follow when solving a related rate:
- 1. Assign letters to quantities and label their derivatives with respect to time. If you have A= area, then dA/dt would be the rate of change of the area.
- 2. Identify the rates that are known and the rate that needs to be found.
- 3. Find an equation that relates the variables whose rates of change you need in step 2. Draw a picture to help you find this equation!
- 4. Differentiate the equation with respect to time. Remember it is necessary to think about this as implicit differentiation.
- 5. Substitute in all known values and variables, and solve for the unknown rate of change.
- One special type of related rate is that of a cone. You should practice a related rate problem with a cone, because it is necessary to write r, the radius, in terms of h before differentiating.
Resources to use:
Read these
How Should I Prepare For The Exam
- First, download the AP Calculus Cram Chart PDF – a single sheet that covers everything you need to know at a high level. Take note of your strengths and weaknesses!
- Remember that for AB, you only need to study through Unit 7. Dont panic if you dont remember learning anything from the other units
- Review every unit and question type, and focus on the areas that need the most improvement and practice. Weve put together this plan to help you study between now and May. This will cover all of the units and essay types to prepare you for your exam
- Practice problems are your best friends! Both the FRQs and MCQs had several questions that were similar to previous FRQs and the open-sourced multiple-choice questions on College Board .
- Join Hours to talk to real students just like you studying for this exam!
- Finally, check out our cram replays so that you can review for the AP Calc exam with a rockstar teacher!
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Cracking The Ap Calculus Ab Exam
Pros: Numerous practice tests and extensive content reviews.Cons: Answer key explanations are sparse in some cases.Best For: Study guide and review throughout the year.Our Rating: 5 / 5
Once again Princeton Review places at the top of our list of Best AP Calculus AB review guides. Both Calculus AB and BC students will find a wealth of valuable content from this book.Key features include:
- 6 full length practice tests.
- Access to online study plans, key terms, and more.
- Up to date information on current year tests.
- Practice drills at the end of each chapter.
- Handy reference guide of key formulas.
Once again, with its low price tag and useful content, Cracking the AP Calculus AB Exam is ranked as our best overall value.With a significant amount of online resources and guides to help tailor your study plan to your unique needs, you cant go wrong with this book.
Results Of The Ap Calculus Bc Exam In 2021
Unsurprisingly, the results of the BC Calculus exam track with the overall trend among lower-enrollment courses. That is, when an AP course is perceived as hard, or requires more pre-requisites, AP results trend higher.
In 2021, fully 38% of students got a five on the AP exam! Even better, 75% of students passed with a three or higher.
As with the AB Calc test, the results for BC Calculus mark a decade-long low point. 2021 was the only year in the past decade when fewer than 80% of students passed the BC exam. As for the top score, the 2021 results were also singularly low. Between 2012 and 2020, an average of 45% of students received a 5.
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How Is The Ap Calculus Ab Exam Scored
AP exams are scored on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest. A score of 3 or higher is considered passing.
Both Section I and Section II of the AP Calculus AB exam are weighted 50% of the total score. Students are not penalized extra for wrong or blank answers.
Potential test-takers would need to be confident with both multiple-choice and free-response questions. The free-response questions do not require an essay but are complex problems.
Section 1 |
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Source: College Board
How Is The Ap Calculus Ab Exam Structured

The AP Calculus AB exam has two sections and each of these sections entails two parts:
- Section I : 30 Multiple-Choice Questions
- Section I : 15 Multiple-Choice Questions
- Section II : 2 Free-Response Questions
- Section II : 4 Free-Response Questions
Section I Part A has 30 multiple-choice questions and gives test-takers an hour to complete. Students may not use a calculator in Section I Part A.
Section I Part B has 15 multiple-choice questions. For this, students have 45 minutes to answer all questions. You’re also permitted to use a graphic calculator.
For Section II Part A, you’ll get 30 minutes to answer two free-response questions with a graphing calculator. Section II Part B comprises four free-response questions and lasts an hour. Test-takers are not allowed to use a calculator on Part B.
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Tip : Memorize Important Formulas
There are certain formulas for AP Calculus AB that you should have down pat. There’s no formula sheet given on the AP exam, so you’ll have to memorize the formulas you’ll need. Many teachers give out formula sheets for students to memorize.
There are also various formula cheat sheets you can use to review before the exam. To find these, simply Google “AP Calculus AB formula sheet” and look at your options.
In general, any formula you use regularly in class is a good one to memorize. Major formulas you should have memorized include those for limits, differentiation, and integration, as well as the fundamental theorems.
Unit : Differential Equations
Big takeaways:
- Unit 7 takes us to a great connection between integrals and derivatives in differential equations. We will learn how to model and solve differential equations using initial conditions. This always requires separation of variables when it comes to free response questions! We will also learn how to identify differential equations from their slope fields and how to draw those fields as well.
Content to Focus On:
Resources to use:
Read these Fiveable
AP Calculus Unit 7 Formulas & Theorems
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Scoring Pattern For The 2021 Ap Calculus Ab Exam
To secure a good AP Calc AB score, you need to understand the scoring pattern for the exam. This will help you know which section might be a high scorer for you and which section you need to focus more on! Lets analyze the 2021 AP Calculus AB scoring pattern and learn how scores were distributed across the multiple-choice and free-response sections.
For the 2021 pen-and-paper exam, students scored significantly higher on the Multiple-Choice section than the Free-Response questions.
In the multiple-choice section, the following trends were noted:
- Students demonstrated the strongest proficiency in Unit 4: Contextual Applications of Differentiation, with 11% of students earning a perfect score across the questions on this unit.
- On average, students scored the lowest on Unit 7: Differential Equations, in which 4% of students answered all questions correctly, and 9% answered none correctly.
The Free-Response Section showed the following patterns:
- The most challenging question for the 2021 exam was Question 3 on area-volume disc method. 3% of students earned 7 to 9 points out of a possible 9.
- The highest results were seen on Question 4 on graphical analysis. 14% of students earned 7 to 9 points out of a possible 9.
Ap Test Schedule: Administration 1
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What’s The Format Of The Ap Calculus Ab Exam
The AP Calculus AB exam is three hours and 15 minutes long and has two sections. Both of these sections are divided into two parts .
Here is an overview of the format of the AP Calculus AB multiple-choice section:
- 45 questions total
This can all look a little complicated, but basically, the AP Calculus AB exam consists of four parts. The first two are multiple choice, and the last two are free response.
You are required to use a calculator for the middle two parts , but you may not use a calculator for the first and last parts of the exam.
How The Ap Calculus Ab Exam Is Scored
When your three-plus hours of testing are up, your exam is sent away for grading. The multiple-choice part is handled by a machine, while qualified readerscurrent and former calculus teachers and professorsgrade your responses to Section II. After a bit of a wait, your composite score will arrive. Your results will be placed into one of the following categories, reported on a five-point scale :
5 = Extremely well qualified
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Every Ap Calculus Ab Practice Test Available: Free And Official
One of the best ways to prepare for the AP Calculus AB exam, as well as stay on top of lessons in class throughout the year, is to take regular practice tests. Taking practice tests lets you estimate how well you’ll do on the AP exam, shows you the areas you need to focus your studies on, and helps you become more comfortable with the format of the AP exam.
There are a ton of AB Calc practice tests available however, not all of them are created equally. Taking a poorly written practice test can give you a false idea of what the real AP exam will be like and cause you to study the wrong things.
You can avoid those problems by reading this guide to AP Calculus AB practice tests. I’ll go through every AP Calculus AB practice exam that’s available, tell you which are highest quality, and explain how you should use practice tests when preparing for the AP exam as well as throughout the year.