Entering an AP Chemistry practice exam
Section I is 60 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes, each worth about 0.83 percentage points. Section II is 7 free-response questions in 1 hour 45 minutes: questions 1 to 3 are long, scored out of 10 points, and questions 4 to 7 are short, scored out of 4. Score each part of an answer with that year’s scoring guidelines, which list what earns each point, and enter the total for each question.
A free-response point is worth more than a multiple-choice answer here (about 1.09 against 0.83), because the 46 free-response points carry the same half of the exam as 60 questions. That’s why the next-step line under the score usually finds a shorter way up through free response.
Why this estimate is one of the roughest
The only Chemistry chart we found on College Board’s sites is the replacement worksheet for the 2008 released exam, six years before the redesign that changed what the course tests. That exam had 75 multiple-choice questions and six free-response questions with point totals from 8 to 15, each given its own multiplier. Only the 50/50 balance between the sections lines up with today’s exam, and the 2008 line for a 5 (100 of 150, two thirds of the points) may be far from where College Board draws it now.
So use the Chemistry estimate for direction, not precision: it tells you whether more practice should go into the long questions or the multiple choice, and roughly which score band you’re in. Within a few points of a boundary, treat both scores as possible.
AP Chemistry exam format, May 2027
| Part | Scored out of | Share of score |
|---|---|---|
| Section I: Multiple choice · 1 h 30 min · 50% | ||
| Multiple-choice questions correct | 60 | 50% |
| Section II: Free response · 1 h 45 min · 50% | ||
| Question 1 (long) · 0–10 points | 10 | 10.9% |
| Question 2 (long) · 0–10 points | 10 | 10.9% |
| Question 3 (long) · 0–10 points | 10 | 10.9% |
| Question 4 (short) · 0–4 points | 4 | 4.3% |
| Question 5 (short) · 0–4 points | 4 | 4.3% |
| Question 6 (short) · 0–4 points | 4 | 4.3% |
| Question 7 (short) · 0–4 points | 4 | 4.3% |
Estimated cutoffs
From the AP Chemistry 2008 Released Exam, replacement scoring worksheet, College Board's newest published conversion chart for this subject (2008 exam: 75 multiple-choice questions (50%) and 6 free-response questions (50%), before the 2014 redesign). The calculator puts your weighted score on that chart's 0–150 scale.
| AP score | 2008 composite | Weighted score from |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 100–150 | 66.3% |
| 4 | 81–99 | 53.7% |
| 3 | 62–80 | 41% |
| 2 | 49–61 | 32.3% |
| 1 | 0–48 | 0% |
AP Chemistry score distributions
| Year | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | 15% | 31% | 30% | 18% | 6% |
| May 2025 | 17.9% | 28.6% | 31.4% | 15.9% | 6.2% |
Share of students earning each score, from College Board's AP Chemistry score distributions. 168,833 students took the exam in May 2025. The May 2026 figures are College Board's rounded whole percentages.