Are you looking to maximize your score on the 2024 AP® Environmental Science exam? Look no further!
In this article, we’ll cover how difficult the AP® Environmental Science exam is, the timing of the 2024 AP® Environmental Science exam, tips for getting a great final score on your test, and much more. Let’s get started!
What We Review
Is AP® Environmental Science easy? What can make it hard?
When you compare AP® Environmental Science to other high school environmental science courses, APES will be more difficult for most students. When you compare the passing rate for this exam to that of other AP® courses, AP® Environmental Science is considered one of the more difficult exams to pass.
In 2023, about half of the students who took the AP® Environmental Science exam passed with a score of 3 or higher. The passing rate for 2023 was 53.7%, and the mean score was a 2.79. The AP® Environmental Science exam has a lower passing rate and mean score than the average AP® exam.
When compared to other AP® science courses, AP® Environmental Science has a low pass rate.
AP® Environmental Science is one of the more popular AP® science courses. In 2024, 209,757 students took the exam, which is the second highest number in the AP® sciences behind AP® Biology.
In order to best allocate your time spent studying for the AP® Environmental Science exam, it is useful to know which course units carry the highest weight on the actual exam. This knowledge can guide you toward the smartest places to focus your time and attention when preparing for the exam.
There are nine total units in the AP® Environmental Science exam. Unit 9, Global Change, accounts for 15-20% of the entire exam. After that, Unit 3: Population, Unit 4: Earth Systems and Resources, Unit 5: Land and Water Use, and Unit 6: Energy Resources and Consumption, each account for 10-15% of the exam. Focusing on these units will prepare you for over half of the exam questions.
Because the AP® Environmental Science exam is one of the more difficult exams to pass, it might help ease your anxiety to know exactly how many questions you need to answer correctly on the exam in order to pass. Albert’s AP® Environmental Science score calculator shows that you will need to answer 40 of the 80 multiple-choice questions correctly and receive a free response score of at least 30 to receive a score of 3 or better on the overall exam.
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Is AP® Environmental Science worth it?
The AP® Environmental Science exam is typically considered worth the time and effort for a variety of reasons. Academically, AP® courses can aid you in knowing what to expect from courses in college. They give you experience with the expression of ideas, synthesis, and composing an argument based on facts and data. Students who take AP® courses in high school are often more confident heading into college classes.
If you plan on attending college, AP® courses can aid admissions. Having AP® exams on your high school transcript signals to the admissions department that you are both serious about and ready for the rigors of college academics. According to Public School Review, “Colleges today are certainly seeking students with AP® experience, as the AP® coursework allows college admissions officers to gain greater insight into an applicant’s collegiate potential.”
The most obvious benefit to taking AP® courses is the potential for tuition savings over the course of your college career. Students who enter college with AP® credits can sometimes graduate early or explore a minor or even a double major.
Below is a chart that shows the potential tuition savings for a few popular colleges in the United States that accept the AP® Environmental Science exam for credit.
| School | Minimum Score Required | Number of Credits | Estimated Tuition Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston University | 4 | 4 | $6,600 |
| University of San Francisco | 3 | 4 | $6,756 |
| University of Maryland | 4 | 3 | $4,161 |
| Northwestern University | 5 | 1 | $6,417 |
| Auburn University | 4 | 4 | $4,812 |
| New York University | 4 | 4 | $5,804 |
| University of Florida | 3 | 3 | $2,568 |
| George Washington University | 4 | 3 | $4,704 |
When you combine the academic benefits with the financial savings, it is clear that taking the AP® Environmental Science exam is worth it.
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When is the 2024 AP® Environmental Science exam?
The 2024 AP® Environmental Science exam will be given using paper-and-pencil tests. The AP® Environmental Science exams will take place on:
Thursday, May 9, 2024, at 8am local time
Curious about when other AP® exams are happening in 2024? View or download the complete AP® exam schedule here.
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When do AP® Environmental Science scores typically come out?
According to the latest update from the College Board exam season timeline, students will receive their AP® scores in July 2024. 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
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How is AP® Environmental Science scored? What’s the weighting of different questions?
You can see the scoring breakdown for the AP® Environmental Science exam in the chart below:
| Section | Questions | Time | % of Exam Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1: Multiple Choice | 80 questions | 1 hour and 30 minutes | 60% |
| 2: Free Response | 3 questions | 1 hour and 10 minutes | 40% |
- The requirements for the multiple choice questions now require students to analyze texts in 2 sets of questions. In addition, the new questions will emphasize the analysis of quantitative data as represented in models and other representations.
- The free response section went from 4 questions to 3 questions and the time limit has been shortened by 20 minutes. The three questions have a very specific format. The first question will require you to design an investigation. Question 2 will pose an environmental problem to which you will need to propose a solution. The third question is a repeat of the second question, but will require calculations.
Pro tip: You should spend some time getting familiar with maps and how to interpret them. This is a required skill to successfully answer some of the free response questions on the AP® Environmental Science exam.
The AP® Environmental Science exam uses content from the AP® Environmental Science course units. How those units are weighted is outlined in the chart below. As you can see, Unit 9 accounts for up to 20% of the overall exam, so it would be wise to be well-prepared in that area. If you want to know how these unit weights translate to the overall exam score, you can check out Albert’s AP® Environmental Science score calculator.
| Units | Exam Weighting |
|---|---|
| Unit 1: The Living World: Ecosystems | 6-8% |
| Unit 2: The Living World: Biodiversity | 6-8% |
| Unit 3: Populations | 10-15% |
| Unit 4: Earth Systems and Resources | 10-15% |
| Unit 5: Land and Water Use | 10-15% |
| Unit 6: Energy Resources and Consumption | 10-15% |
| Unit 7: Atmospheric Pollution | 7-10% |
| Unit 8: Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution | 7-10% |
| Unit 9: Global Change | 15-20% |
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What happens if you fail AP® Environmental Science?
If you know how to handle it, failing the AP® Environmental Science exam can have minimal impact on your high school and college academic career.
Since you can take the AP® Environmental Science exam as often as you like, you have the ability to replace a low score with a higher one when you retake the exam. The AP® Environmental Science exam is offered every May. Students are responsible for paying the exam fee each time they take the exam.
Your high school GPA should not register any chance due to failing the AP® Environmental Science exam. Teachers will base your course grade on your coursework and exam scores that take place prior to the AP® Environmental Science exam. So the AP® Environmental Science exam score will not be factored into your high school GPA.
There are a few ways you can minimize the damage of failing the AP® Environmental Science exam on your college admissions process. Of course, if you fail the AP® Environmental Science exam, you will not be able to use the exam score to receive college credit.
But you can control where your AP® exam scores are sent. If you fail the AP® Environmental Science exam, you can choose not to send that score to colleges. In addition, if you end up scoring higher on a re-take, you have the option of asking colleges to substitute the higher score for a lower one.
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When do students typically take AP® Environmental Science? When is best?
Based on our research, there does not seem to be a consistent time to take AP® Environmental Science in your high school career. Some students take it very early while others wait until their senior year.
This inconsistency is likely due to the unique nature of AP® Environmental Science compared to the other exams in the AP® Sciences category. AP® Environmental Science is considered more interdisciplinary than the other courses in the AP® Sciences group. It will draw on current events, historical patterns, and a variety of topics such as pollution, water use, and biodiversity.
The College Board recommends, but does not require, that students wait to take AP® Environmental Science until they have had two years of AP® laboratory science and one year of algebra. Heeding these recommendations would likely mean taking AP® Environmental Science in the second half of your high school career.
While many students consider AP® Environmental Science to be a less rigorous AP® Science course than AP® Biology or AP® Chemistry, it will still require significant time and effort to do well in the course and on the exam.
Only you can decide when the time is right to take AP® Environmental Science. We recommend seeking the advice of your teachers, guidance counselors, and your parents before making the decision about when to take AP® Environmental Science.
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Where can I find past AP® Environmental Science exams?
Past AP® Environmental Science exams are available on the College Board’s AP® Central website.
This website also includes links to past AP® Environmental Science exams. Reviewing these exams will give you a glimpse into the kinds of questions that have been asked in the past as well as the kinds of answers that received full points on those exams. These past exams will also give students a preview of the type of academic rigor present in these exam questions.
You can view the AP® Environmental Science free-response questions for previous years below:
- 2023 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
- 2022 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
- 2021 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
- 2019 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
- 2018 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
- 2017 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
- 2016 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
- 2015 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
You will also want to prepare for the multiple-choice portion of the AP® Environmental Science exam. The College Board’s Course and Exam Description includes a small sampling of multiple-choice questions. Since there are only a few questions, they won’t provide practice for every area that will be covered in the exam, but they will provide an introduction to what to expect on the exam.
If you would like additional practice for the multiple-choice portion of the exam, you can find hundreds of additional practice questions at Albert. These questions are all designed to align with the learning objectives of the AP® Environmental Science course.
The AP® Central website provides quite a few useful tools that can help you prepare for the AP® Environmental Science exam. You should fully explore these resources to know what to expect on the exam and how to maximize your score.
- AP® Environmental Science Scoring Guidelines: 2023 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016
- AP® Environmental Science Chief Reader Reports: 2023 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016
- AP® Environmental Science Scoring Reports: 2023 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016
You should review the scoring guidelines to learn how points have been awarded on past free response questions. These questions can be graded more subjectively than the multiple choice questions, so knowing how the points are awarded can steer you in the right direction as you prepare for the AP® Environmental Science exam.
Another very useful report is the Chief Reader Report. This report is written by the Chief Reader for the AP® Environmental Science exam and delves into each past free-response question in detail, discussing where students stumbled in answering the question as well as how they could have better prepared. Knowing this information can be invaluable as you prepare to take the exam.
According to the 2019 Chief Reader Report, many students had trouble differentiating between the response for an “identify” question and a “describe” question. Each requires a different depth of response and students had difficulty matching their responses to the prompt. Future students should be aware of the difference and tailor their responses accordingly.
The scoring report can be useful to find out which past questions were answered most successfully and unsuccessfully by past exam takers. For example, on the 2019 exam, question #3 received the highest mean score, at 4.61 out of a possible 10 points. According to the Chief Reader report, those students who scored highest on the question were able to read and evaluate a graph of data correctly.
You can also find useful information on the sample response sets for the AP® Environmental Science exam. These reports break down all of the past free response questions in terms of the scoring guidelines for each exam and a review of three sample student responses. The responses are evaluated based on the scoring guidelines. The report provides an explanation as to how many points each would receive and which elements of the response resulted in gained or lost points.
While the free response questions will require substantial preparation, you should not forget that 60% of your exam grade will come from the multiple choice questions, so practicing those is also a good use of your time. You can find hundreds of sample multiple-choice questions at Albert. These questions have been written so that they fit the content and objectives of the AP® Environmental Science course.
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Who should take AP® Environmental Science? What sort of students may like it more than others?
At first glance, AP® Environmental Science might seem easier than a course like AP® Physics C: Mechanics, for example. However, this course can be challenging and isn’t right for everybody. AP® Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary science course that also encompasses history, geography, biology, chemistry, and many other disciplines. The course overview can provide more insight into this course.
If you are interested in a well-rounded approach to scientific inquiry that solves real-world problems, AP® Environmental Science would be a good choice for you. If, however, you are looking for a more traditional science course that focuses on a single scientific discipline, you will want to choose a different AP® science exam.
You’ll want to note the passing rate for the AP® Environmental Science exam if you are looking to use the course for college credit. At around 50%, this exam has the second lowest passing rate among the AP® science courses. If your goal is to score a 5 on this exam, you’ll want to keep in mind that in 2019, only 9.4% of the students who took the exam scored a 5 on it.
While the chances of scoring a 5 might be lower than in other AP® courses, it is not impossible. You should still consider taking AP® Environmental Science if it seems like a good fit for your skills and academic abilities. If your score is lower than you want, you can always retake the exam.
Ultimately, the question of whether or not you should take the AP® Environmental Science exam is one that only you can answer. We suggest seeking advice from your teachers, guidance counselor, and your parents before you make this decision.
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How do students typically score on AP® Environmental Science? What’s the score distribution?
The AP® Environmental Science exam has a lower-than-average passing rate, with about half of the students who take the exam typically receiving a passing grade. Below is some past scoring data that can be useful when determining how past groups of students have performed on this particular test. Your individual performance, however, will depend on how well you prepare for this exam.
| Year | % of 5s | % of 4s | % of 3s | % of 2s | % of 1s | Pass Rate % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 8.3% | 28.4% | 17.0% | 26.4% | 19.9% | 53.7% |
| 2022 | 8.9% | 27.4% | 17.5% | 25.9% | 20.3% | 53.8% |
| 2021 | 7.0% | 24.9% | 18.5% | 27.6% | 22.1% | 50.3% |
| 2020 | 11.8% | 28.3% | 13.0% | 25.4% | 21.5% | 53.1% |
| 2019 | 9.4% | 25.7% | 14.1% | 25.4% | 25.4% | 49.2% |
| 2018 | 8.8% | 23.9% | 15.0% | 25.8% | 26.5% | 47.7% |
| 2017 | 9.5% | 24.5% | 15.4% | 24.5% | 26.2% | 49.4% |
The AP® Environmental Science exam has seen a steady passing rate of around 50%.
In 2023, the mean score for the AP® Environmental Science exam was 2.79. This mean was based on a total of 209,757 test takers.
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Need help preparing for your AP® Environmental Science exam?
Albert has hundreds of AP® Environmental Science multiple-choice practice questions, free-response questions, and full-length practice tests to try out.
Start your AP® Environmental Science test prep here
