Student Performance on Advanced Placement Exams in the Humanities
In 2024, the share of AP exams in the humanities that received a 4 or 5 was similar to that for most other academic fields (Indicator I-12h). Approximately 40% of exams in the humanities were scored at that level.1 The only field with a substantially higher share of exams with these scores was math/computer science (47%).
- The proportion of humanities exams receiving scores of 4 or 5 grew steadily over time.2 The share in 2024 was 44% greater than the 2005 value. The growth in the share of behavioral/social science and art exams scored at that level was also substantial.
- Among the humanities exams, students earned the largest share of 4s or 5s, between 44% and 46%, on the African American studies, European history, Spanish language, and both the U.S. and world history exams in 2024 (Indicator I-12i). The humanities subjects with the smallest proportion of exams scored at that level were Latin and Japanese (28% in each subject).
- When examining racial/ethnic groups’ shares of highly scored exams in 2019, publicly available information does not permit the exclusion of tests in languages other than English taken by students with considerable exposure to the language outside the classroom (as of November 2025, the most recent year for which data are publicly available is 2019). When all humanities exams are considered, exams taken by American Indian/Alaska Native and Black students in 2019 were substantially less likely to receive a score of 4 or 5 than those taken by members of other racial/ethnic groups (Indicator I-12j; as of the publication of this analysis (November 2025), the 2019 data are the most recent available to the public).
- The humanities were similar to the sciences and arts in that exams taken by Asian/Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students were considerably more likely than exams taken by students of other backgrounds to receive a 4 or 5. Unique to the humanities was the substantial differential between Black and Hispanic students with respect to the share of exams given high scores. Humanities exams taken by Hispanic students were more than twice as likely as those taken by Black students to receive a high score.
- The humanities and the arts had a much smaller high-score differential between Hispanic and White students than the sciences. In the humanities, the share of highly scored exams taken by white students (33%) was roughly a third larger than that of Hispanic students (at 26%). In contrast, on science exams white students’ share of highly scored exams was more than twice as large as the share for Hispanic students. However, when Spanish exams are excluded from the humanities tally, the share of highly scored humanities exams taken by Hispanic students drops from 26% to 15%. The result is a substantial increase in the differential between Hispanic and white students. (whose percentage of highly scored exams was 33%).
- For information regarding student performance by race/ethnicity in specific humanities subjects, see Supplemental Table I-12j.
* For exams in languages other than English, only the scores of students who received most of their exposure to the language in U.S. schools were included. These are students who did not indicate on their answer sheet that they regularly speak or hear the language of the exam or that they lived for one month or more in a country where the language is widely spoken.
Source: College Board, AP Program Student Score Distribution, 2005–2024, (accessed September 4, 2025). Data analyzed and presented by the American Ƶ of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators ().
The AP exams treated as part of the humanities for the purposes of this analysis are: African American studies; art history; Chinese language & culture; English language; English literature; French language & culture; German language & culture; Italian language & culture; Japanese language & culture; Latin; Spanish language & culture; Spanish literature; U.S. history; world history.
I-12i: Share of Advanced Placement Exams Receiving a Score of 4 or 5, by Academic Field/Subject, 2024
* For exams in languages other than English (with the exception of Spanish literature and culture), only the scores of students who received most of their exposure to the language in U.S. schools were included. These are students who did not indicate on their answer sheet that they regularly speak or hear the language of the exam or that they lived for one month or more in a country where the language is widely spoken.
Source: College Board, AP Program Student Score Distribution, 2005–2024, (accessed September 4, 2025). Data analyzed and presented by the American Ƶ of Arts and Sciences' Humanities Indicators ().
Source: College Board, AP Program Participation and Performance Data 2019, “National Summary Report,” (accessed fall 2021). Data analyzed and presented by the American Ƶ of Arts and Sciences' Humanities Indicators ().
College Board gives students the option of identifying as “American Indian/Alaska Native,” “Asian,” “Black,” “Hispanic/Latino,” “Native Hawaiian,” “White,” or “Two or More Races,” or “Other”—or not responding at all. The Humanities Indicators has combined the “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander” to align with the HI indicator relating to the racial/ethnic composition of those taking AP exams and how it compares to the composition of the secondary student population generally (the National Center for Education Statistics employs the broader category of “Asian & Pacific Islander” in describing the racial/ethnicity of the country’s high schoolers).
The “Other” category was omitted from this analysis because only one student identified as such.
The AP exams treated as part of the humanities for the purposes of this analysis are: African American studies; art history; Chinese language & culture; English language; English literature; French language & culture; German language & culture; Italian language & culture; Japanese language & culture; Latin; Spanish language & culture; Spanish literature; U.S. history; world history.
