Updated December 28, 2025
10 of the Hardest AP Classes in 2026
Advanced Placement exams, or APs, are college-level courses that students take while still in high school. Doing well on AP exams doesn’t just help you with college admissions – AP scores can even translate to course credits that allow you to place out of college-level classes.
As college-level classes, all AP exams are challenging. Still, some are more difficult than others.
For more than two decades, we’ve been supporting students in everything from AP Art History to AP Environmental Science.
We’ve used our extensive experience, as well as the latest score data from the College Board, to rank the hardest AP exams in 2026.
As you decide which APs to take this year, use the rankings to help you make a balanced, realistic schedule.
Then, get in touch with our team to find an AP tutor who’s experienced in these challenging classes.
Jump to section:
What Makes an AP Class Hard?
The Hardest AP Exams to Pass
The Hardest AP Exams to Score a 5 On
The Hardest Science Exam: AP Physics 1
The Hardest Math and Comp Sci Exams: AP Statistics and AP Computer Science Principles
The Hardest Arts Exams: AP Music Theory and AP Art & Design (3D)
The Hardest Language Exam: AP Latin
The Hardest History and Social Science Exams: AP Human Geography and AP World History
How to Excel in a Hard AP Class
Next Steps
What Makes an AP Class Hard?
It might be stating the obvious, but there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of which AP classes are the hardest.
Which APs will be easier or harder for you depends on your academic strengths, your interests and motivation to study, how much time you have to prepare for the AP exam, and whether you’re lucky enough to have a great teacher (or seek tutoring to help you prepare).
Still, when you’re choosing which APs to take, it’s good to know which exams are generally considered more challenging than others so that you can choose a balanced, manageable course load.
So how can you tell which AP exams are the most difficult?
Subjective, word-of-mouth advice can be a helpful place to start. At your school, some AP classes might have tougher or easier reputations, and friends who’ve taken the classes before you can share their experiences.
But be careful basing your AP selection on hearsay. Some of the exams with softer reputations, like AP English Language & Composition, have surprisingly low pass rates. Others, like AP French Language & Culture, have higher pass rates but low percentages of students achieving a perfect score.
Instead, take a look at the hard data. The College Board publishes the score distributions for every AP exam.
Then combine that information with what you know about your own academic strengths. Maybe you’re a strong student in physics, so the fact that less than half of students get a passing grade in AP Physics 1 doesn’t deter you – but the fact that only 8% of test-takers achieve a perfect score tells you that even as a good student, you’ll probably need to work hard to get a 5.
We’ve broken down the data to create rankings of the hardest AP classes according to different criteria: pass rate, perfect score rate, and hardest APs in each category.
The Hardest AP Exams to Pass
One way to evaluate which are the hardest APs is by the percentage of students who get a passing score on the exam.
APs are scored on a scale from 1 to 5, and a 3 is considered a passing score. (If you’re planning to use your AP exam scores towards college credit, though, be careful: some schools will only grant credit for AP scores of 4 or 5.)
Based on the most recent data from the AP tests, these are the APs with the lowest pass rates.
| Ranking | AP Exam(s) | Passing rate |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | AP Physics 1 | 46% |
| #2 | AP English Language & Composition; AP Environmental Science | 54% |
| #3 | AP Human Geography | 56% |
| #4 | AP Latin | 57% |
| #5 | AP Music Theory and AP Psychology | 61% |
There’s a big caveat here, though: students who sign up for challenging AP classes are self-selecting.
Take AP Calculus BC. Most students would say that it’s a difficult course, but it had an 80% exam pass rate this year. That’s significantly higher than AP Calculus AB, which only had a 64% passing rate.
Why? Because if you know that you struggle with math, then you’re probably not going to sign up for what a lot of students consider the most challenging calculus exam.
Instead, you might choose to take theAP Calc AB test for its easier reputation, meaning that the overall pool of high school students taking Calc BC would be stronger in math to begin with.
This also explains why Calc BC has an extremely high percentage of 5 scores – 45%, the highest of all the math and science APs and the third-highest overall (compared to just 21% for AP Calc AB).
Is Calc BC a piece of cake? No, but because students know that, they generally only take it if they feel ready and they’re prepared to put in the work.
The Hardest AP Exams to Score a 5 On
Passing rates aren’t the only criteria you can use to evaluate which APs are the most challenging.
It can be even more helpful to look at the exams that have low rates of perfect scores.
Which metric is going to be useful for you depends on your goals. If you just want to pass your AP exam, then looking at pass rates is a good place to start. If you want to make sure you can get college credit for your AP work, you might want to do the math on combined percentages for the 4-5 score range (since not all universities will give you credit for a 3).
If you want to get a perfect score, though – whether to strengthen your college applications, qualify for a high-level course, or simply challenge yourself – this is a useful metric to look at.
| Ranking | AP Exam(s) | Percentage of students who score a 5 |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | AP Art & Design (3D) | 7% |
| #2 | AP Physics 1 | 8% |
| #3 | AP English Language & Composition;AP Spanish Literature & Culture;AP Environmental Science | 9% |
| #4 | AP Computer Science | 11% |
| #5 | AP World History;AP Latin | 12% |
The Hardest Science Exam: AP Physics 1
By both passing rate (46%) and perfect-score rate (8%), AP Physics 1 is the most challenging AP exam.
Don’t rush to sign up for AP Physics 2 or one of the AP Physics C exams instead, though. The fact that AP Physics 1 appears so difficult is likely due to self-selection of students signing up for the four different AP Physics exams.
According to the College Board, AP Physics 1 is equivalent to a first-semester college physics class, while Physics 2 is equivalent to the second semester. Both of these physics exams are algebra-based.
There are also two calculus-based physics options, AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism and AP Physics C: Mechanics. Since they require calculus skills, the Physics C courses should be taken alongside (or after) a calculus course.
All in all, this means that AP Physics 1 should be the easiest physics exam the College Board offers. But because of that, students might sign up for this exam before their physics skills are at the necessary level (or they might blow off studying because the exam is meant to be easier), while Physics 2, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism and Physics C: Mechanics tend to attract students who are stronger in physics to being with.
AP Environmental Science also appears to fall into this category: it has only a 54% passing rate, and just 9% of students achieve a 5, suggesting that students underestimate how hard the course can be.
Again, it’s important to take your own academic strengths, time management and study schedule, and level of commitment into account when you’re deciding which exam to take.
The Hardest Math and Comp Sci Exams: AP Statistics and AP Computer Science Principles
AP Statistics has the lowest passing rate of the math APs, at 62%. AP Computer Science Principles has the lowest percentage of 5 scores: only 11% of test-takers manage to get the top grade.
These can be good courses to take if you’re planning to study computer science or math in college. If you’re considering the pre-med track, AP Statistics may be one way you can fulfill a statistics requirement, freeing up more class time to pursue electives or advanced courses in college.
Since both exams are known to be tough, getting a good score can also help with college admissions and demonstrate your skills and interest in higher-level math and science.
The Hardest Arts Exams: AP Music Theory and AP Art & Design (3D)
Students sometimes think that arts exams will be an easy A (or, on the APs, an easy 5).
In fact, only 61% of students manage to pass AP Music Theory. To put that in context, that’s lower than for AP Calc AB or AP European History.
For AP Art & Design (3D), the passing rate is higher, but the rate of students achieving a 5 is one of the lowest percentages on any AP exam: at 9%, only AP Physics 1 has a lower percentage of 5 scores.
There are several reasons you might take one of these classes. For example, say you want to minor in musical performance in college. Music theory might be a prerequisite class, and a good AP score might allow you to place out of that requirement.
And if you’re planning to study math or science, an arts class can be an interesting and fun way to step outside of your comfort zone and learn something new.
It’s not a free period, though: if you’re considering AP Art & Design or Music Theory, make sure you don’t underestimate the work involved.
The Hardest Language Exam: AP Latin
Between the two AP English exams, AP English Language & Composition has markedly lower scores than AP English Literature & Composition. 54% of students pass the language exam, compared to 72% for literature, and only 9% get a perfect 5 (13% for literature).
As for second-language study, the hardest exams appear to be AP Latin (57% pass rate and 12% perfect scores) and AP Spanish Literature and Culture (66% pass rate, but only 9% perfect scores).
But again, it’s important to look at this data critically.
Yes, 87% of test takers pass AP Chinese Language and Culture, and a full 50% get a perfect score – the highest percentage of any AP exam.
But this isn’t because Chinese is an easy language to pick up, or because the College Board’s standards for this exam are low.
Instead, it’s much more likely that a large number of students who grew up speaking Chinese at home are taking the test.
The College Board encourages students who speak a second language or are exposed to one at home to consider taking the corresponding AP exam. Formal language study can help bilingual speakers to perfect their language skills, much as native English speakers can take one or both of the AP English exams. The exams also have a cultural component.
Some universities or specific degree programs also have language requirements. If you’re bilingual, the easiest way to check off that prerequisite course is by testing out in your native language.
This also explains why AP Latin appears to be the hardest exam – not necessarily because the material is so much more difficult, but simply because there aren’t any native Latin speakers acing the test.
When considering AP language exams, think about your own language background, fluency level, and any opportunities you’ll have for language study outside the classroom.
If you’re studying a language that your family doesn’t speak at home, it can be hard to find opportunities to practice speaking outside of class time. Tutoring can be a good option to support language study by giving you a chance to use your language skills in practice – so give us a call if you want practice speaking the language you’re learning.
Even if you’re not having any trouble with the material, the chance to speak for an hour or two a week can help you learn much more quickly and effectively – and to engage with the language you’re learning as a living language outside of textbooks.
The Hardest History and Social Science Exams: AP Human Geography and AP World History
AP Human Geography and the AP History exams are great examples of how different metrics of difficulty lead to very different conclusions about which are the hardest AP exams.
On the AP Human Geography exam, only 56% of students pass. Still, among those who do, perfect scores aren’t uncommon: a solid 18% of test-takers manage to get a 5.
AP World History is a different story. Although nearly two-thirds of students score a 3 or higher, just 12% get a 5. The other history exams are similar: AP European History and AP US History both have perfect-score rates of 13%.
How to Excel in a Hard AP Class
- Make the most of class time. Look at the material beforehand and ask your teacher about concepts you don’t understand.
- Build good study habits. When you’re studying, turn off your phone or leave it in another room. Try to study at the same time each day so that you get into a routine. Take breaks in between study sessions.
- Use your time effectively. Long car or bus rides can be a great time to fit in some flashcard review. If you’re driving, you could record yourself repeating vocabulary for language study and play back the recording in the car. If time management is an issue for you, write down a manageable study schedule for the week ahead of time and keep yourself accountable by checking in with a study buddy.
- Learn strategies for effective self-study. Try out different techniques, like flashcard review and mind-mapping, to find what works best for you.
- Explore the study resources that are available. Khan Academy is one great resource that has lots of free, AP-specific study materials.
- Consider getting extra support from a qualified tutor.
Next Steps
As you choose your AP classes, assess your individual strengths and interests in the context of the data we’ve just looked at. Choose a balanced course load that gives you a realistic schedule.
And if you decide to take harder AP classes – whatever that means for you – consider getting support from a qualified tutor. Especially if you’re self-studying for AP exams, tutoring can help you master difficult concepts and succeed on the exam.
Get in touch with our team today for a quick, free consultation.
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Ro
Rosamond graduated summa cum laude from Princeton. During college, she worked as a peer tutor for Italian, French, Greek, and academic writing. Since graduation, she’s continued to tutor students of all ages in French, Italian, Latin, English, and math, some of them for several years. She’s currently a graduate student studying the relationship between religion and secular law, and she works as a freelance journalist and translator.