The AP Psychology exam covers research methods, social and biological bases of behavior, perception, learning, developmental psychology, testing, treatment and other topics. AP Psychology is one of the more popular Advanced Placement subjects, and in 2011 nearly 200,000 students took the exam and earned a 3.12 mean score. Most colleges and universities have a social science requirement, so a high score on the AP Psychology exam will sometimes fulfill that requirement.
The chart below provides some representative data from a variety of colleges and universities. This information is meant to provide a general overview of the scoring and placement information related to the AP Psychology exam. You'll need to contact the appropriate Registrar's office to get AP placement information for a particular college.
For more information on AP classes and exams, check out these articles:
The distribution of scores for the AP Psychology exam is as follows (2011 data):
- 5 - 20.1%
- 4 - 26.3%
- 3 - 19.8%
- 2 - 12.9%
- 1 - 20.9%
| AP Psychology Scores and Placement | ||
| College | Score Needed | Placement Credit |
| Hamilton College | 4 or 5 | Intro to Psych Prerequisite Waived for 200-level Psych classes |
| Grinnell College | 4 or 5 | PSY 113 |
| LSU | 4 or 5 | PSYC 200 (3 credits) |
| Mississippi State University | 4 or 5 | PSY 1013 (3 credits) |
| Notre Dame | 4 or 5 | Psychology 10000 (3 credits) |
| Reed College | 4 or 5 | 1 credit; no placement |
| Stanford University | - | No credit for AP Psychology |
| Truman State University | 3, 4 or 5 | PSYC 166 (3 credits) |
| UCLA (School of Letters and Science) | 3, 4 or 5 | 4 credits; PSYCH 10 placement for a 4 or 5 |
| Yale University | - | No credit for AP Psychology |
