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The number of Advanced Placement (AP) exams taken in the humanities increased substantially from the late 1990s to 2020, but the share of exams that received a score of 4 or 5 (out of 5) is somewhat below that seen in other fields.

Please note: Excluded from this calculation are scores on language exams (except English composition, English literature, and Spanish literature/culture) taken by students who reported regularly speaking or hearing the language of the exam, or living for a month or more in a country where the language is widely spoken. The additional findings below, with the exception of those relating to the performance of different racial/ethnic groups, also exclude such exams.

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* For exams in languages other than English (excluding Spanish literature), 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 Participation and Performance Data 2020, “National Summary Report” and “Student Score Distribution,” https://research.collegeboard.org/programs/ap/data/participation/ap-2020 (accessed fall 2021). Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).

I-12i: Share of Advanced Placement Exams Receiving a Score of 4 or 5, by Academic Field/Subject, 2019

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* 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 Participation and Performance Data 2019, “National Summary Report” and “Student Score Distribution,” https://research.collegeboard.org/programs/ap/data/participation/ap-2019 (accessed fall 2021). Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).

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Source: College Board, AP Program Participation and Performance Data 2019, “National Summary Report,” https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/misc/ap/national-summary-2019.xlsx (accessed fall 2021). Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).

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.

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