AP Comparative Government and Politics
Advanced Placement Comparative Government and Politics is an Advanced Placement comparative government or comparative politics course and exam offered by the College Board. It was first administered in 1987.
To better match a typical introductory college course, changes were made to the course and the exam in the fall of 2005. These changes include the following:
- Greater emphasis on analysis of concepts and themes
- Shifting focus to coverage of six core countries: China, Great Britain, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia
- Emphasis on themes such as citizen-state relations, democratization, globalization, political change, and public policy
Topic outline
Nations examined
The countries whose politics, political institutions, policy making, and political cultures are examined are the following:
Former countries on the AP exam are the following:
Note: For testing purposes, the College Board uses the names in parentheses when making reference to these sovereign entities.Content spectrum [https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-comparative-government-and-politics-course-and-exam-description.pdf?course=ap-comparative-government-and-politics]
- Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments
- Political Institutions
- Political Culture and Participation
- Party and Electoral Systems and Citizen Organizations
- Political and Economic Changes and Development
Exam
- 55 multiple choice questions in 60 minutes
- * 50% of score
- ** Each question will have 4 options.
- ** There will be 2 text-based sources, each one accompanied by 2-3 questions.
- ** There will be 3 quantitative sources, each one accompanied by 2-3 questions.
- 4 free response questions in 90 minutes
- * 50% of score
- **1 conceptual analysis question
- ** 1 quantitative analysis question
- ** 1 comparative analysis question
- ** 1 argument essay—a new question type requiring students to write an argument-based essay
| Score | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| 5 | 17.4% | 19.3% | 18.9% | 19.7% | 15.1% | 20.5% | 23.2% | 20.6% | 22.4% | 24.3% |
| 4 | 21.9% | 23.9% | 21.2% | 23.7% | 19.9% | 21.2% | 24.5% | 22.5% | 24.4% | 27.3% |
| 3 | 20.4% | 18.6% | 19.7% | 18.7% | 21.7% | 20.4% | 20.4% | 19.8% | 19.2% | 18.4% |
| 2 | 21.4% | 20.7% | 22.8% | 21.9% | 22.8% | 21.5% | 17.8% | 20.9% | 18.7% | 17.3% |
| 1 | 18.9% | 17.5% | 17.4% | 16.1% | 20.5% | 16.4% | 14.1% | 16.2% | 15.3% | 12.7% |
| % of 3 or Higher | 59.7% | 61.8% | 59.8% | 62% | 56.7% | 62.2% | 68.1% | 63.3% | 66.0% | 70.0% |
| Mean Score | 2.97 | 3.07 | 3.01 | 3.09 | 2.86 | 3.08 | 3.25 | 3.12 | 3.20 | |
| Number of students | 17,111 | 18,402 | 20,317 | 20,361 | 21,367 | 22,001 | 22,404 | 24,675 | 23,522 | |
