AP 3-D Art and Design Exam – AP Students

About the Portfolio

You’ll submit a portfolio of artwork for evaluation at the end of the school year. You’ll upload digital images of your work and commentary online.

The three Art and Design portfolios (2-D, 3-D, and Drawing) share a basic, two-section structure, which requires you to show a fundamental competence and range of understanding in visual concerns and methods. Each section contributes to the final portfolio score, which is on a 5-point scale.

Note: You may submit more than one Art and Design portfolio exam in a given year, but each must be a different type of portfolio. You may not duplicate works or images among the portfolios and portfolios may not be combined. For example, if you want to submit a portfolio for both Drawing and 3-D Art and Design, you will need to submit two separate portfolios with two completely different sets of artwork, and you must order two exams.

For the AP 3-D Art and Design portfolio:

Your work should focus on the use of three-dimensional (3-D) skills of art and design, including point, line, shape, plane, layer, form, volume, mass, occupied/unoccupied space, texture, color, value, opacity, transparency, time, unity, variety, rhythm, movement, proportion, scale, balance, emphasis, contrast, repetition, connection, juxtaposition, and hierarchy.
Think about how materials, processes, and ideas can be used to make work that involves space and form, whether physical or virtual.
There’s no preferred or unacceptable content or style.
Here are some formats you can submit: figurative or nonfigurative sculpture, architectural models, metal work, ceramics, glasswork, installation, performance, assemblage, and 3-D fabric/fiber arts.
Don’t submit video clips—they’re not allowed. You may submit still images from videos or film and composite images.

Portfolio Date

Teachers set their own deadline.

AP 3-D Art and Design Portfolio Due Date

Ask your AP Art and Design teacher or AP coordinator about the portfolio deadline for your school.
- Details

Portfolio Components

Section 1: Sustained Investigation

15 digital images 60% of Score

You’ll create a body of work that demonstrates:

sustained investigation through practice, experimentation, and revision
sustained investigation of materials, processes, and ideas
synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas
3-D design skills

You’ll have to document in writing:

the questions that guided your sustained investigation
how your sustained investigation shows evidence of practice, experimentation, and revision guided by your questions

Section 2: Selected Works

Images of 5 works, 2 views each, for a total of 10 images 40% of Score

You’ll choose works that demonstrate:

3-D design skills
synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas

For each work, you’ll have to describe in writing:

your ideas
the materials you used
the processes you used

Works may come from the Sustained Investigation section, but they do not have to. They may be a group of related works, unrelated works, or a combination of related and unrelated works.

How We Score Your Portfolio

All portfolios are assessed by at least four highly experienced AP Art and Design teachers or higher education faculty. These evaluators, called AP readers, are trained to apply standardized scoring guidelines. Each of the two sections is reviewed independently based on criteria for that section.

If there is a wide divergence in the scores assigned by two to the same section of a portfolio, the section is forwarded to two Reading leaders for review and resolution of the scores.

AP 3-D Art and Design

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