Exam Security Policies

AP Exam security policies and procedures are designed to make sure every AP student gets the same chance to demonstrate their knowledge on exam day without anyone gaining an unfair advantage.

On exam day (or when you submit work through the AP Digital Portfolio), you’ll acknowledge that you’ve read and agree to follow all the test security and administration policies and procedures listed in the AP Exam Terms and Conditions.

The AP Exam Terms and Conditions are updated in the spring each year. We'll let you know via email when they're available for this year. 

Following exam security policies and procedures keeps things fair for you and other students taking AP Exams. So, before exam day, make sure you’ve read through the information in the AP Exam Terms and Conditions and on this page so you know what to do and what not to do. 

Keeping Exams Secure

Because AP Exams are given on the same day around the world, it is critical that students taking the exam follow policies and procedures to keep the questions secure. The exam security policies and procedures include things such as:

• Taking your AP Exam at the scheduled date and time
• Not entering the start code in Bluebook or opening any exam materials until your proctor tells you to do so
• Not taking exam materials from the testing room

Violating these or any of the test security and administration policies and procedures could cause your score to be canceled. Under some circumstances you could even be banned from future testing.

Discussing Exam Questions

The AP Exam is intended to be a fair assessment of your academic ability. Sharing exam information in any unauthorized way compromises the integrity of the exam for all AP students, and for the colleges and universities that grant credit or advanced placement for qualifying AP scores.

If you post to any form of social media during the exam or refer to unreleased exam content at any time after the exam, your score will be canceled, no retest will be permitted, and you may be banned from future testing.

College Board will automatically cancel your exam score if you are discovered disclosing through any means the following:

• multiple-choice content for any exam (this content is never released and may therefore never be discussed)
• free-response content from a late-testing exam
• free-response content from a regularly scheduled exam within 2 days of its administration
• free-response content that is not released on the College Board website 2 days after the regularly scheduled exam administration

This means that something you may not have intended as a violation, like casually talking about a multiple-choice question with your friends or your teacher during the exam break or discussing a free-response question right after the exam, can actually result in having your score canceled.

If the free-response content on your AP Exam is posted to the College Board website two days after the regularly scheduled exam, you may discuss it at that point.

Testing Violations and Consequences 

Violations

College Board reserves the right to decline to score an AP Exam or cancel an AP Exam score when, in its judgment, any of the following occurs: 

• Violation of test security policies and procedures
• Disclosure of secure test items
• Rule violations
• Testing irregularities
• Invalid scores
• Identification discrepancies 

The complete list of behaviors that are not allowed during testing is in the AP Exam Terms and Conditions. If you're found doing any of these, you may be asked to end your exam and leave the exam room. You may not return to the exam room, and your score will not be reported.

Consequences

Violation of College Board test security policies may also result in a student being prohibited from taking other College Board assessments (AP, SAT, CLEP) in the future.

The duration of an individual’s ban may vary depending on the circumstances and severity of the violation, as determined by College Board. College Board reserves the right to share information, including the names of banned test takers, with their attending high schools and interested higher education institutions.

Appeals of the ban will be considered and decided at College Board’s discretion.