List of AP Exams: Every AP Subject by Category

Quick orientation: there are currently around 40 AP subjects — the College Board lists 42–43 depending on how you count (AP Art & Design is three separate exams; there are two Computer Science courses). They fall into six broad areas: sciences, math & computer science, history & social sciences, English, world languages & cultures, and the arts — plus AP Capstone (Seminar & Research) and African American Studies. The roster grows over time as new courses (recently Precalculus and African American Studies) are added. Below is the full list by category, with the newest additions and what to know about choosing.

How many AP exams are there?

Before the list itself, it’s worth clearing up a question that gets surprisingly muddled answers online — because the “number of AP exams” depends on how you count. Around 40, with a nuance.

There are currently around 40 AP subjects, though you’ll see the exact figure quoted as anywhere from the high 30s to the low 40s — and there’s a real reason for the spread. The College Board’s own current pages list roughly 42 to 43 subjects, but the count varies because AP Art and Design is actually three separate exams (Drawing, 2-D, and 3-D), and there are two distinct Computer Science courses (Computer Science A and Computer Science Principles), so depending on whether you count each component separately, the total shifts by a few. On top of that, the roster changes over time: the College Board periodically adds new courses — recently AP Precalculus and AP African American Studies — and occasionally revises or retires others, so older sources citing 38 subjects are simply out of date. The practical takeaway is that “around 40” is the right mental model, the precise number depends on how you tally multi-exam subjects, and the definitive current count lives on the College Board’s official AP courses page. The full lists below organize every current subject by discipline so you can see the whole program clearly.

Sciences

The AP sciences are among the most popular and most widely accepted for college credit, spanning life science, physical science, and the environment. Seven exams in all.

The sciences illustrate how AP sometimes splits a subject into multiple exams: Physics alone has four — the algebra-based Physics 1 and 2, and the calculus-based Physics C pair (Mechanics and E&M), which are aimed at students heading into engineering and the physical sciences. Biology and Chemistry are single, comprehensive exams. For estimating scores in the two most-taken sciences, we have dedicated tools: the AP Biology score calculator and the AP Chemistry score calculator.

Math & computer science

This group covers the calculus pathway, statistics, and both computer science courses — a range from foundational to highly specialized. Five or six exams depending on how you count.

A couple of notes worth knowing here. AP Precalculus is one of the newest AP courses, created to strengthen the math pathway toward calculus. Calculus BC is distinctive in that it reports a Calculus AB subscore alongside its main score, so BC students effectively get feedback on both. And the two computer science courses serve different audiences: Computer Science A is a programming-focused course (Java), while Computer Science Principles is broader and more conceptual, with a project component. These distinctions matter when choosing, which the section below covers.

History & social sciences

This is the largest category, covering history, government, geography, psychology, and economics — many of them among the most-taken AP exams overall. Nine exams.

The social sciences include several of the most popular AP exams — US History, World History, Human Geography, and Psychology are taken by huge numbers of students each year. Note that both history and economics split into pairs: US, World, and European History are separate exams, as are Macro- and Microeconomics, so students often take more than one within a discipline. For World History specifically, we offer the AP World History score calculator to estimate your score.

English & world languages

Together, English and the world languages form a large group centered on reading, writing, and communication — the languages alone span eight exams. Ten exams in total.

The two English exams are frequently confused but distinct: English Language (AP Lang) focuses on rhetoric and argument in nonfiction, while English Literature (AP Lit) focuses on analyzing fiction, poetry, and drama. Both are extremely widely taken. The world languages span eight exams — including Latin (a classical language) alongside the modern languages — and most assess speaking, listening, reading, and writing. For English Language, our AP Lang score calculator estimates your score (and also works for AP Lit).

Arts, Capstone & interdisciplinary

Rounding out the program are the arts, the research-focused Capstone diploma track, and the interdisciplinary African American Studies — several of which are assessed through portfolios or projects rather than sit-down exams. Around eight exams.

This final group includes the AP program’s non-traditional assessments. The three AP Art & Design exams (Drawing, 2-D, 3-D) are assessed through submitted portfolios, not a written test. The AP Capstone program — Seminar and Research — is built around research, argument, and presentation skills, assessed largely through performance tasks; completing both (plus four other AP exams) earns the AP Capstone Diploma. And AP African American Studies is a recent interdisciplinary addition covering the history, literature, and culture of the African diaspora. These portfolio- and project-based subjects are part of why the total exam count varies depending on how each is tallied.

How to choose which AP subjects to take

Seeing the full menu naturally raises the question of how to pick from it — and the honest answer balances several factors rather than chasing prestige. Interest, strength, and payoff.

With around 40 subjects available, choosing well matters more than choosing many. A sensible approach weighs four things: your genuine interests (the demanding coursework is far more manageable in a subject you enjoy), your academic strengths (playing to what you’re good at improves your odds of a strong score), your target colleges’ credit policies (a qualifying score is most valuable when it actually earns credit, and policies vary widely by college and subject), and what your school offers (most schools teach only a subset, though self-study can fill gaps). A common myth is that you should take the hardest subjects to impress colleges — but the better strategy is a balance of challenge, interest, and likely payoff, not maximizing difficulty for its own sake. It’s also worth considering how many exams fit your overall workload, since spreading yourself too thin can hurt more than a slightly less prestigious course list. For a deeper look at the difficulty question, see our upcoming guides on the hardest AP exams and easiest AP exams; for course-load planning, how many AP exams you should take.

List of AP exams: frequently asked questions