AP Comparative Government and Politics
Advanced Placement Comparative Government and Politics (AP Comparative Government and Politics or AP Comp Gov) 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 (France and India were eliminated)
- 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:
Federal Republic of Nigeria (Nigeria) Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran) People's Republic of China (China) Russian Federation (Russia) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Great Britain) United Mexican States (Mexico)
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 [1]
- Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments (18-27%)
- Political Institutions (22-33%)
- Political Culture and Participation (11-18%)
- Party and Electoral Systems and Citizen Organizations (13-18%)
- Political and Economic Changes and Development (16-24%)
Exam
(Changed for the 2020 exam)[2]
- 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.
- 50% of score
- 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
- 50% of score
Score | 2011[3] | 2012[4] | 2013[5] | 2014[6] | 2015[7] | 2016[8] | 2017[9] | 2018[10] | 2019[11] | 2020[12] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 Scores 3 or Higher | 59.7% | 61.8% | 59.8% | 62.1% | 56.7% | 62.1% | 68.1% | 62.9% | 66.0% | 70.0% |
Mean Score | 2.97 | 3.07 | 3.01 | 3.09 | 2.86 | 3.08 | 3.25 | 3.10 | 3.20 | 3.33 |
Standard Deviation | 1.37 | 1.38 | 1.38 | 1.37 | 1.35 | 1.38 | 1.36 | 1.38 | 1.38 | 1.35 |
Number of students | 17,111 | 18,402 | 20,317 | 20,361 | 21,367 | 22,001 | 22,404 | 24,675 | 23,522 |
References
- https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-comparative-government-and-politics-course-and-exam-description.pdf?course=ap-comparative-government-and-politics
- "Updates for 2019-20 | AP Central — The College Board". AP Central. 2019-05-16. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
- The College Board. "AP Comparative Government and Politics Student Score Distributions 2011" (PDF). Retrieved 7 May 2013.
- The College Board. "AP Comparative Government and Politics Student Score Distributions 2012" (PDF). Retrieved 7 May 2013.
- The College Board. "AP Comparative Government and Politics Student Score Distributions 2013" (PDF). Retrieved 8 July 2015.
- The College Board. "AP Comparative Government and Politics Student Score Distributions 2014" (PDF). Retrieved 8 July 2015.
- The College Board. "AP Comparative Government and Politics Student Score Distributions 2015" (PDF).
- The College Board. "AP Comparative Government and Politics Student Score Distributions 2016" (PDF).
- The College Board. "AP Comparative Government and Politics Student Score Distributions 2017" (PDF).
- https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/research/2018/Student-Score-Distributions-2018.pdf
- "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- Total Registration (2020-07-07). "2020 AP Exam Score Distributions". www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved 2020-07-07.