APUSH Exam Format, Timing and the 2027 Changes

The exam at a glance

The 2027 AP US History exam is on Friday, May 7, in Session 1, which College Board describes as typically the morning slot. It lasts 3 hours and 15 minutes and is fully digital: you answer every question in the Bluebook app, and your responses are submitted automatically at the end of the exam.

Section I, Part A: multiple choice. 55 questions in 55 minutes, worth 40% of your score.
Section I, Part B: short answer. 3 questions in 40 minutes, worth 20%.
Section II: document-based question and long essay. 2 questions in 1 hour 40 minutes, worth 40%.

Inside Section II, College Board recommends about 60 minutes for the document-based question (DBQ), including a 15-minute reading period, and about 40 minutes for the long essay question (LEQ). The DBQ counts for 25% of your score and the LEQ for 15%.

What each section asks

Multiple choice. Questions usually come in sets of three or four about one source: a primary or secondary text, an image, a chart or a map. They ask you to analyze the source and the history around it. None of them asks you to build an argument; the essays test that skill.

Short answer. Three required questions, each from a different period between 1491 and 2001. Question 1 gives you secondary text sources, such as historians' interpretations. Question 2 gives you a primary text source. Question 3 gives you a non-text source, primary or secondary, such as an image, graph or map. Each question has three parts, and each part asks you to describe or explain one specific thing in a few sentences.

Document-based question. Seven documents, written, numerical or visual, about one historical development or process. The topic falls between 1754 and 1980. You build an argument from the documents and your own knowledge, scored out of 7 points.

Long essay. One required, broad prompt with no documents, covering roughly half of the course's time periods. You choose which development to focus on and argue from your own knowledge, scored out of 6 points.

What each unit is worth

College Board gives each of the nine units a range for its share of the exam:

Unit 1, Period 1 (1491–1607): 4–6%
Unit 2, Period 2 (1607–1754): 6–8%
Unit 3, Period 3 (1754–1800): 10–17%
Unit 4, Period 4 (1800–1848): 10–17%
Unit 5, Period 5 (1844–1877): 10–17%
Unit 6, Period 6 (1865–1898): 10–17%
Unit 7, Period 7 (1890–1945): 10–17%
Unit 8, Period 8 (1945–1980): 10–17%
Unit 9, Period 9 (1980–present): 4–6%

Units 1, 2 and 9 together are worth at most 20%, so Units 3 through 8 make up at least 80% of the exam. Weight your studying the same way, but don't skip the short units. The short-answer questions can come from any year between 1491 and 2001.

What changes in May 2027

College Board revised the free-response questions on all three AP history exams (US History, European History and World History: Modern), starting with the May 2027 exams. It says the changes give students back the time they used to spend choosing between questions, and let them argue with the evidence they know best.

Short answer. All three questions are required, and every one includes a source: secondary text sources in Question 1, a primary text source in Question 2, and a primary or secondary non-text source in Question 3. Each question covers a different period. On the May 2026 exam, students answered Questions 1 and 2, then chose Question 3 or Question 4, and neither of those had a source.
Long essay. One required question replaces the choice of three. The prompt is broad, covering about half of the course's time periods, and it opens with a short statement that frames the task and suggests areas you could analyze. You may focus on one or more of the developments it mentions, and you aren't expected to cover the whole span. In 2026, students picked one of three prompts, each set in a different span of years.
Document-based question. The DBQ covers a wider span of years, so you can use evidence from more of the course. It still has seven documents, and its topic still falls between 1754 and 1980.

These parts stay the same:

the course content and the historical thinking skills;
the multiple-choice section;
the scoring rubrics for the free-response questions, including how each point is earned;
the amount and type of evidence you need to earn points;
the section times: 40 minutes for short answer and 1 hour 40 minutes for the two essays, the same as in 2026.

College Board plans two updated practice exams for the 2026–27 school year and a third for 2027–28. It is also changing when free-response questions become public. Until now it posted each exam's questions two days after that exam; starting in 2027, it will release every subject's questions on one day in early June.

How to prepare for the 2027 format

Study the whole course. You can no longer pick the long essay's period, and the three short-answer questions each come from a different period, so any unit can appear in the free-response section.
Build evidence by period. For each unit, know four or five specific examples for its main developments: laws, court cases, events and people, with their dates. The long essay lets you choose the development you know best within a broad range, so depth in every period pays off.
Practice reading sources fast. Every short-answer question now comes with one. Practice saying in one sentence what a historian argues, what a primary text shows, and what an image, map or graph is about.
Practice comparing historians. In College Board's sample question and on the 2026 exam, short-answer Question 1 paired excerpts from two historians and asked how their interpretations differ.
Learn the rubrics once. They don't change in 2027, so past scoring guidelines still show what earns each point.
Use older practice material with care. Before 2027, short-answer Questions 3 and 4 had no source and the long essay offered a choice. Old prompts are still good practice; write them from every period, including the ones you like least.
Plan your Section II time. About 15 minutes to read and plan the DBQ, about 45 to write it, and about 40 for the long essay. With no prompt to choose, you can spend the first minutes of the long essay deciding what to focus on.

AP US History Exam: Format, Timing and the 2027 Changes

The exam at a glance

What each section asks

What each unit is worth

What changes in May 2027

How to prepare for the 2027 format

Sources

Exam guides