Is AP Statistics easy or hard? Read on to discover why we’ve given AP Stats a difficulty rating of “Quite Easy”, based on our unparalleled, deep-dive analysis of 2024 (and historic) pass rate data and over 3200 course reviews from alumnae.
An overview of the data: how difficult is AP Stats?
Here’s an overview of all the data we’ve analysed on AP Stats, from both 2024 pass rates and alumnae reviews:
- AP Statistics is considered quite easy, with class alumnae rating it 4.9/10 for overall difficulty
- That makes it the 11th-easiest out of the 28 large AP classes surveyed
- The pass rate is about average vs other AP classes, with 62% graduating with a 3 or higher
- AP Statistics is quite widely-taken (approximately 250,000 entries a year)
- And 95% of alumnae would recommend the class
Alumnae recommendations: the tl;dr
AP Statistics is not considered a typical math course by alumnae: it’s more conceptual and may be accessible if you struggle in other math classes. You’ll need to know how to use a calculator, and many students find they need to memorise specific vocabulary for the free response questions.
Taking a visual comparison:
Here’s a fun visual on how AP Stats compares to other classes, by difficulty, the amount of study time required, and class size:
We’ve only highlighted the two math classes, AP Stats and Calculus AB/BC. But you can see the full multi-coloured version of this chart in our popular, definitive difficulty ranking of ALL the AP classes!
Psst: we’ve also got a deep-dive into AP Calculus AB and BC if you want a full comparison of math tracks!
Behind the scenes: our Data Analyst and methodology
Exam Study Expert founder William Wadsworth is a Cambridge University trained psychologist and data analyst. Since he first started crunching AP data in 2019, over half a million AP students have used his difficulty ratings analysis to choose their AP classes.
Additional research, graphics, and article review by Dr Kerri-Anne Edinburgh
Analysing AP class data: the methodology
We want to be transparent about how we research, collect and analyse the AP data we use to provide you with our assessments and recommendations. This methodology gives a brief outline of our source material and analytical processes:
Please click here to learn more about our rigorous editorial policies here at Exam Study Expert.
Source material for AP data:
We use two primary sources of data:
- Pass rate data from College Board itself, including the proportion of students who pass overall (3+ score) and the proportion of students who score a 5. This data is taken from the College Board website plus tweets from Head of AP Trevor Packer, which include the score breakdown and numbers of students taking each class.
- Student reviews posted by users from r/APStudents who actually took the AP courses (as of 2024 the dataset includes 3,295 reviews). These reviews include a rating for:
- Overall difficulty rating
- Difficulty if self-studying
- How much time is required
The data we post is based on College Board’s June data release and may shift slightly as late-arriving exams are scored. This shift has historically been negligible.
How we evaluate and use the data on AP classes:
We consider class alumnae’s difficulty ratings to be the most reliable indicator of difficulty, more so than pass rate.
Pass rate, or percentage of students scoring a certain grade, is a misleading metric for two main reasons:
- Some classes attract highly able students, so may have a high pass rate, but this is more a reflection of the calibre of students taking the class. This particularly applies to language classes.
- Research has shown that popular, widely taken AP classes tend to have lower passing rates. So, a low passing rate could indicate a larger variety of student skill, not necessarily class difficulty.
Our assessments of course difficulty
We have given each every AP class a graded ranking of difficulty, primarily based on class alumnae difficulty ratings. Many other important factors are taken into consideration when making our recommendations for how easy or hard you may find the AP course.
The rankings are determined as followed:
- Very Easy – scores less than 4.0
- Quite Easy – scores between 4.0 and 4.9
- Moderate Difficulty – scores between 5.0 and 5.9
- Quite Hard – scores between 6.0 and 6.9
- Very Hard – scores more than 7.0
You should take every available metric into account when making your choice of AP classes. Remember that some students tend to find certain fields easier or harder than others, based on pre-existing experience.
And remember, as College Board’s Trevor Packer reminds us, an AP score is only one indicator of student learning and achievement.
A deep dive into the 2024 exam data on AP Stats
If you want to know more about how AP Statistics stacks up against the average AP class, and against previous years’ results: read on for five charts that set out all the data you could want.
1. Difficulty: a look at the ratings
AP Statistics is considered quite easy, with class alumnae rating it 4.9/10 for overall difficulty, making it the 11th-easiest class out of the 28 large AP classes surveyed.
2. The AP Stats pass rate in 2024
In 2024, the The AP Stats pass rate was about average vs the all-AP average, at 62%.
Although a much higher than average percentage of students failed with a 1 (22%), the number of students who passed was within a few percentage points of average for all three passing grades.
3. So, how does this compare to the last five years?
Over the many years we’ve been doing this analysis, we’ve learnt that AP pass rates can fluctuate wildly – although some subjects remain steady. So to get a better picture, let’s examine the score distribution for the past five years of exams – all the way back to 2020.
In the case of AP Statistics, the score distribution has not varied significantly over the past 5 years of exams, with a difference of just 4% between the highest (2024) and lowest (2021) pass rates.
4. How time consuming will AP Statistics be?
AP Stats is rated as quite low study time required relative to other AP classes. That may make it an easier class for you to manage.
N.B. A survey of AP alumnae asked for a rating out of 10 for time needed to study each class, with 1 = least time needed, 10 = most time. The average rating for AP Statistics was 4.8/10 (vs the average across all AP classes of 5.4/10).
5. How hard is it to self-study for AP Stats?
AP Statistics is rated as moderately difficult to self-study relative to other AP classes.
N.B. A survey of AP alumnae asked for a rating out of 10 for how easy each class is to self study, with 1 = easiest to self study, 10 = hardest to self study. The average rating for AP Statistics was 5.4/10 (vs the average across all AP classes of 5.7/10).
Reviewing the course: 75 alumnae share their experiences
If you’re looking forward to taking AP Statistics, it’s important to take both the positive and negative feedback in context. There are multiple factors that could contribute to a great or poor experience of the class, such as a particularly weak teacher and your personal preferences as a learner.
An impressive 95% of AP Statistics alumnae would recommend the class.
The majority of the reviews focus on course enjoyment, whether or not the test was easy, the conceptual nature of AP Stats, and the importance of memorisation. We’ve collated a selection that give a variety of advice on common topics:
1. Many students really enjoy this AP
“Stats was super fun and is super useful, especially if you’re also taking AP Psych :)” – AP Statistics Score: 3
“It was one of the best AP courses, or maybe even courses period, that I’ve taken so far! It was really, really fun. It’s not really a math course, it’s more like logic with reading. If you like puzzles and the like, you’ll like this course as well.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“Stats is pretty easy if you can apply all the different statistical tests properly.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“It’s easy if you have a math/science-based brain” – AP Statistics Score: 5
2. AP Stats is not a typical math course: it’s much more conceptual
“This is not your typical math course. It involves a lot of explanation and description, but it is quite easy.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“The course was very easy and we had finished all content by March. However, ours was a yearlong 90/day course so there was a LOT of time for us to review and learn the content. It’s different than normal math courses and you may find more writing than you expect.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“Stat isn’t really a math class. the actual math itself is the easiest part, but the bulk of the material is the application and understanding of the math. wasn’t that difficult, I did the bare minimum and got a 5. if you know how to read and how to use a calculator you’ll be fine.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“If you’re bad at math– take this class. It’s not much math at all, the calculator does all of that for you, you just need to logically figure out how to solve the problem. This class depends on you knowing how to use your calculator and being logical. I never did any actual math in this class. You need to memorize certain things, like categories and what to do given a problem with this and that– but its super easy once you get the hang of it.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
3. Some find the test easier than the class…
“Class was harder than AP exam” – AP Statistics Score: 4
“I got bad grades (low 90s) in the class, but the test is easy to get a 5 on.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
4. … But for others, the reverse was true, with the exam proving harder than expected
“I thought the exam was really easy, and I got a 97% in the class, but I still got a 4.” – AP Statistics Score: 4
“Don’t underestimate the exam. I really thought I got a 5 but then got a 4.” – AP Statistics Score: 4
5. On the downside, a small minority of students dislike the course because of its focus on memorisation over understanding
93% of alumnae would recommend the class. The following review came from one of the small minority (7%) of students who would not recommend the class:
“Students are expected to know an unnecessarily large number of confidence intervals and significance tests. As a result, teachers are forced to sacrifice understanding in favor of brute memorization. None of the underlying mathematics of these procedures is ever explained beyond some pretty pictures, funny symbols, and hand waving. Additionally, probability is introduced as a pile of formulas. It too remains unexplained and mysterious. In fact, this general theme of pushing understanding and intuition to the curb is present throughout the entire course. A well-trained monkey with a good memory could get a 5 in this class.” – AP Score: 5
What does it take to succeed in the AP Stats exam?
Well, a good starting place is knowing what’s required of you – and what the experts say went well (or not!) this year:
What is AP Statistics? Course Outline & Requirements
According to College Board:
“The AP Statistics course introduces students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data.”
Prerequisites for AP Stats are a second-year course in algebra, so it is usually taken in junior or senior year.
You will develop skills in:
- Selecting statistical methods
- Describing patterns and trends
- Using probability and simulation
- Making arguments with statistics
The exam consists of one 3-hour exam, with 50% (90 minutes) of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and 50% (90 minutes) of free-response questions.
For more details, see: College Board’s AP Statistics course page.
Takeaways for success from the Head of AP
Every year as the exam results come out, College Board’s Head of AP, Trevor Packer, offers an update on what’s gone on in each subject this year, including what people found easy and hard.
In 2024, Trevor made the following comments about the AP Statistics exam results:
- “Kudos to this year’s stellar group of AP Statistics students! They demonstrated stronger mastery than any prior year’s group, for as long as I’ve been tracking this: highest percentage of 5s and highest percentage of 3+ scores.”
- “AP Statistics MC questions: students generally demonstrated strong data analysis skills; 46% of students earned most of those available points; in contrast, students’ weakest skill was using probability and simulation; 8% of students earned most of those points.”
- “AP Statistics FR questions: many students did superb work on Q5 (the baseball card collection); a sizeable 22% earned every point possible. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap24-frq-statistics.pdf“
How to (self) study for AP Stats, with advice from alumnae
Let’s turn back to those alumnae reviews. Many students who’ve taken the course also have great advice on how to study – and self-study – for the exam, including what to practice and the best resources. We’ve collated a selection for you:
1. Knowing how to use a calculator is vital for success
“Most important part of this course is knowing how to use your calculator, and when to use what function for the problem given. The most math you have to do is probability, which takes up a relatively small portion of the content. I recommend a TI-84 plus silver edition for this course, where you don’t have to memorize the formatting of the statistical functions on the calculator.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“The hard part about studying is knowing how to use a calculator and knowing the conclusion sections of free response questions, which a teacher can teach you very well.” – AP Statistics Score: 4
“As long as you know how to utilize the calculator to your advantage, this will be an easy AP.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“Just know how to use your calculator for all types of problems! There are built in functions so you don’t necessarily have to memorize the formula as they’re given on the AP anyway.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“Get a good graphing Calculator and know the statistical test procedures” – AP Statistics Score: 5
2. Knowing specific wordings for free-response questions is important
“Also try to memorize the format of the problems; the FRQs don’t change that much every year (except for #6) so you can memorize almost word-by-word the format of the answers.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“Be sure to understand the meticulous wording/phrasing of your responses, because graders evaluate your answers by looking at whether or not you included key phrases/ideas.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“[AP Statistics is] not super difficult, but the FRQ’s are super nit-picky- one or two words may make you go from an E to a P, and those can hurt your score” – AP Statistics Score: 4
3. Success often comes down to dedication!
“Do Barron’s cover to cover and understand every problem, and you’re guaranteed a 5.” – AP Statistics Score: 5
“Do not self-study in 3 days like me. If you take about a month or two, you should get a 5. You need to be very dedicated and allocate some time every DAY to this test. It is easy to self study if you do this. That being said, the class is relatively free. The teachers drill the info into your brain. There is a lot of information, and you need to be able to MASTER every aspect of it.” – AP Statistics Score: 4
“I just did the textbook problems and the practice questions that my teacher gave me. First semester might be hard for AP Statistics, but second semester was a piece of cake. Just keep practicing the textbook problems and read the theory of the lesson.” – AP Statistics Score: 4
Best books and test prep resources for AP Stats
If you’re looking for the best books to study to help you ace AP Statistics, we’ve crunched the numbers on the available textbooks. Check out the winners, according to reviews from successful AP students, in our overview of the best AP study guides for every subject.
Where next?
Find out how AP Statistics compares to other classes: click here for our popular, definitive overview of all AP Classes ranked by difficulty.
Or compare how AP Stats compares to the other math courses with our deep-dive into AP Calculus AB / BC.
If you’ve found our analysis helpful, have a question for our Data Analyst and AP expert, William – or just have some thoughts to share: please leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Good luck!
Exam Study Expert founder William Wadsworth is a Cambridge University trained psychologist and data analyst. Since he first started crunching AP data in 2019, over half a million AP students have used his difficulty ratings analysis to choose their AP classes. William’s research on effective study strategies has been presented at top education conferences and reported in The Times, and he also hosts the top-rated Exam Study Expert podcast, with 1 million downloads to date.
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