An AP exam produces one number, and that number falls between 1 and 5. There are no decimals and no letter grades. The simplicity can mislead: the same score of 4 may be worth course credit at one university and worth nothing at another.
What the five numbers stand for
College Board defines them as follows: 5 is extremely well qualified, 4 is well qualified, 3 is qualified, 2 is possibly qualified, 1 is no recommendation. In everyday use, 3 and above is treated as passing.
One distinction matters here: passing and being useful are not the same thing. The credit threshold is set by the receiving university, not by College Board.
How the raw score is scaled
Each exam has two parts, multiple choice and free response. The raw scores are combined and then scaled against the difficulty of that year's paper.
The scaling is not identical from year to year, and that is deliberate: when a paper turns out harder, the thresholds move down. Working out this year's cutoff from last year's table therefore gives a misleading answer.
How much has to be correct
The proportion varies by subject and is usually lower than students assume. On most AP exams a 5 does not require a perfect paper; the figure often sits above seventy percent, and in some subjects lower still.
The practical consequence is this: deciding in advance which questions to skip on purpose produces a higher score than attempting every single one.
What happens after a low score
AP scores do not appear on a school transcript. Whether a score is sent to a university is largely left to the student, and a score that is not sent does not appear in the application file.
This detail is one of the main reasons the downside of sitting an AP exam is limited, and most students are unaware of it.
Which score to aim for
The target follows from the purpose. Where credit is the aim, the target university's own table has to be consulted; most institutions ask for a 4 or a 5, and some accept a 3. Where the aim is to strengthen an application, a 4 or above is a meaningful signal.
Before a numeric target is set, one question needs an answer: is the exam being taken for credit, or for the application file. The two purposes call for different preparation.