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AP United States Government and Politics

Advanced Placement (AP) United States Government and Politics (often shortened to AP Gov) is a college-level course and examination offered to
high school students through the College Board's Advanced Placement Program. This course surveys the structure and function of American government and
politics that begins with an analysis of the United States Constitution, the foundation of the American political system. Students study the three branches of
government, administrative agencies that support each branch, the role of political behavior in the democratic process, rules governing elections, political
culture, and the workings of political parties and interest groups.[1]

Contents
Topic outline
Foundations of American Democracy (15-22%)
Interactions Among Branches of Government (25-36%)
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (13-18%)
American Political Ideologies and Beliefs (10–15%)
Political Participation (20-27%)
Public Policy (Part of the Units, embedded within all 5 units)
Required Supreme Court cases and Foundation Documents
Supreme Court cases
Foundation Documents
Exam
Grade distribution
References
External links

Topic outline
The material in the course is composed of multiple subjects from the Constitutional roots of the United States to recent developments in civil rights and
liberties. The AP United States Government examination covers roughly six subjects listed below in approximate percentage composition of the examination.[2]

Foundations of American Democracy (15-22%)

▪ Considerations that influenced the formulation and adoption of the Constitution
▪ Separation of powers
▪ Federalism
▪ Theories of democratic government

Interactions Among Branches of Government (25-36%)

▪ The major formal and informal institutional arrangements of power; the Congress, the Presidency, the Bureaucracy, and the Federal Courts

Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (13-18%)

▪ The development of civil liberties and civil rights by judicial interpretation
▪ Knowledge of substantive rights and liberties
▪ The impact of the Fourteenth Amendment on the constitutional development of rights and liberties

American Political Ideologies and Beliefs (10–15%)

▪ Beliefs that citizens hold about their government and its leaders
▪ Processes by which citizens learn about politics
▪ The nature, sources, and consequences of public opinion
▪ The ways in which citizens vote and otherwise participate in political life
▪ Factors that influence citizens to differ from one another in terms of political beliefs and behaviors

Political Participation (20-27%)

▪ Political parties and elections
▪ Functions
▪ Organization
▪ Development
▪ Effects on the political process

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▪ Electoral laws and systems

▪ Interest groups, including political action committees (PACs)
▪ The range of interests represented
▪ The activities of interest groups
▪ The effects of interest groups on the political process
▪ The unique characteristics and roles of PACs in the political process
▪ The mass media
▪ The functions and structures of the media
▪ The impact of media on politics

Public Policy (Part of the Units, embedded within all 5 units)

▪ Public policy making in a federal system
▪ The formation of policy agendas
▪ The role of institutions in the enactment of policy
▪ The role of the bureaucracy and the courts in policy implementation and interpretation
▪ Linkages between policy processes and the following:
▪ Political institutions and federalism
▪ Political parties
▪ Interest groups
▪ Public opinion
▪ Elections
▪ Policy networks

Required Supreme Court cases and Foundation Documents

Supreme Court cases

Starting from 2019 Administration of the Test, the College Board requires students to know 15 Supreme Court cases.[3] These 15 Supreme Court case are listed
below:

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Supreme Court case Year Significance Law Applied

Established supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws

McCulloch v. Maryland 1819 U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 1, 18
over state laws

Congress may not use the commerce clause to make possession of

United States v. Lopez 1995 U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3
a gun in a school zone a federal crime

School sponsorship of religious activities violates the establishment

Engel v. Vitale 1962 U.S. Const. amend. I
clause

U.S. Const. amend. I; Wis. Stat. §

Compelling Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade
Wisconsin v. Yoder 1972 118.15 (Wisconsin Compulsory
violates the free exercise clause
School Attendance Law)

U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV;

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Public school students have the right to wear black armbands in
1969 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (https://www.law.co
Community School District school to protest the Vietnam War
rnell.edu/uscode/text/42/1983)

Bolstered the freedom of the press, establishing a “heavy

New York Times Co. v. United States 1971 presumption against prior restraint” even in cases involving national U.S. Const. amend. I
security

U.S. Const. amend. I; 50 U.S.C. § 33

Speech creating a “clear and present danger” is not protected by the
Schenck v. United States 1919 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/t
First Amendment
ext/50/33)

Guaranteed the right to an attorney for the poor or indigent in a state

Gideon v. Wainwright 1963 U.S. Const. amends. VI, XIV
felony case

U.S. Const. amends. IX, XIV;

Extended the right of privacy to a woman's decision to have an
Roe v. Wade 1973 Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts.
abortion
1191–1194, 1196

The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-
McDonald v. Chicago 2010 U.S. Const. amend. II, XIV
defense is applicable to the states

Brown v. Board of Education 1954 Race-based school segregation violates the equal protection clause U.S. Const. amend. XIV

Citizens United v. Federal Election Political spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions is U.S. Const. amend. I, Bipartisan
2010
Commission a form of protected speech under the First Amendment Campaign Reform Act

Opened the door to equal protection challenges to redistricting and U.S. Const. amend. XIV; U.S. Const.
the development of the “one person, one vote” doctrine by ruling art. III; 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (https://ww
Baker v. Carr 1961
that challenges to redistricting did not raise “political questions” that w.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/198
would keep federal courts from reviewing such challenges 3); Tenn. Const. art. II

Majority-minority districts, created under the Voting Rights Act of

Shaw v. Reno 1993 1965, may be constitutionally challenged by voters if race is the only U.S. Const. amends. XIV
factor used in creating the district

Established the principle of judicial review empowering the Supreme

U.S. Const. art. I; U.S. Const. art. III,
Marbury v. Madison 1803 Court to nullify an act of the legislative or executive branch that
§ 2; Judiciary Act of 1789 § 13
violates the Constitution

Foundation Documents

Same as Supreme Court Cases, the College Board requires students to know 9 Foundation Documents.[4] The 9 Documents are listed below:

Foundation Document Year

Federalist No. 10
1787
Brutus No. 1

The Declaration of Independence 1776

The Articles of Confederation 1781

The Constitution of the United States 1789

Federalist No. 51

Federalist No. 70 1788

Federalist No. 78

Letter from Birmingham Jail 1963

Exam
The Multiple-Choice section is analytical and the Free-Response questions are fairly consistent.[5]

▪ Section I: Multiple-Choice (80 minutes, 55 questions, 50% of Total Exam Scores)

▪ Section II: Free-response (100 minutes, 4 questions, 50% of Total Exam Scores)

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Question # 1 2 3 4

Supreme Court Case(s)

Question Type Concept Application Quantitative Analysis Argument Essay
Comparison

Time Suggested 20 minutes 20 minutes 20 minutes 40 minutes

Percentage of Total Exam

Each free response question counts as 12.5% of the exam score.
Score

Grade distribution

The grade distributions since 2007 were:

Final
2007[6] 2008[7] 2009[8] 2010[9] 2011[10] 2012[11] 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018[12] 2019[13] 2020[14] 2021[15] 2022[16]
Score

5 6.0% 12.2% 13.1% 12.5% 12.6% 12.5% 11.3% 11.9% 9.8% 12.4% 11.2% 13.4% 12.9% 15.5% 11% 12.1%

4 18.9% 13.1% 17.0% 13.3% 13.9% 14.9% 14.3% 12.5% 13.6% 13.5% 12.5% 13.3% 12.4% 16.5% 11% 10.9%

3 26.9% 25.2% 25.4% 25.4% 25.1% 24.8% 26.1% 26.4% 24.7% 25% 25.8% 26.5% 29.9% 25.5% 27% 25.9%

2 32.1% 25.8% 24.2% 24.0% 24.3% 24.6% 24.8% 24.7% 25% 24% 24.7% 24.5% 24.8% 22.0% 27% 25.7%

1 16.1% 23.7% 20.2% 24.7% 24.1% 23.2% 23.5% 24.6% 26.9% 25.1% 25.8% 22.3% 20.0% 20.5% 23% 25.4%

% of
Scores 3 51.8% 50.5% 55.5% 51.2% 51.6% 52.2% 51.7% 50.8% 48.1% 50.9% 49.5% 53.2% 55.2% 57.5% 49% 48.9%
or Higher

Mean
2.67 2.64 2.78 2.65 2.67 2.69 2.65 2.63 2.54 2.64 2.59 2.71 2.73 2.85 2.62
Score

Standard
1.13 1.30 1.30 1.32 1.32 1.31 1.29 1.30 1.28 1.32 1.30 1.31 1.27 1.34 1.29
Deviation

Number
of 160,978 177,522 189,998 211,681 225,837 239,513 255,758 271,043 282,571 296,108 319,612 326,392 314,825 293,196 260,941
Students

References
1. "Government and Politics United States Comparative Course Description"
(https://web.archive.org/web/20080423034933/http://www.collegeboard.co
m/prod_downloads/ap/students/govpol/ap-cd-govpol-0708.pdf) (PDF). The
College Board. pp. 9–13. Archived from the original (http://www.collegeboa
rd.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/govpol/ap-cd-govpol-0708.pdf) (PDF)
on April 23, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2008.
2. "Government and Politics United States Comparative Course Description"
(https://web.archive.org/web/20080423034933/http://www.collegeboard.co
m/prod_downloads/ap/students/govpol/ap-cd-govpol-0708.pdf) (PDF). The
College Board. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original (http://www.collegebo
ard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/govpol/ap-cd-govpol-0708.pdf)
(PDF) on April 23, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2008.
3. "AP® U.S. Government and Politics Course And Exam Description" (http
s://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-us-government-and-politics-course-a
nd-exam-description-effective-fall-2018-0.pdf?course=ap-united-states-go
vernment-and-politics) (PDF). The College Board. pp. 48–49. Retrieved
March 8, 2019.
4. "AP® U.S. Government and Politics Course And Exam Description" (http
s://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-us-government-and-politics-course-a
nd-exam-description-effective-fall-2018-0.pdf?course=ap-united-states-go
vernment-and-politics) (PDF). The College Board. pp. 46–47. Retrieved
March 8, 2019.
5. "AP® U.S. Government and Politics Course And Exam Description" (http
s://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-us-government-and-politics-course-a
nd-exam-description-effective-fall-2018-0.pdf?course=ap-united-states-go
vernment-and-politics) (PDF). The College Board. p. 80. Retrieved
March 8, 2019.
6. "U.S. Government & Politics Grade Distribution" (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20080508144425/http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/usgo
v/dist.html?usgovpol). collegeboard.com, Inc. Archived from the original (h
ttp://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/usgov/dist.html?usgovpol)
on May 8, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2008.
7. "2008 U.S. Government & Politics Grade Distribution" (http://apcentral.coll
egeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_USGovtPolitics_GradeDistributi
ons.pdf) (PDF). collegeboard.com, Inc. Archived (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20090219120038/http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/reposito
ry/ap08_USGovtPolitics_GradeDistributions.pdf) (PDF) from the original
on February 19, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
8. "2009 U.S. Government & Politics Grade Distribution" (http://apcentral.coll
egeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap09_USGoPo_GradeDistributions.p
df) (PDF). collegeboard.com, Inc. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0110716144852/http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/a
p09_USGoPo_GradeDistributions.pdf) (PDF) from the original on July 16,
2011. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
9. "Archived copy" (http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/2
010_US_GOPO_Score_Dist.pdf) (PDF). Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20120328191537/http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/reposit
ory/2010_US_GOPO_Score_Dist.pdf) (PDF) from the original on March
28, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
10. "Archived copy" (http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/2
011_US_GoPo_Score_Dist.pdf) (PDF). Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20150105132428/http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/reposit
ory/2011_US_GoPo_Score_Dist.pdf) (PDF) from the original on January
5, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
11. Packer, Trevor. "2012 AP Exam Score Distributions" (http://www.totalregist
ration.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=471&Itemid=11
8). Total Registration. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120717041
311/http://www.totalregistration.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=
article&id=471&Itemid=118) from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved
July 10, 2012.
12. Total Registration (June 20, 2018). "@AP_Trevor: "The 2018 AP US
Government & Politics scores: 5: 13.4%; 4: 13.3%; 3: 26.5%; 2: 24.5%; 1:
22.3%. Kudos to these students and their teachers, as these are the
highest scores in many years. (By way of comparison, just a few years
ago, the percentage of 5s was 9.8%.)" " (https://twitter.com/AP_Trevor/stat
us/1009457094729269248). twitter.com.
13. Total Registration (June 28, 2019). "2019 AP Exam Score Distributions" (h
ttps://www.totalregistration.net/AP-Exam-Registration-Service/AP-Exam-S
core-Distributions.php). www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved June 28,
2019.
14. "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (https://secure-media.collegeboar
d.org/digitalServices/pdf/research/2020/Student-Score-Distributions-2020.
pdf) (PDF). Retrieved June 9, 2021.
15. (PDF) https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/research
/2021/2021-ap-student-score-distributions.pdf (https://secure-media.colleg
eboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/research/2021/2021-ap-student-score-distri
butions.pdf). Retrieved July 6, 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty
|title= (help)

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AP United States Government and Politics - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP_United_States_Government_and_Politics

16. Total Registration (June 29, 2022). "2022 AP Exam Score Distributions" (h
ttps://www.totalregistration.net/AP-Exam-Registration-Service/AP-Exam-S
core-Distributions.php). www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved June 29,
2022.

External links
▪ AP United States Government and Politics at CollegeBoard.com (http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_usgov.html?usgovpol)

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