When Do AP Scores Come Out

Last reviewed: May 29, 2026. We will post the confirmed 2027 release date here as soon as College Board announces it.

You took the exam in May. Now you are refreshing your College Board account wondering when the number appears, and quietly worrying about what happens if it is a 2.

Here is the honest version of how AP scores work, when they arrive, and why a disappointing score is rarely the disaster it feels like in July.

When Do AP Scores Come Out in 2027?

AP scores are released online in July, several weeks after the May exam window.¹ In recent years, College Board has moved away from the old state-by-state rollout and released scores on a single day, available in the morning Eastern time through your College Board account.¹

The official 2027 date is not posted yet. College Board confirms it in the spring of the testing year, and based on the last several cycles, you should expect it in early-to-mid July 2027. Paper score reports are no longer mailed automatically; your scores live in your online account, so the account you used to register is the one you will check.¹

How AP Scoring Works

Every AP exam is scored on a 1 to 5 scale. Your multiple-choice section and your free-response section are combined into a composite, and that composite is converted to the final 1 to 5 score.²

College Board attaches a label to each number:

The conversion is re-set every year so that a 5 in 2027 represents the same level of mastery as a 5 in 2026.² That is why you cannot reliably predict your score from a raw percentage on a practice test.

What Your Score Means for College Credit

This is where most score-day panic is misplaced. AP credit policies vary enormously from one school to the next.³ The same 3 might earn you a full semester of credit at one university and absolutely nothing at another. Many highly selective schools award credit only for a 4 or 5, and some grant placement into a higher course rather than credit toward graduation.³

Before you celebrate or despair over a number, look up the AP credit policy at the specific colleges you care about. College Board keeps a searchable database of these policies, and every result can change how much that score is worth to you.³ Credit you earn this way can shorten your time to a degree and cut tuition, which is worth checking against the real cost of a year of college.

Who Can See Your AP Scores

Here is what nobody tells stressed-out juniors: colleges do not automatically see your AP scores. You control who receives them.¹

During the admissions process, AP scores are almost always self-reported on your application. Colleges typically only require an official score report after you have been admitted and decided to enroll.¹ That sequence matters: it means a low AP score rarely affects an admissions decision, because you choose what to report on the application, and official scores usually arrive long after you have already gotten in.

If you are applying to test-optional schools, the same logic applies to standardized tests. Our guide on submitting scores to test-optional colleges walks through when a score helps you and when to leave it off.

How to Send Your AP Scores to Colleges

When you register for exams, you can name one free score recipient if you indicate it by the June deadline each year.¹ After that, additional score reports cost a per-report fee (around $15), so designating your free send wisely saves money.¹

A few things students get wrong:

• Score sends are cumulative by default. When you send a report, every AP score on your record goes together, not just the one you like.
• You can change your free score recipient up to the June deadline without paying.
• Once you enroll in college, you will send your official scores to that one school so it can award any credit you earned.

Can You Hide or Cancel a Bad AP Score?

Yes, and there are two different tools for it.¹

Withholding keeps a specific score from going to a particular college. It is reversible and carries a small fee per score, per recipient. Cancelling permanently deletes a score from your record so no one, including you, ever sees it again. Cancelling is free but final.¹

Your AP Score-Season Checklist

A single score in July feels enormous in the moment. In the arc of your application, it is one data point you largely control. Plan around the 2027 AP exam schedule, prep deliberately with our AP exam prep guide, and treat score day as a logistics task, not a verdict.

Do AP Scores Affect Your GPA?

No. Your AP exam score, the 1 to 5 you get in July, does not change your high school GPA. What affects your GPA is the grade you earn in the AP course itself, which many high schools weight on a higher scale because the class is more demanding. The exam score lives on your College Board record, not on your transcript.²

That distinction matters when you plan. A strong year in the class supports your GPA and your transcript no matter how the exam goes, and colleges see your course grades on your transcript regardless of your exam result. The exam score's main job is earning college credit or placement later, not propping up your application GPA.

Why Your Score Might Not Match Your Practice Tests

Students are often surprised that a "passing" raw percentage on a practice test does not map cleanly to a 5. College Board re-equates each exam every year so that a given score reflects the same level of mastery across test versions and across years.² A raw score that earned a 5 one year might land at a 4 the next, depending on the difficulty of that year's questions.

Two other factors shift the result. The split between your multiple-choice and free-response sections is weighted, so strong essays can offset a shaky multiple-choice section and the reverse. And score distributions vary widely by subject: some exams produce far more 5s than others, which is one reason comparing your score to a friend's in a different subject tells you little.²

What to Do If You Are Not Happy With a Score

First, breathe. For admissions, the score usually matters far less than you fear, because you control what you self-report. If you want a better number, you can retake the exam in a future year, and only the score you choose to send needs to go anywhere. If a score is genuinely irrelevant to your plans, you can withhold or cancel it. Most students who are disappointed in July find the score simply never comes up again.

FAQ

When exactly do 2027 AP scores come out?

College Board has not posted the exact 2027 date yet and typically confirms it in the spring. Based on recent years, expect scores online in early-to-mid July 2027.¹

Do colleges see my AP scores when I apply?

No. AP scores are self-reported on your application, and colleges generally require an official report only after you enroll. You decide which scores to send and when.¹

Is a 3 a good AP score?

A 3 is officially a "qualified," passing score. Whether it earns college credit depends on the school; some grant credit for a 3, while many selective colleges require a 4 or 5.²³

Can I hide or cancel a bad AP score?

Yes. You can withhold a score from a specific college for a small fee, or permanently cancel it for free. Cancelling is final, so it is rarely worth doing in the moment.¹

How do I send my AP scores to colleges?

Designate one free score recipient by the June deadline through your College Board account. Additional reports cost a per-report fee, and all your AP scores send together unless you withhold or cancel one.¹

Do AP scores expire?

No. AP scores stay on your College Board record and remain available to send for years, so a score you earned as a sophomore is still valid when you apply to college.¹

Related Articles

• AP Exam Schedule 2027
• AP Exam Prep by Subject
• Submitting Scores to Test-Optional Colleges
• What to Do After AP Exams
• What Counts as a Good ACT Score

Footnotes

1. College Board. (2026). AP Scores: Getting Your Scores. https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/scores ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

2. College Board. (2026). Understanding Your AP Scores. https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/about-ap-scores ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. College Board. (2026). AP Credit Policy Search. https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴