AP exam
What actually changes in the AP Calculus exam in 2027
The course content is not moving. The shape of the exam is. Here is what College Board has published — and the one thing it has not made clear.
If you are between classes, the short version: AP Calculus AB and BC keep the same content, but from the May 2027 exams the number of multiple-choice questions and the exam timing change. Seniors you teach now will sit the old shape; your 2026-27 juniors will sit the new one.
What College Board says changed
AP Central carries a section titled “Clarifications and Exam Updates for 2026-27.” The Course and Exam Description (CED) was updated with minor clarifications — made in response to feedback from AP Calculus teachers and intended to improve mathematical clarity and exam administration. Course content has not changed. What changed is the format: “the number of multiple-choice questions and the timing on the AP Calculus AB and BC Exams have also been updated,” effective starting with the May 2027 exams.
The exam format, as published
Both AB and BC currently show the same structure on their AP Central exam pages:
- Section I — Multiple choice: 42 questions, 1 hour 40 minutes,
50% of the exam score.
- Part A: 29 questions, 62 minutes — no calculator
- Part B: 13 questions, 38 minutes — graphing calculator required
- Section II — Free response: 6 questions, 1 hour 30 minutes,
50% of the exam score.
- Part A: 2 questions, 30 minutes — graphing calculator required
- Part B: 4 questions, 60 minutes — no calculator
The exam is a hybrid digital exam: students answer the multiple-choice questions and view the free-response questions in the Bluebook testing app, then handwrite their free-response answers in paper booklets that are returned for scoring.
The part that is genuinely not clear yet
College Board says the multiple-choice count and timing were updated effective starting with the May 2027 exams — but the exam pages do not label the format listing with a year. So the numbers above are quoted exactly as published, and we are not going to assert that any given line describes the 2026-27 sitting rather than the 2027 one. The primary document is College Board's own AB/BC CED clarifications (PDF), linked below; read it at source before you write numbers into a syllabus, and re-check after the spring 2027 materials land.
Dates for the wall
The 2027 AP Exams run over two weeks: 3–7 May and 10–14 May 2027. Calculus AB and Calculus BC are both on Monday 10 May 2027, in the Session 1 (morning) slot. From 2027, start times change in some locations — to prevent secure exam content being disclosed across time zones — but for most schools, including all of the lower 48 United States, Hawaii and Washington, D.C., exams still begin at 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. local time. College Board publishes a per-school start-time lookup tool; use it before you print a schedule.
What to do about it
- Read the clarifications PDF yourself. It is the primary source and it is short.
- If you teach the 2027 cohort, time your practice against the published format — and re-check the numbers once College Board publishes the spring 2027 materials.
- Nothing in the course content moved: your lesson sequences and the CED framework still stand.
Something here you would like confirmed, or a correction? Email info@calc21.com — we would rather check than guess.
- Sources (all checked 8 October 2026): AP Central — AP Calculus AB course page, AP Calculus BC course page, AP Calculus AB exam page, 2027 AP Exam Dates.
- Primary document: AP Calculus AB and BC CED clarifications (PDF).
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