AP Test Schedule 2027: The Complete Guide to Every Exam Date, Time, and Deadline
Every AP subject is tested on one fixed date and time, nationwide, with no ability to move it to a more convenient day. That single rule is why the AP test schedule matters more than most students realize until the week they discover two of their exams fall in the exact same time slot. College Board has now confirmed the official 2027 AP Exam dates, and the two-week window is only the starting point — the harder part is knowing exactly which day your specific subjects fall on, what deadlines land before the exams even start, and what your options are if something on your list conflicts.
This matters even more in 2027 specifically, because three new AP courses are reaching the exam table for the first time as part of College Board's AP Career Kickstart program, and this cycle's schedule reflects a broader shift in how College Board is managing exam security across time zones. None of that is optional context — it changes what your specific testing day looks like depending on which subjects and location you're in.
This guide covers the full day-by-day 2027 AP exam schedule, the late-testing window and who actually qualifies for it, the new exams debuting this year, digital portfolio and performance task deadlines that land before exam week, current exam fees and fee reduction eligibility, registration deadlines, how schedule conflicts are actually resolved, and when your scores will be released.
The Official 2027 AP Exam Schedule
Read down the grid for the specific subjects you're taking, and check carefully for anything that lands in the same morning or afternoon block as another one of your exams — that's the single most common source of a same-day conflict.
| Week 1 Date | Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, May 3 | Human Geography, Physics C: Mechanics | Biology, Italian Language and Culture |
| Tuesday, May 4 | Business with Personal Finance, U.S. Government and Politics | European History, Microeconomics |
| Wednesday, May 5 | Cybersecurity, English Literature and Composition | Physics 1: Algebra-Based, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism |
| Thursday, May 6 | French Language and Culture, Physics 2: Algebra-Based, World History: Modern | African American Studies, Chemistry |
| Friday, May 7 | German Language and Culture, U.S. History | Macroeconomics, Networking (2026–27 pilot schools only) |
| Week 2 Date | Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, May 10 | Calculus AB, Calculus BC | Music Theory, Seminar |
| Tuesday, May 11 | Japanese Language and Culture, Precalculus | Statistics |
| Wednesday, May 12 | English Language and Composition | Art History, Computer Science A |
| Thursday, May 13 | Spanish Language and Culture | Chinese Language and Culture, Environmental Science |
| Friday, May 14 | Comparative Government and Politics, Computer Science Principles, Spanish Literature and Culture | Latin, Psychology |
Late Testing: The May 17–21 Window
Late testing is not a second chance for students who simply didn't feel ready — it's a separate administration using alternate versions of each exam, reserved specifically for documented circumstances. For 2027, late testing runs May 17–21, the week immediately following the main two-week window.
- Situations that typically qualify: two of a student's own exams scheduled in the exact same time block, a documented illness with physician documentation, a documented religious-observance conflict, or a school-sponsored academic conflict such as a state-level competition.
- Situations that do not qualify: personal or family events, including things like prom or a family trip — College Board's conflict rules are narrow and specific.
- Who arranges it: your school's AP coordinator, not the student directly. All students taking late exams at a given school sit the alternate versions on the same scheduled late-testing dates and times.
- Timing matters: because documentation requirements are strict, raise any anticipated conflict with your AP coordinator as soon as you become aware of it, rather than waiting until exam week to sort it out.
New AP Exams Debuting in May 2027
If you scan the grid above and see subjects you've never heard of, that's not a mistake. Three career-focused courses reach the exam table for the first time in 2027 as part of College Board's AP Career Kickstart initiative — a newer category of AP courses built specifically around career-relevant skills rather than the traditional college-course model.
| Exam | Status in 2027 | What's Different |
|---|---|---|
| AP Business with Personal Finance | First live exam, standard availability | Part of AP Career Kickstart; a qualifying score can earn both college credit and an employer-endorsed credential — unusual for an AP exam. |
| AP Cybersecurity | First live exam, standard availability | Also part of AP Career Kickstart, with the same dual college-credit and employer-endorsed credential structure. |
| AP Networking | Pilot schools only | Full nationwide launch planned for 2027–28; not offered outside pilot schools this cycle. |
| AP African American Studies | Standard exam (no longer piloted) | Completed its multi-year pilot phase and now appears on the schedule as a fully standard AP exam. |
If you're enrolled in one of these newer courses, confirm directly with your AP coordinator that your specific school is actually administering the exam — first-year and pilot courses aren't offered at every school yet, even if the course itself is on your transcript.
Digital Portfolio and Performance Task Deadlines
Several AP subjects are scored partly or entirely on work submitted online well before the written exam window even opens — and there's no makeup for a missed portfolio deadline the way there is for a missed exam day.
| Subject(s) | Deadline | What's Due |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Science Principles | April 30, 2027 (11:59 p.m. ET) | Create performance task submitted as final |
| AP Seminar and AP Research | April 30, 2027 (11:59 p.m. ET) | Performance tasks submitted as final |
| AP World Languages and Cultures courses | April 30, 2027 (11:59 p.m. ET) | Personalized Project Reference (PPR) submitted as final |
| AP Art and Design | May 7, 2027 (11:59 p.m. ET) | All three portfolio components submitted as final in the AP Digital Portfolio |
If you're in any of these courses, treat the submission deadline as its own hard commitment on your calendar, entirely separate from your written exam date — it typically lands days to weeks before the exam itself.
How Much AP Exams Cost
The standard AP exam fee for the current cycle sits at roughly $99 per exam in the U.S., Canada, U.S. territories, and DoDEA schools, and around $129 per exam at authorized testing locations outside the U.S. and Canada. College Board sets exam fees annually, so confirm the exact current-year figure with your AP coordinator rather than assuming last year's number carries over unchanged.
| Fee Type | Approximate Amount |
|---|---|
| Standard exam fee (U.S., Canada, territories, DoDEA) | ~$99 per exam |
| Standard exam fee (outside U.S. and Canada) | ~$129 per exam |
| College Board fee reduction (financial need) | $37 off per exam, plus schools typically waive their $9 rebate for these students |
| Late-order fee | Applies per exam ordered after your school's internal deadline |
| Unused/cancelled exam fee | Applies if an ordered exam isn't taken or is cancelled after the deadline |
The fee reduction isn't automatic — it has to be requested through your AP coordinator with supporting documentation, and your coordinator must record your fee-reduction status in College Board's system by the relevant spring deadline. Some states and districts layer additional subsidies on top of the College Board reduction, so it's worth asking your coordinator specifically what's available locally before assuming you'll pay the full standard fee.
Registration Deadlines: When You Actually Need to Sign Up
Students commit to AP exams months before the actual testing window in May — and the deadline that decides whether you get a seat is almost always your school's internal deadline, not College Board's national one.
- Join your AP class section online using the join code your teacher or coordinator provides — this is the first registration step and doesn't itself commit you to sitting the exam.
- Confirm with your school's AP coordinator that they've officially ordered your exam and recorded your intent to test, since you cannot register for an AP exam directly with College Board.
- Watch for your school's internal fall deadline — often set in October or early November, ahead of College Board's national mid-November ordering deadline. Missing your school's internal date is the most common way students lose their exam seat entirely.
- If you're homeschooled or your school doesn't offer a specific AP course, you'll need to arrange testing through a participating school or an authorized outside test center — start this process early in the fall, since many host schools cap the number of outside registrants they'll accept.
- A spring final ordering and payment deadline follows the fall registration window — after that point, late-order and cancellation fees apply to any changes.
What Happens If Two of Your Exams Land in the Same Time Slot
Because every subject has exactly one fixed nationwide slot, a genuine same-time conflict does happen occasionally — usually when a student's course load includes two subjects that share a testing block. It's not something you can resolve by swapping to a different day; the resolution runs entirely through late testing.
- Your AP coordinator identifies the conflict, typically by cross-checking your registered exams against the published schedule ahead of the main testing window.
- You sit one of the two exams at its regular scheduled time during the normal two-week window.
- You sit the other exam during the May 17–21 late-testing window, using an alternate version of that exam.
- If your course load is genuinely overloaded across multiple subjects, talk to your AP coordinator early about which exams to actually sit — self-studying a subject and taking that exam in a future year, or taking a transferable community-college course instead, are both legitimate alternatives to stacking every AP exam in one spring.
When AP Scores Come Out
AP scores are released online several weeks after the exams, typically beginning in early July, with the full release rolling out over several weeks by subject rather than all at once. Scores are sent to whichever colleges you've designated to receive them, later in July.
- You choose which colleges receive your scores — sending a score isn't automatic just because you took the exam.
- Any college you do send scores to sees your complete AP score history for that request, including lower scores, not just the ones you'd prefer to highlight.
- If you're unsure about how a particular exam went, you can hold off on sending that score to colleges until after you've seen the result yourself.
- Check your official College Board account directly for your personal release date and score report, since the rolling release means different subjects post on different days.
A Study Timeline You Can Start Now
With the dates confirmed, the most effective approach is building your prep backward from your specific first exam date rather than treating 'May' as one undifferentiated deadline.
- January 2027: Take a full diagnostic in each subject and map out your weakest units specifically, rather than re-reviewing material you've already mastered.
- February 2027: Drill the weak units identified in your diagnostic first, then start incorporating full-length, timed practice sections rather than only untimed review.
- March 2027: Shift toward connecting concepts across units and rehearsing free-response strategy using officially released past questions, not just multiple-choice drilling.
- April 2027: Sit complete official past exams under real timing conditions to build stamina for the full exam length, while keeping your strongest subjects warm rather than abandoning them entirely. Watch the April 30 portfolio and performance task deadlines closely if any apply to your courses.
The pattern that most reliably separates strong scores from weaker ones is starting early enough to sit more than one full timed practice exam per subject — cramming in the final two weeks before your test date rarely moves a score by a full point, since AP exams weight sustained conceptual understanding and free-response writing far more heavily than last-minute memorization.
Conclusion
The 2027 AP test schedule follows the same basic shape as every recent cycle — two weeks in May, a late-testing window the week after — but the specifics genuinely matter: which exact day and time slot your subjects fall in, whether any of your courses carry a digital portfolio deadline weeks before the written exam, whether you're one of the first students sitting a brand-new Career Kickstart exam, and what your school's internal registration deadline actually is, since it typically lands well before College Board's national one.
None of that requires guesswork once you have the full grid in front of you. Map your own subjects against the schedule now, flag anything that lands in the same block, confirm your school's specific deadlines and start times with your AP coordinator directly, and build your study plan backward from your actual first exam date rather than a generic 'May' deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the official 2027 AP exam dates?+
The 2027 AP Exams run over two weeks in May: May 3–7 and May 10–14. Late testing for students with documented conflicts is held the following week, May 17–21. Each subject has one fixed nationwide date and time, and most exams begin at 8 a.m. or 12 p.m. local time.
What happens if I have two AP exams scheduled at the same time?+
A genuine same-slot conflict qualifies you for late testing on one of the two exams, arranged through your AP coordinator. You'll sit one exam at its regular scheduled time during the main two-week window and the other during the May 17–21 late-testing window, using an alternate version of that exam.
Which new AP exams are being offered for the first time in 2027?+
AP Business with Personal Finance and AP Cybersecurity are both giving their first live exams in May 2027, as part of College Board's newer AP Career Kickstart program. AP Networking is available at pilot schools only for the 2026–27 cycle, with a full nationwide launch planned for 2027–28. AP African American Studies has also moved from pilot status to a standard, fully available exam.
How much do AP exams cost in 2026–27?+
The standard AP exam fee is approximately $99 per exam in the U.S., Canada, U.S. territories, and DoDEA schools, and roughly $129 per exam at authorized locations outside the U.S. and Canada. Students with demonstrated financial need may qualify for a $37 per-exam fee reduction through College Board, sometimes combined with additional state or district subsidies — confirm exact current-year figures with your AP coordinator.
When do 2027 AP scores come out?+
AP scores are typically released online starting in early July, a few weeks after the exams, with different subjects posting on a rolling basis rather than all releasing on the same day. Scores are sent to your designated colleges later in July. You choose which colleges receive scores, and any college you send to sees your complete score history for that request.
Can I take AP exams if I'm homeschooled or my school doesn't offer AP?+
Yes. You'll need to arrange testing through a participating school or an authorized outside test center that offers the specific exam you want to take. Contact potential host schools early in the fall, since many limit the number of outside registrants they accept, and expect to pay the standard exam fee plus any administrative fee the host school charges.
What counts as a valid reason for late testing?+
Valid reasons typically include a same-time-slot conflict between two of your own exams, a documented illness supported by physician documentation, a documented religious-observance conflict, or a school-sponsored academic conflict such as a state-level competition. Personal or family events, including things like prom, do not qualify — College Board's conflict rules are specific and narrow, so it's best to plan personal commitments around your confirmed exam dates rather than expecting to reschedule.
When is the digital portfolio deadline for AP Art and Design, Seminar, Research, and Computer Science Principles?+
AP Computer Science Principles, AP Seminar and AP Research, and AP World Languages and Cultures courses share an April 30, 2027 (11:59 p.m. ET) deadline for submitting performance tasks or the Personalized Project Reference as final. AP Art and Design has a separate deadline of May 7, 2027 (11:59 p.m. ET) for submitting all three portfolio components as final in the AP Digital Portfolio. There is no makeup for a missed portfolio deadline.
How do I register for AP exams?+
You can't register directly with College Board. First, join your AP class section online using the join code from your teacher or AP coordinator. Then confirm with your school's AP coordinator that they've officially ordered your exam, since they handle the actual registration and fee collection. Watch for your school's internal deadline, which is usually set in the fall and typically lands earlier than College Board's national ordering deadline.
Do AP exam start times vary by location?+
For most schools, including all schools in the lower 48 states, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C., exams begin at the standard 8 a.m. or 12 p.m. local time. Starting with the 2027 administration, College Board adjusted start times for some other locations specifically to prevent secure exam content from being disclosed across time zones before later-testing students sit down. If you're testing outside the standard lower-48 locations, confirm your exact start time directly with your AP coordinator rather than assuming the standard time applies.
