Advanced Placement (AP) Art History (also known as AP Art, or APAH) is an Advanced Placement art history course and exam offered by the College Board. AP Art History is designed to allow students to examine major forms of artistic expression relevant to a variety of cultures evident in a wide variety of periods from present times into the past. Students acquire an ability to examine works of art critically, with intelligence and sensitivity, and to articulate their thoughts and experiences. The course content covers prehistoric, Mediterranean, European, American, Native American, African, Asian, Pacific, and Contemporary art and architecture. Course The course is designed to teach the following art historical skills: Visual Analysis Contextual Analysis Comparisons of Works of Art Artistic Traditions Visual Analysis of Unknown Works Attribution of Unknown Works Art Historical Interpretations Argumentation The course is also built on five core "Big Ideas": Culture Interactions with Other Cultures Theories and Interpretations Materials, Processes, and Techniques Purpose and Audience Starting in the 2015–2016 school year, College Board has introduced a new curriculum and exam for students to apply art historical skills to questions. Exam Score distribution The multiple choice section of the exam is worth 50% of a student's score and the free-response is worth 50%. Each correctly answered multiple choice question is worth one point. Wrong and omitted questions do not affect the raw score. For the free-response section, the four short essays are each graded on a scale of 0 to 5 and the two long essays are each graded on a scale of 0 to 7. Works studied The current curriculum, which began in 2015, focuses on 250 works of art and architecture across 10 units, beginning with prehistoric art and ending with contemporary art. Global Prehistory (30,000 - 500 BCE) Apollo 11 stone Great Hall of the Bulls Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canine Running horned woman Beaker with ibex motifs Anthropomorphic stele Jade cong Stonehenge The Ambum stone Tlatilco female figurine Terra cotta fragment Ancient Mediterranean (3500 BCE - 300 CE) White Temple and its ziggurat Palette of King Narmer Statues of votive figures, from the Square Temple at Eshunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq) Seated scribe Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs at Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq) Great Pyramids (Menkaura, Khafre, Khufu) and Great Sphinx King Menkaura and queen The Code of Hammurabi Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall Mortuary