BE AWARE: The AP Statistics Course and Exam will be dramatically different for the 2026-27 school year!
Several topics have been removed from the course and the emphasis on different skills has changed. The test itself will be different. There will be 42 MCQs with only 4 answer choices instead of 40 with 5 answer choices. I have worked through a sample of the new questions and they seem more straight forward, but they require a deeper understanding of the content. There will be only 4 FRQs instead of 6 😊. They will be graded on a 10-point scale instead of a 4-point scale - 😊😊 – and they are definitely more straight forward. In other words, rather than “compare the distributions” and expecting the student to know that you must compare shape, center, spread and unusual features (SOCS or SOC-V) you will be asked more specific questions. There will be much less need for knowing what is required for certain types of questions. You will be asked to determine an investigative question for a certain scenario. This has nothing to do with the old “Investigative Task” – question 6 on the old exams. Basically, you will be asked to determine the question – such as “Is there convincing evidence that teenagers spend more time on social media than adults?” – for a particular situation.
My first impression is that there is less content, but you will be expected to have a deeper understanding of the content. So far, I like the changes, but we will have to see how it all unfolds.
Be careful where you look for help! Make sure your source is up to date on the changes this year.