AP Statistics FRQ Format 2027: 4 Questions, 40 Points
By Jude Wallis · Published
Section II of the AP Statistics exam is 4 free-response questions worth 10 points each, answered in 90 minutes, and worth 50% of the exam. Each question is worth 12.5%. Question 3 is always inference; the other three are multi-focus questions built on the four course practices.
This page describes Section II of the Fall 2026 AP Statistics exam, first administered May 2027: four 10-point free-response questions in 90 minutes for 50% of the score, in the fixed order set by the exam format. The fully digital Bluebook delivery is stated on College Board's AP Statistics future revisions page.
Section II at a glance
The free-response section of the redesigned AP Statistics exam, first sat in May 2027, has a fixed shape:
| Feature | Section II |
|---|---|
| Questions | 4 |
| Points per question | 10 |
| Points in total | 40 |
| Time | 90 minutes |
| Share of exam score | 50% |
| Share per question | 12.5% |
That is the whole structure. Four questions, equally weighted, half your grade, and the same 90 minutes the multiple-choice section gets. The exam runs 3 hours in total, split evenly between the two sections.
The four questions are worth the same, which is worth pausing on, because it is not how students usually treat them. The inference question is the one everyone drills, and it carries exactly as many points as the study-design question most people skim.
The four questions, in the order they appear
Section II runs the same four question types in the same order:
| Question | Type | Points | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Multi-Focus on Practices 1 and 2 | 10 | 12.5% |
| 2 | Multi-Focus on Practices 3 and 4 | 10 | 12.5% |
| 3 | Inference (Hypothesis Test or Confidence Interval) | 10 | 12.5% |
| 4 | Multi-Focus on Practices 2, 3, and 4 | 10 | 12.5% |
A multi-focus question is labeled by the course practices it targets, so knowing what those practices are tells you what each question is going to ask for. That is the next section.
Question 3 is the predictable one. It is always inference, either a hypothesis test or a confidence interval, which means you know an eighth of the exam before you open it. That is why a rehearsed inference template pays for itself: see the AP Statistics FRQ guide for the four-step structure that earns those points.
What the four course practices are
The exam is organized around four course practices as well as around content, and the free-response questions are named for the practices they target.
| Practice | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Practice 1: Formulate Questions | 5-10% |
| Practice 2: Collect Data | 20-30% |
| Practice 3: Analyze Data | 25-35% |
| Practice 4: Interpret Results | 25-35% |
Read the question types through that table and the free-response section stops looking arbitrary. Question 1 targets formulating a question and collecting data, so expect study design, sampling, and what a design does or does not let you conclude. Question 2 targets analyzing and interpreting, so expect to read a distribution or a model and say what it means. Question 4 combines collecting, analyzing, and interpreting.
Analyzing data and interpreting results carry the heaviest weightings of the four, which is the framework saying plainly that writing the sentence matters as much as running the arithmetic.
The timing arithmetic worth doing once
Ninety minutes across four equally weighted questions is 22.5 minutes each, and 90 minutes across 40 points is 2.25 minutes per point.
Those two numbers are more useful than they look. If you are 30 minutes into the section and still on Question 1, you are not behind on one question, you are behind on the whole section, because there is no question worth more to catch up on. Every question is 10 points.
The practical version: budget around 20 minutes a question rather than the full 22.5. That banks 10 minutes across the section to spend on whichever question turns out to be the hardest, and it makes finishing one early a real gain rather than a rounding error. A question left blank scores zero, and every question is worth the same 10 points, so time spent stuck is time taken from points you could still earn elsewhere.
Section II inside the exam as a whole
The free-response section is one half of a 3-hour exam:
| Section | Questions | Time | Share of score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section I: Multiple-choice | 42 | 90 min | 50% |
| Section II: Free-response | 4 | 90 min | 50% |
The exam is fully digital, with all student responses submitted through the Bluebook testing app, a change College Board describes on its AP Statistics future revisions page as taking effect with the May 2027 exam.
That matters for the free-response section more than for the multiple-choice one. You will be typing statistical reasoning into a screen while a data table and a graph compete for the same space, which is a different task from writing under a printed stem. Practice it in the format you will meet it in.
For the full breakdown of both sections, unit weightings included, see the new AP Statistics exam format.
What the format does not tell you
Two things people look for here do not exist yet, and it is better to say so than to guess.
There is no published score conversion or curve for the redesigned exam. May 2027 is its first administration, so no distribution of scores exists to describe. Any site quoting a points-to-5 conversion for this exam is describing the old one or inventing it.
There is also no public per-part rubric ahead of the exam. What the published exam format fixes is what this page states: four questions, ten points each, in a known order, with Question 3 always inference. How those ten points break down within a question is set question by question.
What you can prepare for is the structure. The order is fixed, the weighting is even, and the practices each question targets are published in advance.
How to actually write the answers
Format is the easy half. The points come from how you write.
The AP Statistics FRQ guide covers the State, Plan, Do, Conclude template for the inference question, the task verbs the framework defines, and the mistakes that cost the most points, including conclusions with no context and bare calculator commands with no values.
For drilling under time, mixed review inference practice gives you Question 3 shaped problems, and the AP Statistics cram sheet collects the formulas and interpretation templates in one place.
Building a timing plan for Section II
Section II is 4 free-response questions worth 10 points each, answered in 90 minutes. Work out the time per question, the time per point, and a plan that leaves room to come back to a part you cannot finish.
Time per question: minutes.
Total points: points.
Time per point: minutes.
Build in a reserve. Working to 20 minutes per question uses minutes and leaves 10 minutes spare.
Check what the reserve buys: at 2.25 minutes per point, 10 minutes is worth roughly points, more than a tenth of the whole section.
22.5 minutes per question and 2.25 minutes per point. Working to a 20-minute target per question leaves a 10-minute reserve, which is worth about 4 points at the section's own exchange rate.
Which practices the free-response section leans on
Using the four published question types, count how many of the four free-response questions name each course practice, and say what that implies about preparation.
List the practices named by each question. Question 1: Practices 1 and 2. Question 2: Practices 3 and 4. Question 3: inference, with no practices named in the question type. Question 4: Practices 2, 3, and 4.
Count Practice 1: named on Question 1 only, so 1 of 4 questions.
Count Practice 2: named on Questions 1 and 4, so 2 of 4.
Count Practice 3: named on Questions 2 and 4, so 2 of 4.
Count Practice 4: named on Questions 2 and 4, so 2 of 4.
Compare with the published weightings: Practice 1 carries 5-10%, the smallest of the four, and it is also the practice named on the fewest free-response questions.
Practices 2, 3, and 4 are each named on two of the four questions; Practice 1 on one. Collecting data, analyzing it, and interpreting results appear across the whole section, so a student who only rehearses the inference question has prepared for one question out of four.
Frequently asked questions
How many free-response questions are on the AP Statistics exam?
Four, worth 10 points each, for 40 points in total. They are answered in 90 minutes and count for 50% of the exam score, which makes each question worth 12.5% of your overall score.
How long do I get per free-response question?
22.5 minutes on average, since Section II gives you 90 minutes for 4 questions. Because all four questions are worth the same 10 points, there is no question that rewards spending extra time at another one's expense.
Which free-response question is always inference?
Question 3. It is always an inference question, either a hypothesis test or a confidence interval. Questions 1, 2, and 4 are multi-focus questions labeled by the course practices they target.
Is the free-response section digital in 2027?
Yes. College Board's future revisions page states that the May 2027 exam moves to fully digital, with all student responses submitted through the Bluebook testing app. You will be typing your free-response answers rather than writing them.
What is the score curve for the new AP Statistics exam?
There is not one yet. May 2027 is the first administration of the redesigned exam, so no score distribution or points-to-5 conversion exists for it. Any conversion table you find describes the previous exam.
Are all four free-response questions worth the same?
Yes. Each is 10 points and 12.5% of the exam score. The inference question is more predictable than the others, but it is not worth more, so a study plan that only covers inference has covered a quarter of the section.