As high school kids for years have been challenging themselves with the difficulty of advanced placement courses, you may find yourself seeking college credits by passing the AP human geography exam. If so, you may need an AP human geography practice test to help prepare yourself.
The AP human geography exam can be daunting, especially as the end of the school year approaches. In this article, we will discuss what you can expect to see on the exam and how you can best prepare, especially by taking an AP human geo practice test.
Summary: Use a free AP human geography practice test listed below to prepare for your exam.
AP Human Geography Practice Tests
An APHUG practice test can be hard to find, especially one with plenty of diverse questions as well as detailed answers. Luckily, we’ve done some of the legwork for you and developed a list of AP human geography practice tests for your use.
| Name of Test | Number of Questions |
| AP Human Geography Exam 1 | 75 multiple-choice, 3 free-response |
| Pearson AP Human Geo Practice Exam 2 & Answer Key | 75 multiple-choice |
| Pearson AP Human Geo Practice Exam 1 | 75 multiple-choice |
| The Ultimate Guide to AP Human Geography | 10 multiple-choice |
What is the AP Human Geography Test?
When a student signs on to take an AP course, they do so knowing that they will need to pass an exam at the end of the course to be eligible to receive college credit for the course.
AP human geography is no different than the other classes. The following sections explain what you can expect on the exam.
AP Human Geography Exam Description
There are seven units that should be covered throughout your AP human geo class. Your teacher may choose to put them together differently or teach them in a different order, but here are the seven units that will be taught in your class and appear on the exam:
- Unit One: Thinking Geographically – learn to get into a geographer’s mindset and discover how they use tools and methods to study places (8-10%)
- Unit Two: Population and Migration Patterns and Processes – explore the patterns of human populations and how they move about the world (12-17%)
- Unit Three: Cultural Patterns and Processes – focus on why and how religion, language, and other cultural practicesF spread over time and space (12-17%)
- Unit Four: Political Patterns and Processes – build on your knowledge of cultural practices by discovering the politics of different political systems around the world (12-17%)
- Unit Five: Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes – discover how humans first created agricultural practices and how the farming patterns and processes have changed over time and in various locations (12-17%)
- Unit Six: Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes – understand how urbanization began and how it was influenced in different locations and examine cities around the world and how they affect globalization (12-17%)
- Unit Seven: Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes – study how industrialization began and has changed the cities over time and how industrialization influences economic patterns and changes (12-17%)
You will likely also be asked to connect these topics to real-life scenarios, analyze the patterns and trends in data or visual sources like maps or graphs, and understand how to use geographical scales to determine spatial relationships.
The ability to read, analyze, and draw conclusions from graphs, charts, maps, tables, images, infographics, and landscapes are also important skills to have when taking the AP human geo test.
About AP Human Geo Questions
The AP human geography exam has sixty-three total questions and takes approximately two hours and fifteen minutes to complete. Sixty questions are multiple-choice questions that you have an hour to answer. This means you have one minute for every question.
The other three questions are free-response questions that ask you to put your thoughts down on paper about more complex subjects. You are given one hour and fifteen minutes to complete this portion so that you have plenty of time to collect and record your thoughts.
| Answer Style | % of Score | Time Given | Questions | Topics | |
| Section 1 | Multiple-Choice | 50% | 1 hr | 60 |
|
| Section 2 | Free-Response | 50% | 1 hr 15 min | 3 |
|
As you can see, there are three topics covered in the second section of this exam per the three questions you have to answer. You can be certain that you will be asked a question about these three topics no matter which version of the test you get.
How to Use AP Human Geography Practice Tests
When you study for any standardized tests, one of the most useful ways to study is to utilize a practice test. You can do the same with an AP human geo practice test to feel prepared for the AP test. There are two main reasons why practice tests are the best way to study.
Most of the practice AP test human geography sections are made of questions that were on previous versions of the test. When you take an AP human geography quiz, you will be familiarizing yourself with how the questions are worded on the exam.
Since you will be familiar with the question forms, you will likely be able to answer questions faster. This is because you can know what they are asking from seeing questions like that previously. It is important to be as efficient as possible since you only have one minute per question.
You can also better understand how the topics a distributed in the questions by taking an AP human geo practice test. Where we talk about the units on the exam, there are percentages next to the units explaining how much of that unit appears on the exam.
However, it is much easier to wrap your mind around those numbers when you have actually taken an AP human geo practice test that shows you those percentages. This can make you a more efficient studier by looking at the topics that appear most.
It is also important to find practice tests that give answers with explanations as it is best to learn and grow your knowledge from taking them. Otherwise, taking practice tests isn’t as helpful. Plenty of the tests linked above allow you to learn topics that you may need a little more help with.
How Do You Pass the AP Human Geography Exam?
The AP human geography test is scored on a scale from one to five with one being the lowest possible score and five being the highest possible. A passing score on the exam is a three, which can be attained by getting at least half (30) of the multiple-choice questions right.
So, how can you be sure you will pass the AP human geography exam? Like any exam you will take in your life, you have to study properly before taking it. Here are some of our best tips to study for the AP human geo exam.
The first thing you can do is study flashcards. You can either make them on your own or you can use some sort of online flashcard resource. Either way, take them with you everywhere to be able to study in the brief moments you have during the day.
You can take an AP human geo practice test as well. The more you take, the more familiar you can make yourself with the topics on the exam and the questions on the exam. We have several linked above that provide detailed explanations for their answers.
Another option will likely be given by the teacher of your course. You will probably review and be given some sort of study guide to help you prepare before you take the exam. Comprehensive study guides are also available online.
AP Human Geography Exam FAQs
Is the AP human geography exam hard?
Around 53% of all test takers pass the AP human geography test. Some believe that this may be the most difficult of the AP exams. However, with proper preparation, you should be set up for success on this exam.
What percent is a 5 on an AP exam AP human geography?
Only around 14% of all test takers get a 5 on the AP human geography exam. To attain a 5, you will likely need to get at least 50 of the multiple-choice questions correct.
How do you do well on the AP human geography test?
You can do well on the AP human geography test by studying the appropriate materials and taking practice tests.
