3.5 Selected Works
🎨AP Art & Design Unit 3 Review
3.5 Selected Works
🎨 AP Art & Design
continue practicing 3.5
Multiple choice
2026-27 AP Art and Design AI Policy
AI tools are optional. If you use them, use them ethically, responsibly, and intentionally, and keep every finished portfolio piece your own work.
- Generative AI may support research, ideation, practice, experimentation, and revision. Do not use generative AI, including generative features such as object creation, generative fill or expand, and background replacement, to create final submitted artwork.
- Non-generative AI editing may be used at any stage to faithfully represent artwork you made. Permitted examples include exposure, contrast, color correction, cropping, selection, and minor cleanup.
- Disclose every use of generative or non-generative AI in the AP Digital Portfolio for both Sustained Investigation and Selected Works.
See College Board's 2026-27 AI guidance for the complete policy.
What Are the Selected Works (SW)?
The SW part of the test is exactly what the name implies..... it consists of five works selected by YOU to be scored. These works should be your very best pieces. You submit them as digital images through the AP Digital Portfolio, and AP readers score those images together with the short written evidence you enter for each work. Nothing is mailed, so your photographs ARE your work as far as the readers are concerned. ❤️
How Do I Select My Selected Works?
Simply, you want to send your BEST works. If you are having a hard time selecting, ask someone to help. Put your ten best works on the table and have friends and family help select. You can run a poll on Facebook or Instagram. This lets people see your work AND helps you decide! 😃 The top five pieces with the highest number of votes go into the portfolio. This ensures that the strongest works are submitted and not just your favorite pieces. Kids struggle with this year after year.
Don't submit a piece just because you like it, because it was your "first watercolor", or it reminds you of summer or an old friend. The reader won't know why you chose that piece and will score it only on what the image and your written evidence show.
Pro-tip: Avoid sentimentality and only send your BEST work. Having others weigh-in can be helpful.
What Are the Rules about Selected Works?
There are several rules to keep in mind about your SW.
- Digital images only: You upload images of your works to the AP Digital Portfolio. Nothing is mailed, so there is no size limit and canvases, sculptures, and books are all fine. For 2-D and Drawing you submit one image of each of the five works; for 3-D you submit 10 images, two views of each work.
- Photograph carefully: Readers only see your images, so shoot each work in even light, square to the camera, and cropped to the work. For a sketchbook or altered book, photograph the spread you want scored.
- Written evidence for each work: Idea(s) visually evident (100 characters maximum, including spaces), Materials used (100), Processes used (100), and the size of the work.
- Original work: Any preexisting source material, including imagery generated by AI tools, must be cited and observably transformed through your own practice, experimentation, and revision. Generative AI may not be used to create final submitted artwork.
- Overlap is allowed: Selected Works can also appear in your Sustained Investigation, but they don't have to.
How Much Do my SWs Count for Toward my Score?
Your SW will count for 40% of your overall score. The five works are graded holistically (meaning as one unit), and you will be given that score. If you want to understand more about how your work is scored, check out the rubric breakdown guide.
Practice Questions for 3.5
1 of 10
What is the purpose behind selecting bright primary colors in a sculpture meant to evoke playfulness and childhood memories?
A.
Primary colors are commonly associated with childhood toys and games and therefore invoke nostalgic feelings.
B.
Artists often pick strong primary colors because they are easiest to obtain, maintaining consistency across the work.
C.
Bright primary colors are chosen because they are traditionally used in religious artworks to convey sacredness.
D.
Vibrant primary hues are selected to contrast with the natural environment where the sculpture is displayed, enhancing its visibility.
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