4.1 Score Makeup

2027 Portfolio Submission Deadline

Submit the Sustained Investigation Images, Sustained Investigation Written Evidence, and Selected Works as final in the AP Digital Portfolio by May 7, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Your teacher will usually set an earlier in-class deadline so there is time to confirm that every component is complete.

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.

Deciphering the AP Art and Design Rubric

There are two parts to your AP Art and Design test, the Sustained Investigation and the Selected Works. Each one of these has a rubric designed for that section that measures specific "requirements and prompts" that you need to successfully demonstrate. The College Board (CB) states that the rubric is "the contract with the student", so it is incredibly important that you understand what they are talking about in it. 😉

I'm going to break these down for you, but here is the College Board site for more information: Selected Works and Sustained Investigation Rubrics.

General Scoring Note

College Board states that: "When applying the rubric, the score for each row should be considered independently from the other rows. Students may receive different scores for each row. When applying the rubric for each individual row, you should award the score for that row-based solely upon the criteria indicated for that row, according to the preponderance of the evidence. "

This means you select the score point achieved for each row. The body of work is graded holistically (as a whole, all together) for each row. There is a formula you have to plug them into to get the credit score for this section. The total score generated by that formula will represent 60% of your score. Please see the row breakdown below - trust me, it gets easier. 🙂

How Is My Work Scored?

The two parts of your portfolio are combined to make your score. The Selected Works portion provides 40% of your score. The Sustained Investigation portion supplies the other 60%. More importantly, the Sustained Investigation is broken down into four sections, and each row, independently, has a portion of that percentage. Here's the breakdown:

• Row A - 12%
• Row B - 18%
• Row C - 18%
• Row D - 12%

If you are someone who "likes to do the math", more power to you! 👌🏽 Here's a formula to use to create a rough approximation of your score.

This is not a guarantee of a particular score, but you can use this tool as a way to predictively score your work and figure out where you need to concentrate to move your score as you work.  👍🏽 💯 🙌🏽

The Rubric