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2-D Art and Design

AP 2-D Art and Design

Build a 20-image portfolio that shows real inquiry, real synthesis, and real 2-D skill.

Category
Arts
Units
8 units
Exam
Portfolio submission, no timed exam
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What the course covers

AP 2-D Art and Design has no exam day. Your score comes from a digital portfolio you build across the year: a Sustained Investigation of 15 images guided by an inquiry you choose (60% of the score) and five Selected Works that each show skillful synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas (40%). Readers score what they can see in your images and what you write beside them, using published rubrics. This course teaches you to read those rubrics the way a reader does, gives you a working command of the 2-D elements and principles and the major 2-D media, walks you from a theme to a genuine inquiry, shows what practice, experimentation, and revision look like on the page, and trains you to write, select, photograph, and submit a portfolio that earns every point it deserves. It also covers the Artistic Integrity Agreement and the 2026-27 AI policy, which decide whether work counts at all.

8 units

  1. Unit 1

    The Portfolio, the Rubrics, and the Rules

    Free
    How the AP 2-D Art and Design portfolio is built and scored before you make anything for it: the two sections and three components, how readers apply the Sustained Investigation and Selected Works rubrics, the vocabulary of materials, processes, and ideas, and the originality and AI rules that decide whether work can be credited at all.
    6 topics
    1. 1.1How the 2-D Portfolio Works
    2. 1.2Reading the Sustained Investigation Rubric
    3. 1.3Reading the Selected Works Rubric
    4. 1.4Materials, Processes, and Ideas
    5. 1.5Originality, Preexisting Images, and Citation
    6. 1.6The AI Policy and Student Authorship

  2. Unit 2

    The Elements of 2-D Art and Design

    The building blocks the 2-D skills rows reward: point and line, shape and plane, implied form, value, color, texture, pictorial space, and the less familiar elements the rubric names (layer, opacity, transparency, and time). Each is taught as something you control, see, and can describe with visual evidence.
    8 topics
    1. 2.1Point, Line, and Mark
    2. 2.2Shape, Plane, and Form
    3. 2.3Value and Light
    4. 2.4Color Properties and Schemes
    5. 2.5Color Interaction and Meaning
    6. 2.6Texture and Surface
    7. 2.7Space and Depth on a Flat Surface
    8. 2.8Layer, Opacity, Transparency, and Time

  3. Unit 3

    The Principles of 2-D Composition

    How elements are organized into strong compositions: unity and variety, balance, emphasis, contrast, and hierarchy, rhythm, repetition, and movement, proportion and scale, and figure/ground, connection, and juxtaposition. The unit ends by practicing the written description of 2-D skills that readers and critique partners expect.
    7 topics
    1. 3.1Unity and Variety
    2. 3.2Balance
    3. 3.3Emphasis, Contrast, and Hierarchy
    4. 3.4Rhythm, Repetition, and Movement
    5. 3.5Proportion and Scale
    6. 3.6Figure/Ground, Connection, and Juxtaposition
    7. 3.7Describing 2-D Skills with Visual Evidence

  4. Unit 4

    Materials and Processes of 2-D Work

    A working survey of the media the 2-D portfolio accepts, from drawing and painting to printmaking, photography, digital imaging and graphic design, collage and mixed media, and fiber, fashion, and time-based work. For each, what the process makes possible, what skill looks like, and how its physical and interpreted attributes can carry an idea. Ends with choosing materials and processes on purpose.
    7 topics
    1. 4.1Drawing and Painting on a Flat Surface
    2. 4.2Printmaking
    3. 4.3Photography
    4. 4.4Digital Imaging and Graphic Design
    5. 4.5Collage, Mixed Media, and Found Materials
    6. 4.6Fiber, Fashion, and Time-Based 2-D Work
    7. 4.7Choosing Materials and Processes with Intent

  5. Unit 5

    Inquiry: Framing a Sustained Investigation

    How a sustained investigation begins: mining experience and documentation for possibilities, learning how other artists, designers, and thinkers inquire, relating your work to traditions, turning a theme into an inquiry that invites discovery, testing and refining questions, and planning how the inquiry will lead the making. Row A is won or lost here.
    6 topics
    1. 5.1Generating Possibilities from Experience
    2. 5.2How Artists and Designers Inquire
    3. 5.3Relating Work to Art and Design Traditions
    4. 5.4From Theme to Inquiry
    5. 5.5Testing and Refining Questions
    6. 5.6Planning an Investigation the Inquiry Can Guide

  6. Unit 6

    Practice, Experimentation, and Revision

    The engine of the Sustained Investigation and of Row B, the most heavily weighted row with Row C: practice that builds skill, experiments that ask what if, and revisions that close the gap between the actual and desired state of a work. Also how to document process so it proves authorship, how to use critique, and how to let the inquiry grow without losing the thread.
    6 topics
    1. 6.1Practice
    2. 6.2Experimentation
    3. 6.3Revision
    4. 6.4Documenting Process as Evidence
    5. 6.5Critique, Feedback, and Evaluation
    6. 6.6Letting the Investigation Develop

  7. Unit 7

    Synthesis and Skill

    What separates a 2 from a 3 on Row C and a 4 from a 5 on Selected Works: moving from components that merely sit together to materials, processes, and ideas integrated into one unified result, and raising 2-D skill from adequate to highly developed. Also how viewers interpret work and how to evaluate your own portfolio the way a reader will.
    5 topics
    1. 7.1Related Versus Synthesized
    2. 7.2Strengthening Visual Relationships
    3. 7.3From Adequate to Advanced 2-D Skill
    4. 7.4Viewers, Context, and Interpretation
    5. 7.5Evaluating a Portfolio Like a Reader

  8. Unit 8

    Writing, Selecting, and Submitting

    Everything that happens between finished work and a submitted portfolio: the two 850-character Sustained Investigation responses, the per-image fields, ideas visually evident for Selected Works, image citation and digital tools disclosures, sequencing the 15 images, choosing the five Selected Works, and photographing, uploading, and submitting all three components as final by May 7, 2027.
    8 topics
    1. 8.1Writing the Inquiry Statement
    2. 8.2Writing the Development Statement
    3. 8.3Materials and Processes Fields That Add Evidence
    4. 8.4Ideas Visually Evident
    5. 8.5Image Citation and Digital Tools Disclosure
    6. 8.6Selecting and Sequencing the Sustained Investigation
    7. 8.7Choosing the Five Selected Works
    8. 8.8Photographing, Uploading, and Submitting

How the portfolio is scored

  • Sustained Investigation

    Questions
    15
    Time
    Untimed
    Weight
    60%
    Format details

    Task types: Sustained Investigation, Inquiry Statement, Development Statement, Rubric Scoring Practice, Investigation Plan

    Untimed (minutes 0 means untimed). Fifteen digital images of finished works and process documentation, united by one guiding inquiry, plus two written responses of up to 850 characters each and, for every image, materials (150 characters), processes (350 characters), digital tools (200 characters), size, and image citation (200 characters). Scored on four rows (A Inquiry, B Practice, Experimentation, and Revision, C Materials, Processes, and Ideas, D 2-D Skills), each 1 to 3, weighted 20%, 30%, 30%, and 20% of the section. Submitted as final in the AP Digital Portfolio by May 7, 2027, 11:59 p.m. ET. Inquiry Statement, Development Statement, Rubric Scoring Practice, and Investigation Plan are platform practice tasks for this section.

  • Selected Works

    Questions
    5
    Time
    Untimed
    Weight
    40%
    Format details

    Task types: Selected Works, Selected Works Written Evidence, Synthesis and Skills Analysis

    Untimed (minutes 0 means untimed). Five digital images of five works (one view each), related, unrelated, or both, each showing 2-D skills and synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas. For each work: idea(s) visually evident (250 characters), materials (150), processes (250), digital tools (200), size, and image citation (200). Scored holistically 1 to 5 across written evidence, 2-D skills, and materials, processes, and ideas. Works may also appear in the Sustained Investigation. Selected Works Written Evidence and Synthesis and Skills Analysis are platform practice tasks for this section.

How the 1 to 5 score is set

The portfolio has two required sections, each scored separately, then weighted and combined into the 1 to 5 AP score: Sustained Investigation 60% and Selected Works 40%. The Sustained Investigation is scored on four rows, each from 1 to 3, using decision rules that start at score point 1 and climb only while the answer is yes: Row A Inquiry (20% of the section) asks whether the writing identifies a real inquiry, whether the images show it being explored, and whether it guides the investigation's development; Row B Practice, Experimentation, and Revision (30%) asks whether visual and written evidence of those activities relates to, and then demonstrates development of, the investigation; Row C Materials, Processes, and Ideas (30%) asks whether visual relationships among them are evident and whether they reach synthesis (the writing is read but not scored here); Row D 2-D Skills (20%) asks whether the skill range reaches good and then good to advanced across the works. Selected Works gets one holistic score from 1 to 5 from the written evidence, the level of 2-D skill (not present, emerging, adequate, proficient, highly developed), and the visual relationships among materials, processes, and ideas (up to evident and synthesized); writing that does not identify materials, processes, and ideas caps the section at 2. Readers use the preponderance of evidence, do not score spelling or grammar, credit only student-authored visual evidence, and do not credit generative AI imagery found in final artwork (it is referred as a possible violation). Several experienced readers score each section independently and divergent scores are adjudicated. College Board does not publish the composite cutoffs. In 2026, 12% earned a 5 and 85% earned a 3 or higher; in 2025, 83.0% of 48,279 students earned a 3 or higher (mean 3.33).

What you bring and get

No formula sheet and no timed exam. You receive the rubrics, the written prompts, and the character limits in advance (all paraphrased in this course's reference). You may use any 2-D materials and processes (graphic design, digital imaging, photography, collage, fabric design, weaving, fashion design and illustration, painting, printmaking, and more; stills from video or film and composite images are accepted), as long as the work is your original creation. Any preexisting image, including imagery generated by tools or systems, must be cited and observably transformed by your own practice, experimentation, and revision. Generative AI may be used only in early stages (research, ideation, practice, experimentation, revision), never to create final submitted artwork, including generative features built into editing software; non-generative editing (exposure, contrast, color correction, cropping, minor cleanup) is allowed at every stage and must be disclosed in the digital tools field. Images are uploaded as JPEG or PNG in RGB, at most 4 MB each and at least 480 pixels on every side. You submit three components as final (Sustained Investigation Images, Sustained Investigation Written Evidence, Selected Works) and affirm the Artistic Integrity Agreement. Artwork submitted in another AP Art and Design portfolio, this year or any earlier year, cannot be reused.

Skills the exam scores

  • 1.AGenerate possibilities for investigation

    Inquiry and Investigation. Turn experiences, observations, research, and documentation into many possible directions for making before committing to one.

  • 1.BDescribe how inquiry guides investigation

    Inquiry and Investigation. Explain, with examples, how questions lead an artist or designer to choose, test, and change materials, processes, and ideas over time.

  • 1.CRelate work to context and traditions

    Inquiry and Investigation. Describe how the materials, processes, and ideas of a work connect to when, where, why, and by whom it was made and viewed, and to art and design traditions across cultures and history.

  • 1.DInterpret works of art and design

    Inquiry and Investigation. Interpret and evaluate works by observing their materials, processes, and ideas, their context, and how viewers respond, using visual evidence and stated criteria.

  • 1.EInvestigate materials, processes, and ideas

    Inquiry and Investigation. Select and research materials, processes, and ideas to investigate, considering both their physical attributes and the meanings viewers attach to them, including ones from outside art and design.

  • 2.AFormulate questions or areas of inquiry

    Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision. Write, test, rank, and refine questions or areas of inquiry strong enough to guide a sustained investigation.

  • 2.BConduct a sustained investigation

    Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision. Carry out an investigation over time that shows practice, experimentation, and revision guided by the inquiry, and document it.

  • 2.CMake works that demonstrate synthesis

    Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision. Make works in which materials, processes, and ideas are deliberately integrated into a unified result rather than merely present together.

  • 2.DMake works that demonstrate 2-D skills

    Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision. Apply the 2-D elements and principles (point, line, shape, plane, layer, form, space, texture, color, value, opacity, transparency, time; unity, variety, rhythm, movement, proportion, scale, balance, emphasis, contrast, repetition, figure/ground, connection, juxtaposition, hierarchy) with growing control.

  • 3.AIdentify the guiding inquiry in writing

    Communication and Reflection. State, clearly and concisely, the questions or inquiry that guided a sustained investigation, in words that match what the images show.

  • 3.BDescribe practice, experimentation, and revision in writing

    Communication and Reflection. Describe in writing what was done, how, and why across a sustained investigation, pointing to the practice, experimentation, and revision the images show.

  • 3.CIdentify materials, processes, and ideas in writing

    Communication and Reflection. Name the materials, processes, and ideas used in a work precisely, favoring the specific and less visible over the obvious.

  • 3.DDescribe synthesis

    Communication and Reflection. Explain how the materials, processes, and ideas of a work connect with each other and whether they coalesce, citing visual evidence.

  • 3.EDescribe 2-D skills

    Communication and Reflection. Point out specific 2-D skills visible in a work, describe how well they are applied, and say how they could be strengthened.

  • 3.FPresent work for viewer interpretation

    Communication and Reflection. Decide what to show, when, how, and to whom, from informal critique to the final digital portfolio, and learn from how viewers read the work.