20+ Funny AP Exam Answers From Reddit That Made Me Laugh

Hello guys, welcome back to my blog. If you ever gave an AP exam then you know how stressful it is. It is long, it is hard and sometime your brain just stop working in the middle of it. And when that happens, students write some really funny things in the answer booklet.

Today I am going to share some of the funniest AP exam answers that people shared on Reddit. For this blog I went through a famous Reddit thread where AP graders and students shared their stories. Honestly, some of these made me laugh so much. I will also tell you if a funny answer can get you any points or not. So let’s start.

What Is An AP Exam?

Before we start laughing, let me explain the basics quickly. AP means Advanced Placement. It is a program by College Board in the US and Canada, and high school students take these exams for college credit. If you score good, some colleges even let you skip the intro class.

Here are some quick facts I found:

Thing	Details
Who runs it	College Board (since 1955)
Score scale	1 to 5 (5 is the best)
Next exams	May 3–7 and May 10–14, 2027
Total courses	40 courses and exams
Multiple choice part	Checked by computer
Written part	Checked by AP Readers every June
Students in 2022	Over 2.6 million
AP Readers in 2022	Over 20,000

Sources: Wikipedia, Best of SNO and College Board.

So why students write funny answers? Honestly, I think it is mostly panic. You open the free response section, you read the question and your mind goes totally blank. Some students also sit for a subject they never studied, and some just get bored after hours of writing. If you ask me, I understand them a lot.

Funny AP Exam Answers Students Shared On Reddit

Most of these stories come from an old AskReddit thread where someone asked AP graders about the most ridiculous answers they ever read. But funny thing is, a lot of students also jumped in and confessed what they wrote themselves. Thought Catalog later collected 31 of these comments in one post. Here are my favorite ones from the students side.

1. The Essay About How Being Sad Is Healthy

One student in AP Spanish got two words mixed up in their head. They thought the words for laughter and smile meant crying and sadness. So the whole answer, more then 200 words, ended up being about the health benefits of being sad. I can only imagine the face of the grader reading this one.

2. The Messy Handwriting Trick

In AP US History, one student forgot which amendment ended slavery. So they wrote the number in very bad handwriting on purpose, so the grader can’t really tell which number it is. And guess what, that student still got a 5 on the exam. Just for the record guys, the right answer is the 13th Amendment.

3. A Two Act Play Across Two Exams

This one is my favorite from the students side. One Reddit user said a classmate wrote a two act play about a couple who gets trapped in a zoo for the night. In the story, something radioactive turns the animals into half human, half animal creatures, and they chase the couple around to eat them. The giraffe even had a name, Puzzles.

The best part? Act one was written in the AP English Literature exam and act two in the AP European History exam. Honestly, that is real commitment.

4. A Physics Play That Reviewed Itself

Another student used the AP Physics C exam to write a two act play. After that, he wrote a review of his own play and gave it 4 out of 5 stars. I respect that he did not give himself full marks.

5. Go, Dog. Go! As A Literary Classic

On one AP English exam, the prompt asked students to pick a book from a list, or any other book of similar literary quality. One student got irritated by how snobby that sounded. So the student wrote a full essay on character foils in the kids book Go, Dog. Go!, comparing the black dogs with the white dogs and the dogs over the house with the dogs under it. If you ask me, this is the smart kind of funny.

6. A Dinosaur Saying Sorry

One student was taking AP World History and got the chance to take the Comparative Politics exam for free, so why not. There was zero studying for it. After a few essay questions the student was bored, stuck and also sick with bronchitis. So the student drew a big dinosaur holding a sign that said sorry for not even taking the class. The final score? A 2.

7. Every Panda Fact

One girl totally blanked on an AP Lit essay. So she just wrote down every fact she knew about pandas. She got a 2. Honestly guys, I would also like to read that essay.

8. A Two Page Essay In Just One Sentence

One AP Lit prompt was about a very boring poem called The Century Quilt. With 10 minutes left, one student wrote a 2 page essay that was only one single sentence, and it was grammatically correct too. The teacher’s face turned purple when he found out, but the student still got a 4.

9. An Evil Clown And Breaking Bad Quotes

One student had no idea what to do in AP Chemistry. On a page where the question was about batteries, the student drew a very big and scary evil clown. Then added a bunch of Breaking Bad quotes. I think the Breaking Bad part kind of fits, because that show is about a chemistry teacher.

10. The Crossed Out Joke Trick

One student had a sneaky plan. They wrote random jokes in the middle of their essays and then crossed them out. The idea was simple: crossed out work can’t be graded, but the grader can still read it. And yes, this part is true. College Board’s own answer booklet says erased or crossed out work will not be scored.

If you like funny stuff like this, you will also enjoy my list of 100+ funny names with trading in the title.

Funny Things AP Graders Say They Saw

Now let’s see the other side. These stories are from AP graders, or from teachers who told their class what they saw while grading. Remember, every written answer is read by a real teacher, so they see everything.

1. The Book That Does Not Exist

A teacher who graded AP Lit got an essay on a book she never heard of. She tried to pass it to someone who had read it, but nobody at her table or in the whole room knew the book. And that room was full of English teachers. They searched online and even called a few bookstores.

Finally they found out the book did not exist at all. The student made up a full story and then wrote an essay analyzing it. I am not going to lie, I am a little impressed.

2. Godzilla And King Kong Vs College Board

One comparative government essay had no words at all. It was only a picture of Godzilla and King Kong attacking the College Board building. Honestly, I think a lot of students will relate to this one after exam day.

3. The Shortest Enlightenment Essay

An AP Euro essay asked about Enlightenment thinkers. One student wrote just one line: “The Enlightenment had many great thinkers, none of which come to mind currently.” Nothing else. Short, simple and very honest.

4. A High Five For The Grader

One history teacher told her class about a student who just traced their hand on the paper and added a small caption asking for a high five. The teacher actually gave the paper a high five back. But the score for that answer was still a zero.

5. Five Dollars Taped Inside

A former AP reader said the most memorable booklet had a $5 bill taped on the page, and the essay only asked the grader to have mercy. The same reader also got an angry breakup letter and a drawing of some astronauts. Guys, I don’t think $5 is enough for a 5.

6. Bribes That Bought Lunch

One APUSH teacher told her students about a kid who wrote a rap about how his mother made him take the class, and begged the reader for a 5. Her grading group also found a lot of bribe money inside booklets. So they put all the money together and bought lunch with it. Smart move, haha.

7. A Rabbit Story With The Right Answer

An AP Human Geography teacher said he graded a 6 page short story about a rabbit. Somehow the story had the correct answer inside it, so it got full credit. Even the student who shared this on Reddit did not believe it, but the teacher swore it was true.

8. An Essay Written Backwards

One government teacher who is also a reader told about an essay that was written perfectly backwards. The grader had to hold it up to a mirror to read it. That is next level effort, honestly.

9. Ice Cream And George Washington

One US History teacher always showed the class a DBQ essay written by a kid. The question was about slavery, but the essay was about ice cream. There was also a stick figure labeled George Washington. I have no idea how these two things connect, but okay.

10. A Letter To The Grader

Instead of writing the last essay, one student wrote a letter to the grader. It told the grader to take a break and go get a cup of coffee. It also said both of them are stuck in a room doing something they don’t want to do. Somehow, that student got a 2.

11. Bonus: Ice Ice Baby

This last one is not from Reddit, but I had to add it. AP Psychology reader Brian Byrne told a school newspaper that one kid wrote all the lyrics of the song Ice Ice Baby as the answer. He still had to read every single word, just to check if there was any point in it.

Funny AP Exam Answers By Subject (Quick Table)

I know a lot of you guys just want to see what happened to the score. So I made this small table from the Reddit stories above where the result was shared.

Subject	Funny answer	What happened
AP US History	Wrote the amendment number in messy handwriting	Still got a 5
AP English Literature	2 page essay in one single sentence	Got a 4
AP English Literature	Every panda fact they knew	Got a 2
AP English	Letter telling the grader to go get coffee	Got a 2
AP Comparative Government and Politics	Dinosaur saying sorry for not taking the class	Got a 2
AP Human Geography	6 page rabbit story with the right answer inside	Full credit on that question
History	Traced hand asking for a high five	Zero on that question

One small thing to notice here. The 2, 4 and 5 are the full exam scores, not the score of that one funny answer. Their other answers did most of the hard work.

Do Funny Answers Get Any Points?

Short answer guys, mostly no. But how it works is a bit interesting, so let me explain.

AP Readers only grade the written free response part, because the multiple choice part is checked by computer. In most subjects the readers have to read every answer fully, even the throw-away joke ones. This is because they are looking for reasons to give you points, not to take points away. One AP Psychology reader said in a school newspaper interview that he reads about 200 answers a day.

So if your joke has the right answer hidden inside it, like the rabbit story, you can still get the point. But if it is only a joke, that question gets a zero. Your other answers still count though. That is why some students above still ended up with a 2, a 4 or even a 5.

And crossed out jokes? They are not graded at all, as per College Board’s answer booklet.

The readers also say silly answers give them a short break from boring grading, and the ones grading in person share them with the person sitting next to them. But they don’t recommend writing one. Honestly, I agree with them. If you don’t know the answer, write whatever related stuff you know, because even one good example can often earn you a point.

My last tip is to study in a calm and nice space, because it really helps. I shared some boho office decor ideas on my blog that work really nice for a study desk too.

FAQ

What are some funny AP exam answers?

Some of the funniest ones I found are an essay about a book that does not exist, a drawing of Godzilla and King Kong attacking the College Board building, every panda fact one student knew and a full essay on the kids book Go, Dog. Go!.

Do AP graders really read funny answers?

Yes. In most subjects AP Readers have to read every answer fully, even the joke ones. They say these answers give them a short break from grading.

Can a funny answer get points on an AP exam?

Only if the right content is also inside it. A joke with no real answer gets zero for that question, but your other answers still count toward your 1 to 5 score.

Can I post my funny AP exam answer on Reddit?

Be careful here guys. As per College Board, if you talk about unreleased exam content after the exam, your score will be canceled and you may be banned from future testing. Multiple choice questions can never be discussed. Free response content can be discussed only after College Board posts it on its website, and if a question is never released, you can never post about it. From the 2027 exams, all free response questions will be released together in early June, so wait till then.

Where can I read more funny AP exam answers?

The best place to start is the old AskReddit thread where AP graders and students shared their stories. Thought Catalog also collected 31 of them in one post.

Final Words

So these were some of the funniest AP exam answers I found on Reddit. From a book that does not exist to a dinosaur saying sorry, students really get creative when the brain stops working. I also told you how AP Readers deal with joke answers, and why a real try is always better then a joke.

If you are a student who is already thinking about a future career, you can also read my guide on how to become a landscape architect. Keep on visiting House of Architectures for more fun stuff like this.

Sources

Funny AP Exam Answers That Will Make You Laugh