Early Solutions to the 2026 AP Calculus Free Response

As you’ve come to expect by now, we’re sharing with you our early solutions to this year’s AP Calc Free Response Questions! Today’s post will include solutions to both the AB and BC questions. Note that questions 1, 3, and 4 were identical on both exams. We’ve listed all 6 AB questions first, and then the three BC only questions.

Several of our exam predictions ended up being exactly right (tabular rate of change with IVT, function-mash-up question with chain rule and accumulation function, differential equation in context with tangent line approximation), but we were thrown for a loop with which questions ended up being the calculator questions. Two years in a row now for area/volume rather than particle motion to make it onto the calculator section!

You can see this year’s AB questions here and BC questions here. Although the official scoring guidelines don’t release until the summer, here’s a first attempt at solutions. (Please be gentle if we have any errors!).

AB/BC Question 1

AB Question 2

AB/BC Question 3

 

AB/BC Question 4

 

AB Question 5

AB Question 6

BC Question 2

BC Question 5

BC Question 6

Reflections:

We thought this year’s questions were fairly straightforward with a few twists to make students think! The differential equation question (AB/BC 3) was a familiar style, so hopefully students do well on this one. Our favorite was AB/BC 4 part D where students had to reason using the behavior of the graph of f’ to execute the Candidates test and couldn’t find the values exactly. I’ve long been making the case that students can do these kinds of questions in Unit 5 and don’t have to wait until Unit 6 when they can actually compute the integrals! On both exams, students had to be very careful with how the regions were defined in the area/volume questions especially since some regions only included one of the functions. The series question (BC6) was on the slightly easier side this year, though this question is always challenging for students.

Note that for the sake of these solutions we have simplified our answers a bit more than we might recommend to students. Remember that all equivalent answers are accepted!

What did you think about this year’s questions? How might they inform our teaching practice moving forward?

If you found these early solutions helpful and want to deepen your students’ understanding of the key concepts featured on the 2026 AP Calculus exam, be sure to check out Math Medic’s free, teacher-created AP Calculus lesson plans. These classroom-ready lessons cover limits, derivatives, integrals, and more all aligned to the College Board’s framework and designed to build conceptual fluency and exam readiness. Visit our AP Calculus lesson plan library to explore daily activities, practice problems, and assessments that will support your instruction throughout the year.