Present: Communication and the AP Drawing Portfolio

The AP exam is a portfolio 作品集, not a written test — two sections submitted digitally in early May. (CED Big Idea 3)

• Sustained Investigation: 15 images of works and process, plus written evidence — 60% of the score.
• Selected Works 精选作品: 5 works demonstrating skilful synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas — 40%.
• Selected Works may come from inside or outside the investigation. Choose your strongest five, wherever they came from.
• Everything uploads through the AP Digital Portfolio 数字作品集平台; your teacher reviews before final submission.
• Drawing, 2-D, and 3-D Art and Design are separate portfolios — submit work made for the Drawing skill set.
• Plan backwards from May: photography, writing, and selection all take real calendar time.

The SI section pairs 15 images with short written evidence 书面证据 — the images show, the writing states. (CED 3.A/3.B)

• The writing answers two prompts: state the inquiry, and describe how the investigation developed — about 1,200 characters in total.
• Every image carries caption fields: materials 材料, processes 过程, dimensions, and citations where needed.
• Choose images that prove the writing: question stated, tests shown, development visible.
• Process images — journal spreads, in-progress states, detail shots — count among the 15. Use several.
• Order the images deliberately: scorers read them as a sequence, so build a narrative arc.
• Write plainly and concretely, naming skills and components in CED vocabulary.

The Selected Works are your five strongest statements — each judged on written evidence, drawing skills, and synthesis. (CED 3.C)

• Pick for range and strength: together, the five should cover the whole drawing-skills list.
• Each work carries an identification 作品信息: materials, processes, ideas — about 100 characters per field, so make every word count.
• Quality beats concept here: flawless craft and a full value range are what a 5 looks like.
• Strong candidates: the observational tour de force, the chiaroscuro drama, the expressive figure, the synthesis piece.
• Details matter at scoring size. View each candidate as a small thumbnail and at full zoom before choosing.
• Ask three viewers to rank your top eight; the overlap usually finds the true five.

The written evidence is short, factual, and load-bearing — it directs the scorer's attention. (CED 3.D/3.E)

• State the inquiry as a question or a clear statement in the first sentence.
• Use concrete nouns and verbs: "compressed charcoal on gessoed cardboard, lifted with erasers" beats "mixed media".
• Connect writing to visible things: if you claim experimentation, the images must show it.
• Writing completely unrelated to the works caps the Selected Works score — relevance is a rubric rule.
• Draft early and cut hard: character limits reward the specific and punish the vague.
• Have someone read the writing while viewing the images. Wherever they ask "where?", revise.

Worked example (written evidence). A student's investigation follows one kitchen across a year of meals. Compare two answers to the first prompt, identify the inquiry:

• Weak: "My work is about family and memory, and I explored many media to express my feelings." Nothing here points at an image, so a scorer cannot check it.
• Strong: "How can the marks left after a meal — crumbs, stains, pushed-back chairs — show who was at the table without drawing the people?" It is a question, it names what the images will show, and it sets a limit the drawings can be judged against.

A strong answer to the second prompt, how the work developed through practice, experimentation and revision, then names each move and points at the image that shows it:

"I began with graphite studies of empty plates (images 1–3). The marks felt too neat, so I tested coffee washes and lifted charcoal on cardboard (4–6). The stains carried more time than line, so I kept them. In image 9 I tried adding figures and removed them: they answered the question instead of letting the viewer do it. The final drawings (12–15) combine a coffee ground with sharp charcoal for the objects left behind."

Every sentence does one job — practice, an experiment, a reason, a revision — and every claim has an image number a scorer can open. Under 600 characters, it leaves room for detail without filler.

Scorers see photographs 照片, not originals — photography quality is portfolio quality. (CED 3.F)

• Shoot in even, indirect daylight or a two-lamp setup. Avoid glare, shadows across the work, and keystone distortion 梯形畸变.
• Fill the frame, crop to the work's edges, and keep verticals vertical.
• Check values on screen: a washed-out photo erases the light-and-shade skill you spent weeks building.
• A detail shot 细节图 is allowed and powerful — a close-up of mark-making proves what a full view only suggests.
• Consistent, neutral backgrounds make a sequence read professionally.
• Photograph each work as it is finished, not all in April: fixative first, then shoot, then store flat.

Both sections are scored against published scoring guidelines 评分标准 — knowing the rows lets you build toward them.

• Sustained Investigation rows: inquiry evident; practice, experimentation, and revision; materials, processes, and ideas; drawing skills; synthesis.
• Selected Works criteria: written evidence identifies components; drawing skills; synthesis — scored 1-5 by preponderance of evidence 证据的总体倾向.
• The rubric's language ladder runs rudimentary, moderate, good, advanced — aim your evidence at the top descriptors.
• Score your own mock portfolio against the rubric each term; the gaps write your to-do list.
• Scores 1-5 arrive in July, and college credit policies vary — but the rubric habits are the real prize.
• Every rubric row asks for visual evidence. The recurring answer: show it, then name it.

The portfolio must be your own work. Borrowed images and AI tools have strict rules.

• Working from someone else's photograph or artwork requires a citation 引用 in that image's materials/processes fields.
• Substantially copying another artist's work — even cited — cannot demonstrate your idea development.
• Draw from life and from your own reference photos wherever possible; it also simply teaches more.
• Generative AI 生成式人工智能 may not make your work: AP policy allows it only as a documented exploration tool, never as the artwork.
• Plagiarism 抄袭 cancels scores. The College Board checks, and teachers must certify originality.
• Integrity is also artistic self-interest: your own seeing is the only truly unique material you have.

• Photograph like it matters, because it does — a 5-level drawing shot with glare and keystone reads as a 3. Reshoot anything you hesitate over.
• Fill every caption field with specifics. "Willow charcoal, subtractive erasing, on toned Ingres paper" does scoring work; empty or vague fields waste free marks.
• Check the relevance rule: if your written evidence could sit under someone else's portfolio unchanged, it is too generic — tie every sentence to your images.
• Select the five with fresh eyes: thumbnail-size printouts on a table, three trusted viewers, overlap wins.
• Cite every reference photo you did not take — one missing citation risks the whole portfolio; thirty seconds of typing removes the risk.