AP Music Theory, AP exams, 45%

Section II: Written Free Response

The written portion contains seven questions in roughly seventy minutes: two melodic dictations, two harmonic dictations, part writing from a figured bass, part writing from Roman numerals, and a harmonization of a given melody. Dictations are played a set number of times, and part-writing tasks are scored for voice leading as well as correct chords. This portion is weighted 45%.

Position: 2 of 3 exam sections
Published weighting: 45% in the official framework
Questions: 7 questions
Time: 70 minutes
Topics covered: 6 topics in this guide

What is covered

Topics inside this exam section.

These topics describe the scope students most often review for this part of AP Music Theory. Treat them as a study checklist rather than an exhaustive list of what a single exam form can sample.

Melodic dictation: Notating a short melody from repeated hearings, capturing rhythm and contour before refining pitches.
Harmonic dictation: Writing bass and soprano lines and supplying Roman numerals for a short progression.
Part writing from figured bass: Realizing a bass with figures in four voices while observing spacing, doubling, and voice-leading rules.
Part writing from Roman numerals: Constructing a four-voice progression from harmonic symbols alone, including cadential formulas.
Melody harmonization: Choosing an idiomatic bass line and harmonies for a given melody, then notating them cleanly.
Voice-leading errors: Parallel fifths and octaves, spacing problems, and unresolved tendency tones that cost points.

Study tips

How to practice Written free response.

Section-specific guidance that follows from how this material is usually tested.

In dictation, notate rhythm and contour on the first hearing and fill in pitches afterward.
Write out cadential formulas until they are automatic; they anchor both part-writing questions.
Self-check every practice realization for parallels before looking at the answer key.
Work in pencil and keep notation legible; readers score what they can actually read.

Where this fits

Section II: Written Free Response is 2 of 3 exam sections in the AP Music Theory guide, and it carries a published weighting of 45% in the official framework. Use the full guide to balance it against everything else you have to review.

Back to the AP Music Theory guide Official exam information

Sample Written free response questions

Practice questions, not yet expert-reviewed

Original practice questions written to the published framework for this section. No expert has reviewed them, and they are not taken from any official exam. Try each one before you open the answer.

Question 1Foundational
What voice-leading error occurs when two voices move in the same direction from one perfect fifth to another perfect fifth?
1. AParallel fifths
2. BHidden octaves
3. CVoice crossing
4. DVoice overlap
Show answer
Answer: A. Parallel fifths
Parallel fifths occur when a pair of voices moves from one perfect fifth to another in similar motion, and part-writing rubrics deduct for them because the two lines stop sounding independent. Voice crossing is a different problem entirely, in which a lower voice rises above the voice written on top of it.
Key insight: Check every adjacent pair of voices between each pair of chords; parallels hide most easily between tenor and bass.
Question 2Foundational
In figured bass, which chord member is in the bass when the figure is 6, the common abbreviation for 6 over 3?
1. AThe third
2. BThe root
3. CThe fifth
4. DThe seventh
Show answer
Answer: A. The third
The figure 6 means the upper voices lie a sixth and a third above the bass, which places the chord's third in the bass and makes the chord first inversion. Answering the root describes root position, which carries the figure 5 over 3 and is normally left unfigured.
Key insight: Figured bass measures intervals above the bass note, so the figures tell you the inversion, not the chord quality.
Question 3Intermediate
In a major key, to which chord does the dominant resolve in a deceptive cadence?
1. Avi
2. BIV
3. CI
4. Diii
Show answer
Answer: A. vi
A deceptive cadence substitutes vi for the expected tonic, so the leading tone still resolves upward while the bass moves up a step instead of falling to the tonic. Answering I describes an authentic cadence, which is precisely the resolution the deceptive cadence avoids.
Key insight: In V to vi, keep the leading tone rising to the tonic pitch and double the third of vi to avoid parallels.
Question 4Intermediate
What is the quality of the seventh chord built on the fifth scale degree of a major key?
1. AMajor-minor seventh
2. BMajor seventh
3. CMinor seventh
4. DHalf-diminished seventh
Show answer
Answer: A. Major-minor seventh
V7 in a major key is a major triad with a minor seventh above the root, the sound usually called a dominant seventh. A major seventh chord is the distractor for students who assume the chord on a major triad must also have a major seventh, but that quality appears on scale degrees one and four, not five.
Key insight: The tritone between the chord's third and seventh is what makes V7 demand resolution to tonic.
Question 5Advanced
Over which scale degree in the bass is a cadential six-four chord placed before it resolves to the dominant?
1. AScale degree 5
2. BScale degree 1
3. CScale degree 3
4. DScale degree 4
Show answer
Answer: A. Scale degree 5
A cadential six-four sounds the tonic triad in second inversion over a dominant bass, so the bass sits on scale degree five while the sixth and fourth above it fall to a fifth and a third. Answering scale degree one confuses this chord with root-position tonic, but a six-four by definition has the fifth of the chord in the bass.
Key insight: Hear a cadential six-four as decoration of V, not as tonic harmony: the bass never moves until V resolves.

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Section II: Written Free Response