85% of what? I guarantee you that I can write a calculus exam, using only AP-level material, that is long enough or algebraically messy enough that you can’t get 85% of it right in three hours (or whatever the actual time limit is). There is no fundamental reason the AP exams should have exactly the same difficulty curve (5% of students can get 100%, another 10% can get over 90%, another 30% can get over 80% or whatever) as a high school class.
85% of what? I guarantee you that I can write a calculus exam, using only AP-level material, that is long enough or algebraically messy enough that you can’t get 85% of it right in three hours (or whatever the actual time limit is). There is no fundamental reason the AP exams should have exactly the same difficulty curve (5% of students can get 100%, another 10% can get over 90%, another 30% can get over 80% or whatever) as a high school class.
Of the points on the AP exam (based on examining the questions and scoring criteria myself).