The present disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for access control barring. The method includes: performing an access attempt at a designated coverage enhancement level; when the access attempt fails, determining a corresponding access attempt barring scheme based on a preset rule; and performing corresponding access attempt barring based on the corresponding access attempt barring scheme. Therefore, the present disclosure can avoid unlimited access attempts at the designated coverage enhancement level, thereby reducing resource consumption and improving the reliability of access control barring.