On Thursday, February 14, the College Board released its annual Advanced Placement exam findings, announcing that the number of high-school test-takers gaining a score of 3 or more on AP tests has risen 3.5% nationwide over the last five years. The CB board celebrated these increases because rising scores not only indicate that more high-school graduates are prepared to succeed in college (15.2% nationwide), but because studies have shown that AP test-takers are more likely to understand key subjects such as math and physics, making America more competitive in the world economy.
The states showing most improvement in AP success rates since 2002 were:
1. Vermont
2. Maryland
3. Maine
4. Colorado
5. New Hampshire
The top ten states with the greatest number of graduating seniors scoring 3 or more on an AP exam included
1. New York (23.4%)
2. Maryland (22.4%)
3. Virginia (21.5%)
4. Florida (20.3%)
5. Massachusetts (20.3%)
6. Connecticut (20.1%)
7. Vermont (19.9%)
8. California (19.7%)
9. Utah (19.5%)
10. Colorado (19.2%)
“The critical reasoning, subject-matter expertise and study skills students must develop to succeed on the three-hour college-level AP Exams fortify high school graduates for a successful transition into their freshman year at college,” announced CB President Gaston Caperton. However, the public has remained concerned about the ongoing achievement gap between minority AP test-takers and caucasians, with African-Americans earning a mean score of 1.91, which is significantly below the national mean of 2.83. All minorities except for Asian-Americans (3.05) achieved scores below the national mean, with whites earning a mean score of 2.95.
Bethany Stotts is a Staff Writer at Accuracy in Academia.
