Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations

Advanced Placement (AP) courses provide students with the opportunity to take college-level courses while in high school. The AP program offers 37 courses in 20 subjects that are developed by The College Board. A qualifying score of 3.0 or better (using a 5.0 point scale) on a course examination may enable a student to earn college credit or advanced standing in the subject area in which the course/exam was taken. Between 1997 and 2005, the number of students taking AP examinations increased 111 percent (from 566,720 to 1,197,439) (see table 3).¹⁴ Over this period, the participation of White students increased 105 percent, compared with 213 percent for Hispanic students, 177 percent for Black students, 124 percent for American Indian students, and 114 percent for Asian students. As a result, the participation of minority groups increased from 27 percent of all students taking AP examinations in 1997 to 33 percent in 2005. Conversely, the percentage of White students taking AP examinations declined from 66 percent in 1997 to 64 percent in 2005.

While the number of students and the percentage of minorities participating in AP examinations have increased each year, the annual average scores have remained about 3.0, out of a possible 5.0 (see table SA-13). The examination scores of White and Asian students have remained relatively constant across all subjects, averaging about 3.0 and 3.1, respectively, while the scores of students in other racial/ethnic groups have declined. For example, the average scores of Hispanic students declined across all examination subjects, from 3.1 in 1997 to 2.5 in 2005.

The percentage of examinations resulting in a qualifying score of 3.0 or better decreased from a high of 65 percent in 1997 to a low of 59 percent in 2005 (see table SA-14). At the same time, the number of examinations with a score of at least a 3.0 increased 111 percent (from 579,865 to 1,225,845) (see figure 8). However, the number of examinations with a score of 1.0 or 2.0 increased 163 percent (from 319,598 to 839,200)

¹⁴The focus in the section is on students and examinations. Individuals may take multiple examinations. Furthermore, the data for this section’s analysis count all test takers and are not limited to high school graduates. (back to text)