College-bound Students Taking AP Courses at All-Time High February 9, 2010
Ian Welham on the increasing number of students taking AP courses to help get into a top college
For many high school students, AP stands for Added Pressure. As if the stress of weighted GPA’s, class rank, SAT’s, SAT II’s, and six-hour-per-night homework overloads aren’t enough, the educational establishment has decreed as unwritten doctrine that any serious college-bound student must enroll in as many AP courses as possible. So they do – in record numbers.
AP classes are putatively equivalent to college-level courses. Students who score 3 or higher (on a point scale of 1 to 5) may earn college credits.
It wasn’t that long ago, was it, that to hear about a high school student taking an Advanced Placement test was a relatively rare event? Only the most exceptional students (it seemed) took advanced placement courses. And then, only one, maybe two AP courses at the most. And only during senior year.
These days, if it seems like every student you know is taking AP courses—and lots of them, starting as early as sophomore year—you’re not that far off. As reported by USAToday (AP tests have become front page news—accorded the same magnitude as Toyota gas pedal failures and aviation security lapses) enrollment in high school AP courses has exploded from 704,000 students in 1999 to 1.7 million in 2009. That represents an over 140% increase in 10 short years.
Last year, these ambitious students took a record 2.9 million AP exams.
Not surprisingly, as more students take the AP exams, the average scores are decreasing. To wit, 41.5% of last year’s students earned a failing score of 1 or 2 versus 36.5% in 1999. (In New Jersey, over two-thirds of high school students who take an AP test earn a passing score of 3 or higher.) Interestingly, scores on AP Physics tests are up, while English Literature scores are down.
Here’s the link to the USAToday article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-02-04-1Aapscores04_ST_N.htm
