In the College Board’s recently released sixth annual AP Report to the Nation, Wisconsin ranked 15th in the nation with the greatest percentage of seniors scoring a three or higher on an Advance Placement exam.
The AP program offers 30 courses to high school students taught by their teachers, the report said. These courses are different from those offered through the school in that they are at a college level, meaning if the students choose to take the comprehensive AP exams, they are able to receive credits at the college level depending on their performance.
Within the last five years, the percentage of Wisconsin seniors who passed AP exams increased by 4.1 percent, while the total percentage of students who have taken the exams increased by 6.1 percent, according to the report.
In 2004, approximately 13.2 percent of Wisconsin seniors passed an AP exam out of the 19.2 percent who took an AP exam, the report says. In 2008, 16.6 percent passed out of the 24.2 percent who took the exams and in 2009, 17.3 percent passed while overall 25.3 percent took the exams.
Previous studies have also been conducted on AP exams, including one by Clare Huhn of University of Wisconsin’s Academic Planning and Analysis, who conducted a study on all incoming UW freshman.
According to her study, in 2004, 58 percent of the students were receiving one or more credits based on their AP exam scores. By 2008, that percentage had increased to 65 percent.
The study also explains how AP courses and scores can possibly factor in the admission process for incoming college freshmen.
For the university, Huhn said it is one way to see if a prospective student has been challenging him or herself. This is an important quality, especially to a school like UW that is one of the top universities in the nation.
The AP Report to the Nation has showed regionally, states like Minnesota and Illinois hold similar trends to those of Wisconsin.
Like Wisconsin, both states have ranked as some of the top states with the highest percentage of students in the class of 2009 scoring a three or above on an exam. The AP report says Wisconsin leads with 17.3 percent, with Illinois following with 15.9 percent and Minnesota with 15.5 percent.
Along with Wisconsin, Minnesota’s and Illinois’ percentages have also increased in the last five years. According to the AP report, Minnesota has seen an increase of 4.9 percent while Illinois has had a 3.3 percent.
These statistics are significant because Wisconsin has the smallest body of students out of the three states, while Illinois has the greatest, according to the AP report.
On a national level, the AP Report to the Nation has shown the number of students who score a three or above on AP exams has increased from 12.7 percent in 2007 to 15.9 percent in 2009.
The number of students who take AP courses and exams has also increased by approximately 45.5 percent, according to the report, while the overall high school student population has increased by only 9.4 percent during that time.
