Ria Beri ‘27
EE Staff Writer
Every Advanced Placement (AP) class has a standardized exam that takes place yearly in May. These exams are administered internationally by the College Board and aim to assess students’ proficiency in their area of study, granting college credit if deemed qualified. The exams are composed of both multiple choice and free response questions and are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with a 3 considered passing. The 2024 AP Exam scores were released virtually on the morning of Monday, July 8.
The AP Score Scale Table reports that a score of 1 corresponds to “no recommendation,” 2 to “possibly qualified,” 3 to “qualified,” 4 to “very well qualified,” and 5 to “extremely well qualified.” The majority of colleges offer credit for scores of 3 or higher, while some require a 4 or 5. A 3 equates to a C, C+, or B- in the college course. Likewise, a 4 compares to a B, B+, or A- while a 5 parallels to an A or A+. This information may seem daunting, so it is imperative to mention that an actual A or the percentage equivalent is not needed to get a 5 on an exam. A 5 is typically awarded to one who answers just 70% or more of the questions correctly.
This year, AP Seminar saw the highest pass rate of 89% while AP Physics 1 saw the lowest, 46%. In terms of which courses had the highest percentage of students score a 5, AP Chinese Language and Culture, AP Japanese Language and Culture, and AP Calculus BC took the first, second, and third places, respectively, with rates of 50%, 47%, and 45%. Only 7% of AP 3D Art and Design students received a 5, putting them in last place in that category. Other AP courses where fewer than 10% of the students earned a 5 include: AP Seminar, AP English Language and Composition, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics 1, and AP Spanish Literature and Culture.
AP Psychology, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Micro/Macro Economics, and AP Biology are some of the other popular AP offerings at Trumbull High. AP Biology saw 68% of its test takers score a 3 or above, 18% of them triumphing a perfect 5. Additionally, the AP Psychology course boasted a 61% pass rate while AP Computer Science Principles held a 65% pass rate with just 11% of students getting a 5. Both AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics had extremely similar score distributions. 65% of microeconomics students and 62% of macroeconomics students obtained a score of 3 or higher, 17% and 16% of them earning a 5, respectively.
With an annual average of 570,000 test takers, AP English Language and Composition is the College Board’s most popular AP course. It is likely the most commonly taken AP at Trumbull High as well, seeing that it is one of the two course options for those who wish to pursue the advanced English track in 11th grade, the other option being AP English Literature and Composition. The AP English Language and Composition class teaches the fundamentals of critical reading and analysis, syntax, and non-fiction based essay writing, skills which are particularly handy as the time for college application essay writing nears. The first section of this year’s exam required test takers to answer 45 multiple choice questions in one hour, amounting to 45% of the exam grade. Section II made up the other 55% and gave students 2 hours and 15 minutes to write an evidence-based synthesis question, rhetorical analysis, and argument, each in essay format, regarding the texts presented to them. Just over half of the test takers passed, 24% earning a 3, 21% a 4, and 9% a 5. 29% of them scored a 2 and 17% received a 1.
There are many factors that affect the AP exam score distributions. As one would expect, course difficulty is one of them. Over the years, social studies and STEM classes such as AP US History and AP Physics have yielded much lower score averages than art and capstone APs like AP Research, AP Seminar, and AP Drawing. This can be credited to the time-consuming, memorization-heavy nature of social studies courses and the mathematically demanding structure of STEM classes. On the contrary, art and research are fairly open ended as there are many possible drawings and research findings that can properly address the exam’s prompts. Test takers typically receive credit as long as their responses are neat, accurate, and explanatory, boosting the mean scores of the AP Capstone and AP Arts categories.
The difficulty of each AP exam varies slightly from year to year as well, understandably causing some years’ results to be higher or lower than others. In order to combat this disparity and maintain consistency, the College Board uses a scaling process to curve the scores. The officials grade the exams, compare the raw results to previous years, and then adjust them accordingly, checking that the new score distributions are the same as the old ones. That way, the score represents the same degree of mastery for each test version across the years.
It is also noteworthy that some Advanced Placement courses are banned in certain areas. In 2023, Florida prohibited the teaching of the AP Psychology and AP African American Studies classes, citing that they taught the unfit topics of gender identity, sexuality, and critical race theory. While AP Psychology has been reintroduced to the curriculum, the AP African American Studies ban is still in effect today.
Whether you were content with your AP exam scores this year or not, remember that these are college-level courses. You have already proven yourself by studying them in high school, so do not dwell too much on your scores. Next year is another opportunity to do well.
To see the full AP exam score distributions, click here.
Featured Photo Courtesy: Brand College Consulting