4th Annual AP Report to the Nation Released

tokenadult · 02-13-2008, 08:43 PM

http://professionals.collegeboard.co...ation-2008.pdf

The AP Report to the Nation has a lot of statistics on what grade students take their AP tests in, how many students take each test, what scores are obtained on each test, and so on.

doctordestiny · 02-13-2008, 09:03 PM

Wow, I didn't realize that the percentages of students scoring 3 or above was so low.

Also, I love how the AP examinee population for Asians is about twice that of their actual population... the second closest are Hispanics with a near 1:1 ratio.

kwu · 02-13-2008, 09:09 PM

Considering the raw scores required to score a 5 on the APs aren't that high, yeah, it's kind of appalling.

arachnophobia12 · 02-13-2008, 09:53 PM

good thing college board decided to revamp the AP program... w/ higher standards for the classes, the students should (hopefully) be more prepared for the tests....

pramirez184 · 02-13-2008, 10:03 PM

I find it surprising that Calculus BC had a 43.5 % of its test-takers score a 5. I expected it to have a much lower percent than that.

dsultemeier · 02-13-2008, 10:05 PM

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like they are comparing # of students getting a 3 with the total group of students, I would have compared it with the # of students actually taking an exam. For students taking an exam the % getting a 3 or better looks to be around 61% nationwide. Thanks for sharing the data. My oldest child is taking her first AP tests this May so this is all new to me.

hotasice · 02-13-2008, 10:51 PM

Other surprising statistics (to me, anyway):
% of students receiving a 5 on the AP English Language exam: 9.2%
% of students receiving a 5 on the AP English Literature exam: 7.0%
% of students receiving a 5 on the AP U.S. Gov't and Politics exam: 6.0%

I took the AP English Lang exam last year and received a 5

I didn't think it was too bad, although a lot of my classmates seemed to garner 4s, with only a few other 5's scattered here and there...

I also took the AP U.S. Gov't exam and received a 5 on that too, but that was during sophomore year; even then, however, I am shocked at the low percentage of people receiving 5's on the government exam. At my school AP NSL (national/state/local government), as it is known, has an infamous rep for being the easiest AP class.

I'm currently taking the AP Lit class and will take the exam this May. Hopefully I will emerge with a 5 in the end

xaerial · 02-13-2008, 11:56 PM

Yikes I can't believe how many people get 1's... I would be so depressed

eating food · 02-14-2008, 12:43 AM

i think that this is interesting because it reveals why affirmative action midsets have been adopted by top institutions. In maryland (where I live) only 6% of the african-americans score above a three on the tests. And in all of the tests, blacks are under-represented test takers.

Sheed30 · 02-14-2008, 06:54 AM

[quoteI find it surprising that Calculus BC had a 43.5 % of its test-takers score a 5. I expected it to have a much lower percent than that.[/quote]

Well when you think about it though, This person was in Second year calculus while they were still in high school. That person is definitely bright to have already passed all the previous classes including a year of calculus already....

quareidfaciam · 02-14-2008, 09:04 AM

Sheed30 who wrote: Well when you think about it though, This person was in Second year calculus while they were still in high school. That person is definitely bright to have already passed all the previous classes including a year of calculus already....

I too wondered about the preselected nature of this group, the quality of math education generally, and the fact that more students achieve 800s on the math SAT than they do on the CR. Makes one wonder what percent of students are readers -- by that, I mean how many read for pleasure on top of 3 or 4 AP classes, ECs, etc. Also, isn't Calc BC the second semester, not the second year?

tokenadult · 02-14-2008, 09:49 AM

Here's some info about enrollment in calculus classes:

David Bressoud's Launchings from the CUPM Curriculum Guide

The previous AP Report to the Nation

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_dow...ort-nation.pdf

had more information about exactly how students performed on each test, including comments on which questions were hardest for most students.

rodney · 02-14-2008, 09:49 AM

"Yikes I can't believe how many people get 1's... I would be so depressed "

It also shows why the AP audit was soooo necessary....Lots of places with kids getting "A"s in AP classes with lousy test grades (admissions, however, still has not gotten on the bandwagon by requiring AP test scores for decisions)......

tokenadult · 02-14-2008, 10:09 AM

Colleges That Request AP Scores on Their Application Forms

FAIZANZUBAIR · 02-14-2008, 11:28 AM

Something I don't like about college board is its methodology of calculating scaled scores.

First of all there is no need to choose numbers like 800 in SATs and 5 in AP's. I think it would be much better if college board simply calculates percentiles.

For example in SAT II Math Level II if some genius got 48-50 out of 50 questions correct he will be given the same score as someone who got raw score 43 ( Both will get 800). The same applies to APs.

On the other hand percentiles will not only distinguish bright from brightest but also will have more meaning for the layman.