North Carolina high school students are taking more Advanced Placement Program classes and performing better on their exams than in past years, according to the College Board’s recent AP Report to the Nation.
The percentage of students scoring 3 out of 5 or better in 2007 was up 0.3 percent from 2006 and 4.8 percent from 2002, the report said. More than 18 percent of North Carolina’s students scored passing grades on their exams last year.
But according to Tommy Griffin, director of undergraduate admissions, more students have high scores because more students are taking AP exams than before.
More than 101,000 students took AP exams in 2007, compared to about 84,000 in 2006 and roughly 64,000 in 2005.
“The College Board has changed its emphasis from being a testing agency to getting students [closer] to going to college,” Griffin said. “Students who take [AP exams] are more likely to move on to college.”
Although more students are taking these tests and passing them, Griffin said it will not change the way Admissions looks at applicants’ scores.
“It does seem like more of our N.C. State students are bringing in more credit,” he said.
Freshmen in the class of 2007 brought 10,593 AP scores, according to an admissions report.
“The academic level of [first year students] is getting better and better,” Griffin said.
And while students are entering with more credit hours, this may not have a big effect on their academics when they enter the University.
“It doesn’t seem that students are graduating faster,” Griffin said.
But students may be more motivated to attempt to double major if they bring in additional credit hours, he said.
Gaston Caperton, the president of the College Board, has changed the direction of their organization to focus more on the AP program.
“He really has pushed the College Board to be an advocate for college access,” he said.
Matt Butler, a senior in elementary education, said that while he came in with 10 credit hours from AP classes, it has not made him graduate any sooner.
“It didn’t affect the rate at which I graduated because [the classes] weren’t applicable to my major,” he said.
The percentage of students in North Carolina who passed an AP exam at some point in high school is higher than the national average. Nationally, 15.2 percent of students passed an AP exam, 3.2 percentage points lower than the percentage in North Carolina.
Josh Fisher, a freshman in biological sciences, said while he participated in AP classes in high school, many people at his school didn’t — despite the availability of the classes.
“My class had 248 people, but for our size we had a lot [of AP classes],” Fisher said. “They really only encouraged the top students in my school to take them.”
