Over 400 Paly students took a total of 776 Advanced Placement (AP) exams in May 2005. Almost 50% of these tests received the highest score of 5 points, and over 90% of total exams taken at Paly received passing scores.

The College Board’s AP program allows high school students to earn college credit by taking subject-specific exams each May. Based on the score a student receives on each given test, a college or university may consider a student eligible to receive credit for certain classes or placement in higher level courses.

Students generally prepare for the exams by enrolling in AP courses at their school. Occasionally, if a particular AP class is not offered during the year, students may elect to study independently instead.

The AP program has 35 different tests, usually about two to three hours in length, which span 20 subject areas.

According to the College Board, AP grades are based on a five-point scale; a score of 5 means a student is "extremely well qualified [to receive credit]," with a 4 a student is "well qualified," a score of 3 makes a student "qualified," a 2, "possibly qualified", and a 1 gives a student "no recommendation [to receive credit]" according to the College Board website. A score of either a 3, 4 or 5 is considered a passing grade.

With the exception of the late testing dates, exams always occur over a period of two weeks, with tests scheduled for either a morning or afternoon sitting. Last year, AP testing took place between May 2 and May 13, 2005, and this year, exams will be given between May 1 and May 12, 2006, with grades to be available by phone on July 1.

The College Board charges $82 per test, and in past years, Paly has added on additional fees for each exam. Last year, Paly students were charged $95 for regular registration of each test.

The Paly statistics for the AP exams taken in 2005 are provided below. The number of students who received each given score is reported.

Exam – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Score of 5 – – – 4 – – – 3 – – – 2 – – – 1 – – – – – – – % passing

Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 . . . 16 . . . 4 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 98%

Calculus AB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 . . . 11 . . . 3 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 99%

Calculus BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 . . . 8 . . . 2 . . . 0 . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98%

Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 . . . 18 . . . 8 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . 100%

Computer Science AB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . 100%

English Literature & Composition . . . . . . . . . 18 . . . 21 . . . 16 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 95%

Environmental Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . 17 . . . 7 . . . 6 . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 80%

French Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . 8 . . . 10 . . . 6 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 79%

French Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63%

Music Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . 4 . . . 5 . . . 3 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86%

Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 . . . 42 . . . 19 . . . 4 . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 96%

Spanish Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 . . . 16 . . . 25 . . .12 . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 81%

Spanish Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . 11 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94%

Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 . . . 18 . . . 11 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . 100%

US History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 . . . 33 . . . 12 . . . 2 . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 98%

*The scores of Paly students who took the German Language, Studio Art, or Physics exams have been excluded. Because a small number of students took these tests, reporting the scores may mean that students’ grades would be identifiable and students’ anonymity unpreserved.

*Paly statistics courtesy of assistant principal Chuck Merritt.

For reference, as reported by the College Board website, the May 2005 national mean score and percentage of students who received top and passing grades are provided below as well.

Exam – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – mean – – – – – % students scoring a 5 – – – – – % passing

Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3.05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61%

Calculus AB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.97) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59%

Calculus BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4.06) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80%

Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.83) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57%

Computer Science AB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3.11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63%

English Literature & Composition . . . . (2.97) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64%

Environmental Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.60) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50%

French Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.82) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59%

French Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3.31) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70%

Music Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3.20) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70%

Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3.29) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72%

Spanish Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3.56) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78%

Spanish Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.80) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63%

Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.87) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60%

US History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.81) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57%