For the first time in a decade, the proportion of students who achieved a score of 3 or better on an AP exam has risen, and so have the average scores on the exams, according to figures released Wednesday by the College Board.
Specifically, roughly 60.1 percent of the 954,070 students who took an AP exam in 2012 achieved a score of 3 or higher on the five-point AP Exam scale, which is the score needed for credit or advanced placement at most colleges and universities.
That figure represents an uptick from the 59.8 percent out of the 904,794 students who got a 3 or better in 2011. In 2002, the percentage of scorers of 3 or better was 64.7 percent, but the percentage has been on the decline or stable until now.
As for the mean or average score, which stood at 2.94 in 2002 but has declined or stayed the same every year since, it is back up to 2.83 after having fallen to a low of 2.8 in 2010 and staying there in 2011.
College Board officials say the increases — however slight they may be — serve to dispel the notion that the pool of AP exam-takers in the college prep courses cannot become larger and more diverse, and yet improve at the same time.
“It is meaningful that AP mean scores improved during a time of continued expansion of AP access, because that typically does not happen when educational programs are expanded,” said Trevor Packer, senior vice president of AP and college readiness at the College Board.
He called the increase a “testament to educators and students who are committed to the challenging courses.”
