AP Testing Sets Records

Jesuit High School's Advanced Placement (AP) program concluded another year of impressive growth and development in 2018 with a school-record 84% pass rate and record-high 13 courses exceeding a 90% pass rate.

While administering more AP tests (865) to more students (402) in more AP courses (23) than ever before, Jesuit equaled the school-best pass rate of 84%, which it also attained in 2016.

Six courses produced a perfect 100% pass rate: Studio Art 2-D Design (teacher Kevin Ball '03), Studio Art Drawing (Ball), Seminar (Austin Freeman '02), Chemistry (Nathan Stibrich), Computer Science Principles (Jason Ault), and Computer Science (Jesuit Virtual Learning Academy). Under Ball's direction, both art classes have had perfect AP pass rates for three straight years. Seminar, which completed its second year at Jesuit as part of the AP Capstone program, also had a 100% pass rate last year.

The seven others topping the 90% mark this year are: Human Geography (99%, Vindri Gajadhar, pictured on the homepage), Psychology (96%, Bill Eggert '77), Biology (95%, Amy Martin), Calculus BC (93%, Corey Perich), English Language (93%, Greg Malafronte '05), Latin (90%, Nick Werner), and Spanish (90%, Juan Cruz).

Human Geography, which is taken by freshmen, has exceeded 97% all four years it has been offered; Psychology has been offered for three years and surpassed 90% each year; English Language has scored 88% or better the past four years; and Spanish and Biology both have been 86% or higher the past three years.

In AP testing, scores are reported on a 5-point scale, with a score of 3 or better considered passing. American colleges and universities typically grant placement and course credit to students who obtain high scores on the examinations. Of the 402 Jesuit students who took an AP test this year, 347 earned a passing score of 3 or better, a rate of 86.3%, far above the global (61.3%) and state (55.7%) averages.

“Once again this year, the outstanding AP scores are a reflection of the exceptional commitment of our students and teachers,” said Debbie Pacheco, Jesuit’s assistant principal for academics. “We are so proud of their hard work and dedication toward achieving academic excellence. We have continued to increase our AP course offerings and accessibility, and our students and teachers have continued to meet the challenge and demonstrate a very high level of performance.”

Also performing very well in 2018 AP testing were Physics 2 (83%, Dan Noyes), Statistics (76%, April Bombka), and World History (75%, Sam Mandt '93). Overall, 19 of 23 Jesuit AP courses registered a 73% pass rate or better.  

Jesuit has surpassed the 76% overall pass rate mark for five consecutive years, and exceeded 81% in three of those years. Simultaneously, Jesuit has expanded its AP course offerings and the total number of students taking AP classes and exams every year since 2012.

Over the past five years, Jesuit's AP program has grown significantly:

• 865 AP exams taken by Jesuit students in 2017-18, a 165% increase over 2013 (327).
• 402 students enrolled in AP courses in 2017-18, a 113% increase over 2013 (189).
• 23 AP courses offered in 2017-18, a 92% increase over 2013 (12).

More than half of the student body (52%) took an AP exam this school year. Jesuit maintains the integrity of its AP program and test results by requiring all enrolled AP students to take the AP exam in that course. (Some schools allow students in AP courses to opt out of the AP test.) 

The Advanced Placement program, created by the College Board, offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. The AP curriculum for each of the various subjects is created for the College Board by a panel of experts and college-level educators in that field of study.