Record Results: AP Testing

Jesuit High School’s students and faculty had extraordinary results in Advanced Placement testing in May 2026, establishing new school records across most key metrics!

The new standards set:

• Most courses with a 95% pass rate or better – 17
• Most courses with an 85% pass rate or better – 23
• Highest average course pass rate – 90.4%
• Highest % of students with a score of 3 or better – 97%
• Most students enrolled in an AP course – 540
• Highest number of AP exams given – 1,417
• Highest average score per test – 3.9

In both the growth and development of the AP program, as well as the testing scores, Jesuit’s students and faculty have continued on a remarkable trajectory.

The AP program is bigger and better than ever.

“As it is every year, the success in Advanced Placement at Jesuit is a tribute to the incredible hard work and talent of our teachers and students,” said Debbie Pacheco, Jesuit’s assistant principal for academics. “We are extremely proud of their dedication to achieving academic excellence, and their success in AP testing.”

Establishing an outstanding academic foundation during freshman and sophomore year has set up Jesuit’s students for exceptional success in AP testing as juniors and seniors. (Though some of the AP success happens during their first two years, such as in the all-freshmen AP Human Geography course, which achieved a 99% pass rate.)

Nine courses achieved a perfect 100% pass rate in AP testing in May:

• Chemistry (teacher Julie Hust)
• Computer Science A (Arrupe Virtual Learning Institute)
• English Language & Composition (Angela Hamrick)
• European History (Ian Edwards ’05)
• Precalculus (Kevin Hughes/Dimitri Papadimitriou)
• Research (Austin Freeman ’02)
• Seminar (Freeman)
• Studio Art 2-D Design (Matthew Feljsted)
• U.S. History (Chris Barrett)

It marks the 6th consecutive year with a perfect pass rate for Chemistry, all with Hust teaching; the 3rd straight year of perfection for European History and Precalculus; and the second straight for both English Language & Composition and U.S. History.

Research and Seminar, the two courses that comprise the AP Capstone Program, have been extremely successful through the years. Seminar achieved 100% for the 10th straight year under Freeman, and Research has achieved 100% most years.

Chemistry and Precalculus tied for the highest average score among all AP courses offered by Jesuit with a 4.7, with English Language & Composition and Human Geography next at 4.5.

The other Jesuit AP courses that achieved a 95% pass rate or better in May testing are:

• World History – 99.1% (Nick Rivera ’14)
• Human Geography – 99% (Vindri Gajadhar)
• U.S. Gov’t & Politics – 97.7% (Edwards)
• English Lit & Composition – 97.2% (Greg Malafronte ’05)
• Statistics – 96.9% (Ruston Broussard)
• Biology – 96.4% (Barry Kayanan)
• Computer Science Principles – 96.4% (Jason Lublin)
• Spanish Language & Culture – 95.8% (Bert Roney)

Human Geography has been above a 97% pass rate all 12 years it has been offered at Jesuit, all with Gajadhar teaching, and is over 99% for the 6th straight year. World History has ascended from 81% four years ago to 99.1% this year in Rivera’s second year. English Lit and Composition has been above 95% the past four years under Malafronte. The other five courses listed above – U.S. Gov’t & Politics, Statistics, Biology, Computer Science Principles, and Spanish Language & Culture – all improved over their 2025 pass rates.

Several other AP courses continued their long track records of great testing results at Jesuit and are among the 23 that achieved 85% or better this year: Psychology (92.1%, Mike Boza ’78 - in all 12 years Jesuit has offered AP Psych, the pass rate has exceeded 89%), Physics 1 (90.9%, Corey Perich), Environmental Science (89.7%, Lauren Maguire), Spanish Lit & Culture (87.5%, Nayvi Hernandez), Calculus BC (87.5%, Perich), and Calculus AB (85.1%, Dave O’Sullivan/Hughes).

Jesuit’s overall pass rate of 90.4% far exceeds the state (71.1%) and national (74.0%) averages. The school maintains the integrity of its AP program by requiring all enrolled AP students to take the AP exam in that course in May; students cannot opt out, as many schools allow.

AP test scores are reported on a 5-point scale, with a 3 or better considered passing. American universities typically grant placement and course credit to students who obtain high scores.

Twenty five Jesuit AP courses achieved a higher pass rate in 2026 than the state and national average in that course, with many exceeding by large margins. Among them are Statistics (96.9% Jesuit, 48.7% state), Computer Science A (100% Jesuit, 54.7% state), Computer Science Principles (96.4% Jesuit, 55.9% state), World History (99.1% Jesuit, 63.6% state), Human Geography (99% Jesuit, 67% state), U.S. History (100% Jesuit, 70.9% state), Chemistry (100% Jesuit, 71.3% state), and U.S. Gov’t & Politics (97.7% Jesuit, 71.7% state).

Congratulations to the students and teachers of Jesuit for their success in AP testing for the 2025-26 school year!