Lisa, one of the founders of Hillhouse Education Center (a high-end education consulting firm), discusses the increasingly popular AP courses and exams, offering a professional perspective on AP course planning and providing valuable advice. This is the third article in a three-part series on how to plan your AP course and exam choices.
Analysis of the percentage of students achieving a score of 5 on AP exams in recent years
In previous years, almost 100% of Hillhouse students achieved a score of 5 on their AP exams, but in the last year or two, there have been occasional students scoring 4. Hillhouse does not encourage students to self-study or take extra classes to prepare for the AP exams.
Previously, only students ranking around the top 30 in the US or those taking AP courses participated in the AP exams, so the scores were generally 5. Now, due to the changing environment, the following phenomenon has emerged:
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In the past year or two, the level of test takers has varied greatly, and their backgrounds are quite different. For example, there are students who have just graduated from ELL, or eighth and ninth graders who are eager to try and challenge themselves. But in fact, many students cannot even handle the basic courses in their schools, yet they follow the trend to learn AP. If they do not lay a solid foundation in their school courses, it is impossible for them to get good grades in AP.
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The AP courses chosen are no longer concentrated in popular majors such as calculus, physics, and economics, but also cover a wide range of subjects such as English language and literature, history, biology, chemistry, and computer science.
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The number of subjects each child chooses is increasing, and without proper time management, some courses are not at the 5-point level.
AP Course Selection Difficulty Analysis
AP course planning is a highly personalized issue with no set rules or formulas. It depends on a student's interests, career aspirations, learning abilities, and the difficulty of the courses. Therefore, a formal plan requires a very comprehensive understanding of each student to develop a practical and effective AP course plan.
Difficulty cannot be judged simply by the percentage of students who score 5. For example, in the AI era, most humanities and science students take AP Calculus. According to 2024 data, AP Calculus BC is more difficult than AP Calculus AB, but the percentage of students who scored 5 on Calculus BC (around 47.7%) is more than double the percentage of students who scored 5 on Calculus AB (21.4%). This is because the number of students taking Calculus AB is almost double, approximately 279,000, while the number taking BC is around 148,000. Moreover, students who take BC are generally those with top-tier mathematical abilities, hence their higher scores.
Data source: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/about-ap-scores/score-distributions
The same applies to 4-door AP physics.
AP Physics C, some of which are based on calculus, is quite difficult. However, the high pass rate of 35% for a perfect score can lead to misunderstandings among parents and students.
In terms of the number of applicants, the number of applicants for Physics 1 and Physics C Mechanical, which are quite similar in content, differed by about 2.5 times, but the number of people who scored 5 points for both was quite close.
The number of applicants for Physics 2 and Physics C Electromagnetism is similar, but the number of applicants who scored 5 points in Physics C Electromagnetism is twice that of Physics 2.
Therefore, simply looking at the percentage of students scoring 5 out of 5 does not reflect the true difficulty of the AP exams. Instead, the overall difficulty of the course, the number of students enrolled, the level of the enrolled students, and one's own learning pace and approach should be considered.
AP exam related rewards
AP Scholar: Awarded to students who score 3 or higher on three or more AP exams.
AP Honors Scholar: Awarded to students who have an average AP exam score of 3.25 or higher, and who have achieved a score of 3 or higher on four or more AP exams.
AP Distinguished Scholar: Awarded to students who achieve an average score of 3.5 or higher on all AP exams, and who score 3 or higher on 5 or more of those exams.
AP Diploma: Awarded to students who excel in various academic fields, offered to international students attending high school outside the United States and American high school students applying to universities abroad. It recognizes outstanding academic achievements from a global perspective. Students must achieve a score of 3 or higher on 5 or more AP exams.
Teacher Lisa's advice to parents
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For most Canadian students, achieving top marks in their six core Grade 11-12 subjects, typically around 90%, is crucial for admission to their desired Canadian university and program. AP scores are a bonus, offering priority admission and university credit transfer, potentially leading to a double degree or early graduation. However, AP courses are essentially university preparatory courses, significantly increasing their difficulty. If students choose AP courses despite this, they must give it their all, rapidly improving various skills such as time management, learning ability, and perseverance. Students with experience in multiple IB or AP courses generally demonstrate stronger academic abilities in university.
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As parents, while providing full support in daily life, it's important to learn to reduce your child's stress. Don't fixate on scores of 5 or reward them with scores of 3 or higher. 5 = extremely well qualified, 4 = well qualified, 3 = qualified (many colleges recognize passing scores as 3, 4, or 5). Parents should enjoy the process of growing together with their children.
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If you make a reasonable academic plan and also take into account subject competitions, you will achieve twice the result with half the effort, which will be a new topic about subject content.
In short, we hope to help everyone understand AP courses and AP exams, and based on this, create the most suitable and personalized course plan for each child according to their actual situation .
For more information, please click the following link:
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