Advanced Placement Test Where Blacks Achieved the Most Success

Previously JBHE reported that 27.8 percent of all black test takers received a grade of 3 or above on Advanced Placement tests in 2005. A score of 3 or above is required for consideration for college credit. But blacks did considerably better on some AP tests.

The AP course in which blacks achieved the most success was studio art, 2-D design. In this course 64 percent of black students received a qualifying grade of 3 or above. On the studio art drawing AP test, 59.4 percent of black students received a qualifying grade. This is the only AP course where there is no examination. Students are graded by an assessment of their drawing portfolios. More than one half of all black students who took AP tests in Spanish literature, German, and French received a grade of 3 or above. Particularly good news is the fact that 53.1 percent of all blacks taking one of the two calculus tests received a qualifying grade.

At the other end of the spectrum, only 326 of the 1,847 black students, or 17.7 percent, who took the AP environmental science test received a qualifying score of 3 or above. Less than 26 percent of all black students succeeded in qualifying for college credit in the subject areas of U.S. government and politics, physics, chemistry, computer science, English literature, and statistics.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.