Does Success on Advanced Placement Program® Exams Predict College Success? A Summary of AP® Research

Widespread research confirms that students who score well on the College Board's AP Exam are more likely to graduate college in five years or less, students who use AP to place out of introductory courses are more likely to pursue higher-level course study in their exam discipline, and AP Exam grades are valid predictors of college success. Following is a summary of the most recent research:

I. Performance in upper-level college courses: AP students exempted from introductory college courses, including mathematics and science courses, earned higher course grades than students who took the introductory course on the college campus.
Rick Morgan and Len Ramist (1998)
Advanced Placement Students in College: An Investigation of Course Grades at 21 Colleges (.pdf/267K)_Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader (latest version recommended).
Morgan and Ramist evaluated the subsequent course performance of AP students who placed out of the introductory college course. They did this by collecting official college transcript data from 21 colleges and universities. For 25 AP Exams, including AP Exams in mathematics (Calculus AB & Calculus BC) and science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics B, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, & Physics C: Mechanics), results showed that AP students who were exempted from the introductory courses in mathematics and science generally earned the same or higher course grades in the second-level courses than students who took the introductory course on the college campus. Students earning higher AP Exam grades tended to do better, on average, in the second-level course than those earning lower AP Exam grades.
Some colleges and universities included in the Morgan and Ramist (1998) study permitted students to enroll in math and science courses beyond the second level depending on their AP Exam grades. When Morgan and Ramist investigated the performance of AP students who placed out of both introductory and second-level courses, they found that AP students also earned, on average, higher grades in all mathematics and science third-level courses compared to students who took the lower-level course with the exception of Physics B (where only students earning a 5 on the exam outperformed the comparison group) and Biology (where only students earning a 4 or 5 on the exam outperformed the comparison group).
Barbara G. Dodd, Steven J. Fitzpatrick, R. J. De Ayala, Judith A. Jennings (2002)
An Investigation of the Validity of AP Grades of 3 and a Comparison of AP and Non-AP Student Groups (.pdf/241K)
This study, conducted using data from the University of Texas at Austin, addressed the same research question as Morgan and Ramist and found results that corroborate the earlier research. Results showed that AP students who were exempted from the introductory course in calculus, biology, and English earned the same or higher grades in the subsequent course, took as many or more class hours in the subject area, and had the same or higher grades in additional courses in the subject area compared to the group of non-AP students of similar academic ability. The fact that the researchers compared the AP group to non-AP students of similar academic ability is a notable strength of this study.

II. AP Student Course-taking Patterns: Students who took AP Exams were more likely to take at least one course in the discipline of their exam while in college, compared to their peers who did not take AP Exams in those disciplines.
Rick Morgan and Behroz Maneckshana (2000)
AP Students in College: An Investigation of Their Course-taking Patterns and College Majors AP Students in College: An Investigation of Their Course-taking Patterns and College Majors (.pdf/144K)
Morgan and Maneckshana investigated the college course-taking patterns of students who have taken AP Exams. With respect to mathematics and science, results showed that students who took AP Exams in these areas were more likely to take at least one course in the discipline of their exam while in college compared to students who did not take any AP Exams in the same areas. In addition, many AP students who took AP Exams in biology, physics, and calculus subsequently majored or minored in the subject area of their exams or a closely related field.

III. College Graduation: Students who earned a 3 or higher on one or more AP Exams in the areas of English, mathematics, science, or social studies were more likely to graduate from college in five years or less compared to non-AP students
Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor, and Shuling Jian, National Center for Educational Accountability (2005)
This paper can be requested by emailing chrys@mail.utexas.edu.
Dougherty, Mellor, and Jian explored the effect of AP course participation and AP Exam performance on college graduation rates. They found that students who earned a 3 or better on one or more AP Exams in the areas of English, mathematics, science, or social studies were more likely to graduate from college in five years or less compared to non-AP students, even after controlling for prior academic achievement and other student-level (e.g., free and reduced price lunch status) and school-level demographic characteristics (e.g., percentage of low-income students, district dropout rate). The same was true for AP students who earned a 1 or 2 on AP Exams and for students who took an AP course but not the exam, although the size of the effect was smaller. The positive effect for AP was consistent across minority and low-income students.
When Dougherty et al. framed the question in terms of a school-level analysis, they found that the best AP-related indicator for predicting the percentage of students who would graduate from college from a particular high school was the percent of students taking and performing well (3 or better) on AP Exams.

IV. College Grades in Math and Science: AP Exam grades were a strong predictor of second-year undergraduate GPA in biological sciences, mathematics, and physical sciences, second in strength only to high school grade point average.
Saul Geiser and Veronica Santelices (2004)
The Role of Advanced Placement and Honors Courses in College Admissions (.pdf/368K)
Geiser and Santelices found that AP Exam grades were a strong predictor of second-year undergraduate GPA in biological sciences, mathematics, and physical sciences, second in strength only to high school grade point average. They further state: "The subject-specific, curriculum-intensive AP Exams are the epitome of 'achievement tests,' in this sense, and their validity in predicting college performance should not be surprising from that standpoint" (see p. 18 of their report).

V. International Comparisons: Students enrolled in AP Calculus and AP Physics courses outperform students in most other countries.
Eugenio J. Gonzalez, Kathleen M. O'Connor, & Julie A. Miles (2001)
How Well Do Advanced Placement Students Perform on the TIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Tests? (.pdf/1.86MB)
Gonzalez et al showed that students enrolled in AP Calculus courses earned the highest average scores on the TIMSS Advanced Mathematics tests, significantly outperforming students in all other countries except France, including U.S. students who did not take AP Calculus.
Students enrolled in AP Physics also performed well, scoring significantly above the international average on the TIMSS Physics test; whereas U.S. students not taking AP scored significantly below the international average.
It's also important to note that AP students who earned AP Exam grades of 3 or better on the AP Calculus Exams or the AP Physics Exams earned even higher scores on the TIMSS assessments compared to students who took the AP course but not necessarily the exam.

You have read this article with the title Does Success on Advanced Placement Program® Exams Predict College Success? A Summary of AP® Research. You can bookmark this page URL http://universosportinguista.blogspot.com/2007/01/does-success-on-advanced-placement.html. Thanks!