More Wisconsin High Schoolers Passing AP Tests, But Some Question Why

School lockers. Photo by Phil Roeder (CC BY 2.0) 

Wisconsin high school students are taking more advanced placement exams than ever before, and their test scores are higher too.

On the surface, that’s great news — the college-level standardized tests allow high schoolers to earn college credit, saving them both time and money.

But some teachers and experts are questioning whether students actually know more than their counterparts who graduated before them, or whether the scores are a result of the College Board changing its grading criteria for AP exams.

In the 2024-25 school year, students in the state took 84,584 AP exams and scored a 3 or above on 78 percent of tests taken, according to data from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. 

That’s up 11 percent from the year before when students took 76,196 AP exams. That year, about 71 percent of exams scored a 3 or above, according to Policy Forum data.

Most colleges and universities give students college credit if students receive a 3 or above.

Sara Shaw, deputy research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, said there are a few different hypotheses for why scores are trending up, including the fact that the the College Board, the non profit arm of AP, recalibrated its threshold for what constitutes a “3.”

Between 2022 and early 2024, the College Board adjusted how it scores AP subject exams using a data- and numbers-based approach aimed at eliminating some of the subjectivity and inconsistency that had previously been part of AP exam scoring.

The “recalibration” resulted in a higher percentage of students getting the 3’s, 4’s, and 5’s that qualify them for college credit in nine subjects.

“When we see these numbers of increasing exam taking and increasing scores, I think it’s important to know that we don’t think that it’s just that Wisconsinites are suddenly doing a lot better on AP exams,” Shaw said. “Although that would be wonderful news. I think there’s a degree to which some of that may be happening. But it seems like the larger factor here is this recalibration that the College Board did.”

Libby Wissing has taught AP math classes at Divine Savior Holy Angels, a private girls school in Milwaukee, for 12 years. She said last year, for the first time, it was clear what the free response questions, or non-multiple choice questions, on the AP pre-calculus test were going to be.

AP statistics was revamped this summer, so Wissing will know what those questions will be next school year.

“It does feel like there’s more direct expectations, which then makes it easier as a teacher — if the goal is to get students to do well on this exam,” Wissing said.

But Wissing doesn’t believe this is a good thing.

“I don’t know that them knowing exactly what the questions are going to be is a benefit. It takes less critical thinking,” Wissing said.

“I love the courses and I love my students and it definitely feels like I am more aware of what’s expected of my students,” she continued. “And because I know what my students, their parents, the colleges want, then it’s like, OK, well, I’ll make sure you have the phrase that you need to use for this question memorized.”

In an email to WPR, a spokesperson for the College Board said AP has challenged students for decades, and it continues to do so today.

“Our responsibility is to ensure AP scores reflect high and durable college standards, not changing college grading trends,” the statement says. “The work we’ve done in recent years has strengthened our ability to apply those standards consistently across subjects and over time.”

The email continued that information is provided widely about AP courses and exam requirements so that “every teacher and student understands the expectations and no student is disadvantaged by a lack of information when they sit down to demonstrate what they know on their AP exam.”

Wisconsin is not an outlier in higher scores. Nationwide, high school teachers have seen the trend.

For example, in AP Chemistry, the share of students scoring a 3, 4 or 5 increased from 54 in 2022 to 75.1 in 2023, according to the 74, an education website. 

By one estimate, roughly 100,000 more students hit the passing threshold on AP U.S. History in 2024 than in 2023, according to the 74.

The surge in AP test scores in Wisconsin and across the nation comes at a time when math and reading levels and chronic absenteeism rates have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Changes to how AP exams are scored have led some researchers to question whether the board was trying to boost the percentage of students receiving passing grades, or compete with other programs such as dual credit classes, where students don’t have to take a test.

Gabriel Velez is the associate professor of educational policy and leadership at Marquette University. He also runs the University’s Dual Enrollment program.

He says high schoolers are looking for every opportunity to bolster their college applications and get college credits at a lower cost.

“We are seeing similar rises in participation in dual enrollment courses, which offer greater flexibility for earning college credit but do not have the historical reputation of high AP scores,” Velez said. “

But Harvard political scientist Paul Peterson accused the College Board of “dumbing down” its AP tests in a series of recent essays. 

“Those who rely on AP scores must recognize that some exam results reflect not a surge in student learning but a quiet lowering of the bar,” Peterson wrote.

Wisconsin high schoolers scoring higher on AP tests, but some question why was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.