A few years ago, education experts noticed that scores were climbing upwards on a number of Advanced Placement tests. The increases, measured on some of the program’s most popular assessments, were as significant as they were unexpected.
In AP Chemistry, the share of students scoring a 3, 4 or 5 (generally interpreted as a passing grade on the famously challenging exams, which are scored on a 1-5 scale) increased from 54% in 2022 to 75.1% in 2023. In AP United States Government and Politics, that proportion grew even more, from 49.2% to 73% from year to year. By one estimate, roughly 100,000 more students hit the passing threshold on AP U.S. History in 2024 than in 2023.