FRESHMEN TAKING ADVANCED PLACEMENT?

YOU BET!

A record number of Boise students took a record number of Advanced Placement exams in 2019. And the newest growth in the program came partially because more freshmen took exams than over before. 

District Exams and Participation

2718 Boise District students took exams in 2019, eclipsing the old record of 2365 set...last year, as the program continues to grow. Those students took 5150 Advanced Placement exams, surpassing last year's total of 4806.

Several years ago, the District began its plan to offer some Advanced Placement classes to freshmen and sophomores, which has resulted in much more AP World History participation among sophs, for example. We also began to offer AP Human Geography to 9th graders. Those offerings have been expanded to all junior high schools, resulting in a jump from 61 AP Human Geography exam 9th grade participants last year to 232 this year. AP participation by 9th graders this year represented 9% of total participation, compared to 3% just last year.

High School Exams and Participation

Though each of our 4 comprehensive high schools has made substantial growth in the number of exams given, Timberline High School's growth has been remarkable. Ten years ago, Timberline, Borah, and Capital gave about the same number of exams. In 2019, Timberline's exams numbers have surpassed those given at Boise High.

AP student participation at Borah and Capital has more than doubled since 2009, and it's grown by 50% at Boise. At Timberline, student participation in the AP exam program has more than tripled in the past ten years. Wow.

Exam Popularity

Advanced Placement English Language, the AP course that satisfies the 11th grade English graduation requirement, has long been the most popular AP course in the Boise District. But AP Human Geography, the course taken by all of those 9th graders and a bunch of sophs, is now second in popularity.