Last week came the news of a tremendous level of success in our computer science instruction. All four of our Advanced Placement (AP) student in computer science did exceedingly well in the AP test.
How Advanced Placement (AP) works: the school offers a course with accelerated and advanced content for AP students to study during the course. After the completion of the course, the student takes the AP test, which is administered by an outside organization.
Scores are a weighted combination of scores on the multiple-choice section and on the free-response section. The final score is reported on a 5-point scale as follows:
- 5 = extremely well qualified
- 4 = well qualified
- 3 = qualified
- 2 = possibly qualified
- 1 = no recommendation
Most colleges would accept 3 and above. 4’s show that the student really knows the material. 5’s show that they are at the top of your class. The University of Kentucky will take a 3 and above. Stanford would expect a 4, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon and Cornell each expect a 5.
Last semester, Oakdale offered the AP course in computer science, and four students enrolled as AP students. Nationwide, less than half of the students who take the AP Computer Science course score 3 or better. Of the four Oakdale students, two score a 4, and two scored a 5, the highest score possible!
