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AP Research
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Research Studies on AP
The AP Program regularly conducts research studies to assess whether AP students perform as well as, or better than, their non-AP peers in higher-level college courses.
The Tool Box Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School through College (2006)
This study by the U.S. Department of Education, which is a follow-up to Adelman’s original study (1999), evaluated various factors associated with bachelor degree completion for a sample of 12,000 students who participated in the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Students were coded as completing their bachelor degrees if they did so within eight and half years after high school graduation, which is when the tracking for the longitudinal study ended. The study found that the academic intensity of a student’s high school curriculum, like the original study, remained the most important precollegiate predictor of bachelor degree completion. In both studies, the number of AP courses taken by a student was used as one component of the academic intensity variable; however, in the more recent study the overall academic intensity variable was disaggregated into its various components, and evaluated as separate predictors of degree completion. The components that were evaluated included the number of AP courses taken (measured by a three-category variable including zero AP courses; 1 or 2 AP courses; and 3 or more AP courses), the amount of science momentum (measured by a variable that combined highest level of math with the number of credits in core laboratory science courses), and the number of credits in foreign language courses. Of these variables, results showed that science momentum was the only statistically significant predictor of bachelor degree completion.
 The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion From High School Through College New!
AP Students in College: An Investigation of Course Grades at 21 Colleges (1998)
A 1998 research study compared the performance of AP and non-AP students in upper-level college courses. The course grades of students at 21 colleges who were placed out of introductory courses due to qualifying AP scores were compared to students who took the prerequisite introductory courses. The results of this investigation show that, for most AP Exams, students with AP grades of 4 and 5 did extremely well in the initial coursework after being placed out of the introductory course. Students with AP grades of 3 generally averaged lower course grades than did the students with AP grades of 4 or 5, however, in the majority of the courses they received average course grades better than 3.00 and more often than not earned course grade averages higher than students who took the introductory courses.
AP Students in College: An Investigation of Course Grades at 21 Colleges
AP Students in College: An Investigation of Their Course-Taking Patterns and College Majors (2000)
This study builds on the data from the 21-college study, and examines the eventual college major of the AP candidates, the overall grade-point average, and the time to graduation of students who took AP Exams and began college in 1991. This study shows that the majority of students continued their pursuit of knowledge in the subject area of the AP Exams they took, including majoring in the subject area. Those taking AP Biology, Physics, Calculus, Studio Art, and Spanish Literature were most likely to major or minor in those disciplines or a closely related discipline. The majority of students who took AP Exams graduated in at least four years and the majority of students had a GPA above 3.00.
AP Students in College: An Investigation of Their Course-Taking Patterns and College Majors
How Well Do AP Students Perform on the TIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Tests? (2001)
This study by the TIMSS International Study Center shows that AP students who score a 3 or higher on the physics and calculus AP Exams outperform physics and advanced math students from the United States and other countries in mathematics and science achievement.
How Well Do AP Students Perform on the TIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Tests?
An Investigation of the Validity of AP Grades of 3 and a Comparison of AP and Non-AP Student Groups (2002)
The purpose of this study was to address the validity of grades of 3 on AP Examinations and to compare AP students to other relevant student groups. While research has shown that students who earn grades of 3 or higher and place out of introductory courses do well in the subsequent courses, there are some college faculty members who think this is not always the case. To address this issue a number of different statistical techniques were employed to determine if finer gradations of the grade group of 3s might prove useful for course placement in college. The findings of this study did not support finer gradations of the AP score category of 3. It was also found that AP students who earn credit by examination tend to make the same or higher grades in subsequent courses than do the other comparison groups. Authors: Barbara G. Dodd, Steven J. Fitzpatrick, R. J. De Ayala, Judith A. Jennings.
An Investigation of the Validity of AP Grades of 3 and a Comparison of AP and Non-AP Student Groups
Additional Research Studies and Reports on AP
Research Papers on the Achievement of AP and Non-AP Students
Access to Excellence Report (.pdf/111KB)
AP Research Technical Manual
Block Schedules and Student Performance on AP Examinations (.pdf/62KB)
Content, Gender, and Performance (.pdf/19KB)
Interpreting and Using AP Grades (.pdf/97.5KB)
Inquiring About Examinees' Ethnicity & Sex: Effects on AP Calculus AB Exam Performance (.pdf/414KB)
Minority Student Success: The Role of Teachers in AP Courses (.pdf/372KB)
Research Report: Characteristics of AP Teachers (.pdf/223KB)
Using the PSAT/NMSQT and Course Grades in Predicting Success in the AP Program (.pdf/116KB)
An Analysis of AP Examinations in Economics and Comparative Government and Politics (.pdf/220KB)
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