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College Comparability Studies
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| | In a college comparability study, a portion of the AP Exam is administered to college students. These students are enrolled in courses for which grades on the AP Exam are used to award college credit and/or placement. The performance of these students on college tests and their grades in class are then analyzed and compared with their scores on the AP questions.
These studies allow the CR to compare the existing AP grade boundaries with college instructors' grading standards. The AP composite score grade boundaries are set so that the lowest composite score for an AP grade of 5 is roughly equal to the average composite score for college students earning grades of A. The lowest composite score for an AP grade of 4 is roughly equal to the average composite score of college students with grades of B. Similar logic is used in setting the lowest composite scores for AP grades of 3 and 2.
College comparability studies are done for all new AP Exams to provide information for establishing the AP grading standards. These studies are also done periodically for other AP Exams to check the standards. If the results of such studies indicate that the existing AP grading standards for an exam are substantially higher or lower than those for corresponding college courses, the CR will take this information into account in determining the AP grade boundaries for the current year and for the future.
An example of how college comparability study data influenced the cut-score ranges for the three foreign language exams in 2002 can be found below in "More."
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