Validity
Validating the Use of AP® Exam Scores for
College Course Placement1
By Brian F. Patterson and Maureen Ewing
College Board Research
Info To Go™ 2013-2
Introduction
A rich history of existing research2 supports the notion that
Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) students earning
sufficiently high AP Exam scores to place out of introductory
college courses (e.g., Calculus I) tend to perform as well in
subsequent college course work (e.g., Calculus II) as non-AP
examinees who took the relevant introductory course(s). In
order to ensure that inferences made based on test scores
remain valid with more recent cohorts of college students,
we undertook an in-depth study of whether AP Exam scores,
which are used by many colleges and universities (i.e.,
institutions) for course placement, are appropriate indicators
of readiness for entry into subsequent college courses.
About the Research
When considering the validity of a test score for placement
into advanced courses, the key inference to be made is
whether students with sufficiently high scores on the test
to earn credit for or placement out of introductory courses
perform at least as well in subsequent courses as students
not placing out of introductory courses who took the
introductory course. In the case of the Advanced Placement
Program, if AP students warrant credit or placement, they
should perform in the subsequent college course as well
as or better than comparable non-AP examinees who took
the specified introductory course(s). Ten AP Exams (a) had
sufficiently large samples in the AP and non-AP groups;
and (b) lent themselves to the construction of comparable
(i.e., matched) groups;3 those exams were: Calculus AB,
Calculus BC, Biology, Chemistry, Physics C: Mechanics,
Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Psychology, U.S.
Government and Politics, and U.S. History.
Data and Methodology
This study examined 72,902 first-time, first-year students
entering 53 four-year institutions in the fall of 2006, where
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two years of official course-taking records were available.
The study used those official course-taking records and
actual AP credit- and placement-granting policies in order
to most closely represent students’ actual placement
opportunities. It is worth noting that while the AP Exam
score required for credit or placement did vary; the most
common minimum AP Exam score required for credit or
placement was a 3.
A matched group design was used that controls for
differences in prior ability (as measured by high school
GPA and the PSAT/NMSQT®), gender, racial/ethnic identity,
and academic interests (as measured by students’
intended college major as reported on the PSAT/NMSQT
questionnaire). This method rules out alternative explanations
for performance differences among AP and non-AP
examinees — for example, the differences in subsequent
course grade can be attributed neither to differences in
prior ability of AP and non-AP students nor to differences in
gender, racial / ethnic identity nor to academic interests.
Results and Conclusions
Figure 1 summarizes the mean subsequent course grades
for AP students and their comparable non-AP classmates in
10 AP Exam subjects. In three of 10 subjects — Chemistry,
Physics C: Mechanics, and U.S. Government and Politics —
AP examinees who placed out of the introductory course
or courses earned significantly4 higher subsequent course
grades than those non-AP students who took at least one
introductory course.
In the other seven subjects — Calculus AB, Calculus BC,
Biology, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Psychology
and U.S. History — AP examinees who placed out of the
introductory course or courses did not perform significantly
differently from those non-AP students who took at least
one introductory course. These exam scores meet the basic
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Series Editor: F. Tony Di Giacomo
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These results demonstrate that AP Exam scores for these
10 AP Exams are valid indicators of students’ likely success in
subsequent college course work, and therefore that the use
of AP Exam scores for college course placement decisions is
indeed valid.
requirement for course placement inferences in that AP
examinees are indistinguishable in terms of subsequent
course performance from similar non-AP examinees who
took the introductory course in college.
Figure 1.5
Mean subsequent course grades for AP and non-AP students, after matching.
3.75
AP
Mean Subsequent Course Grade
3.50
Non- AP
3.25
3.00
2.75
2.50
2.25
Calculus
AB
Calculus
BC
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
C: Mech.
Microecon.
Macroecon.
Psychology
U.S. Gov't.
and Pol.
U.S.
History
1. Brian F. Patterson and Maureen Ewing, Validating the Use of AP Exam
Scores for College Course Placement (College Board Research Report No.
2013-2) (New York: The College Board, 2013),
http://research.collegeboard.org/rr2013-2.pdf.
groups could not be constructed (English Language and Composition, English
Literature and Composition, and Spanish Language). For more information on
this approach or on how AP Exams were selected for presentation, interested
readers may download the full research report accompanying this publication.
2. Existing research includes Burnham and Hewitt (1971); Dodd, Fitzpatrick,
De Ayala, and Jennings (2002); Keng and Dodd (2008); Morgan and Crone (1993);
Morgan and Klaric (2007); and Morgan and Ramist (1998). Interested readers are
directed to the full list of references in the accompanying research report.
4. Both statistical and practical significance were required. The Bonferroni
adjustment for multiple comparisons was used with a Type I Error rate of
α = .05.
3. The procedure used to construct comparable groups was a widely used,
quasi-experimental method called propensity score matching. Of the 15 AP
Exams initially considered, two were excluded because of small sample
sizes (Computer Science A and Physics B) and three because comparable
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Practical significance is judged using the standardized difference (d) and is
satisfied when the value exceeds 0.25 in absolute value.
5. Figure 1 can be found on page 38 of the associated research report, where it
is titled “Figure 11.”
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© 2013 The College Board.
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