Palmer Trinity School

bird's eye view PTS Advanced Placement Students Ranked Above National Standards By: Bruce Musgrave, Assistant Head of School for Academics In the most recent administration of the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Testing Program, Palmer Trinity School students distinguished themselves to an unusual degree. In May of 2012, 127 PTS students wrote a total of 210 AP exams in 20 fields of study. Moreover, 50 of those PTS students were recognized by the College Board as AP Scholars. Palmer Trinity School's total of 270 written AP exams was 100 more than PTS students wrote in the spring of 2006. Literature and Composition (16 of 17 students), Environmental Science (8 of 9 students), and Art in Two Dimensions (3 of 4 students). Also noteworthy were AB Calculus (28 of 30 students with scores of 3 or higher), BC Calculus (4 of 6 students), Physics C Mechanics (5 of 7 students), Psychology (40 of 50 students), Spanish Literature (8 of 10 students), and Statistics (7 of 9 students). Overall, PTS students achieved scores of 3 or higher on 86% of their AP exams written in 2012. The College Board monitors a school's "success" in the testing program by calculating the percentage of students who earn one or more passing scores on the exams they take. Average percentages of success for the US, Florida, and PTS over the past five years appear in the table below: The AP program offers college-level study, assessed by examination, in which a score of 5 denotes that a student is "extremely qualified to receive college credit," 4 denotes "well qualified for college credit," 3 denotes "qualified for college credit," 2 denotes "possibly qualified for college credit," and 1 denotes "not recommended for college credit." The National average score on all AP exams for 2012 was 2.89, the Florida average was 2.55, while the PTS average for 2012 was 3.68. The College Board recognizes AP Scholars at three levels. PTS had 26 students recognized as "AP Scholars" (3 or more AP exams per student, with scores of 3 or higher). PTS had 9 "AP Scholars with Honors" (4 or more APs per student, with scores of 3 or higher, and an average score of 3.25 or higher). Palmer Trinity School had 15 "AP Scholars with Distinction" (5 or more APs per student with scores of 3 or higher, and an average of 3.5 or higher). The 50 students at PTS recognized as AP Scholars at those three levels constitute 39% of the students who sat for AP exams at PTS in 2012, and those 50 students earned an average score of 3.97 on all of their AP exams. Courses in which 100% of the PTS students earned scores of 3 or higher on their AP exams in May of 2012 include German Language and Culture (1 student), English Language and Composition (21 students), United States History (9 students), European History (7 students), and Music Theory (3 students). Courses in which all but one student earned scores of 3 or higher include Spanish Language (32 of 33 students), Chinese Language and Culture (2 of 3 students), Biology (9 of 10 students), Chemistry (10 of 11 students), English In some cases, these students have earned college credit for their performance on the exams, and in other cases, they have earned "standing," exempting pre-requisite courses. The school's AP course syllabi are audited by the College Board, blind of the school's identity, and each course is appraised by two college professors or other expert educators before it is authorized for inclusion in the AP program. We congratulate our students and their teachers on these outstanding results in this rigorous program. 4

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