With the number of high school students taking Advanced Placement courses more than doubling over the last 10 years, some of Brown’s peer institutions have stopped accepting AP and International Baccalaureate test scores for course credit. And while the University does not grant course credit for AP or IB scores, administrators said they will likely review Brown’s policies on both transfer credits and advanced standing from AP and IB scores this spring.
The College of William and Mary became the most recent elite university to announce it is no longer accepting AP and IB scores for course credit for some requirements, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported last month. This academic year also marked the first time Dartmouth did not grant course credit for high AP and IB scores, the Chronicle reported.
Though the University does not give course credit for any AP or IB scores, students can use satisfactory results from these tests to fulfill concentration requirements or place out of introductory classes at the discretion of individual academic departments, according to the dean of the College’s website. But AP and IB scores are not displayed on external transcripts, said Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services and acting dean of the College.
Many higher education specialists have expressed a growing concern over the quality of AP courses and their ability to prepare students for upper-level college courses, said Christopher Dennis, deputy dean of the College, adding that “now almost everybody is offering AP. It’s getting harder to sort out what are quality programs.”
The University will likely examine its approach to both transfer credits and advanced standing gained from high scores on these standardized tests, Dennis said. Administrators have been invited to speak with College Board representatives later this spring to analyze the AP testing system, he added.
AP and IB programs vary across different states as well as across high schools with different resources, Dennis said. AP and IB credits are mainly valuable to applicants seeking to bolster their admission chances to Brown, he added.
Denise Croote ’16 placed out of two semesters of calculus and an introductory biology course using AP scores. Because the more advanced math and science courses are highly specialized, waiving her prerequisites for them did not affect her performance in the courses, she said. AP test scores are dependent on how well a student prepares for the exam, rather than the knowledge gained form the course, Croote added.
Nicole Lee ’15 said APs should not be used as a marker of how well a student will fare in an upper-level course. Instead, the University should rely more on its own specially designed placement tests, she added.
Kota Mizutani ’17 said he did not use any of his AP scores to place into higher-level courses, because he did not feel adequately prepared by his high school’s AP program.
AP tests are no longer construed as a measure of college preparedness, but rather as a way to boost a college application, Lee added.
Students with more than three qualifying scores may advance their semester standing, but must still take the standard 30 courses to graduate, according to the dean of the College’s website. Students may only petition for accelerated graduation after their fifth semester. But even after filing the paperwork to graduate early, many students decide that they would rather stay for a full eight semesters at Brown, Klawunn said, adding that few students end up advancing their semester standing.
The acknowledgment of AP and IB credit helps fulfill the mission of the New Curriculum, allowing students to take more challenging courses without having to repeat what they have already learned, Klawunn said. The case may be different for universities with core curriculum programs such as Columbia, where placing out of a course could mean waiving a requirement integral to that school’s general undergraduate curriculum, she added.
Croote said the ability to place out of introductory courses is especially valuable for students in concentrations with many requirements, such as biochemistry.
Nicolas Ledru ’16 said the University should continue to acknowledge AP and IB scores so motivated students can take better advantage of the “top-tier education available at Brown.”
Mizutani said Brown emphasizes each student’s freedom in shaping their education and should continue to acknowledge AP credit.
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