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AP Program--Science

The Science Department is proud to offer AP-level courses in three subjects:

In addition, high-performing students in Honors Physics are prepared for and encouraged to take the AP Physics B exam.

The Department concurs with the recommendation of the College Board that AP Science courses be offered as second-year courses, after a student has completed a broad introduction to the subject in a first-year course. Students who wish to take several AP Science or elective courses are encouraged to enroll in summer introductory courses in Chemistry and/or Physics. The Department also concurs with the recommendation of the College Board that we open up AP Science enrollment to a larger body of students -- even if doing so means a lower overall pass rate -- in order to expose more students to the rigors of college-level work.

The goals of the Science Department with regards to AP courses are twofold: to increase student comprehension and AP pass rate, but also to bring as many students as possible into the AP and science elective program who might not otherwise take a 4th year science course. With this in mind, the department set a target goal for pass rates:

  • minimum equal to the national pass rate. Average scores 20% above the national pass rate would represent an exceptional program.

At the same time, the department aims for year-to-year growth in the numbers of students taking AP or non-AP elective courses in science. A growth rate sufficient to achieve student enrollment for two sections of each AP or non-AP science elective course would represent an exceptional program. The data and analysis of this goal are ongoing and, since they involve non-AP courses, will be presented elsewhere. )For a thorough discussion of the Science Department's philosophy regarding Advanced Placement, see http://www.siprep.org/science/documents/APGoals.pdf )

Department Totals

Class of Tests Passed Pass Rate Three Four Five Rate of 4 or 5
1990 47 14 29.79 6 3 5 17.02
1991 43 35 81.40 22 5 8 30.23
1992 30 24 80.00 6 13 5 60.00
1993 62 44 70.97 18 18 8 41.94
1994 97 81 83.51 37 34 10 45.36
1995 106 89 83.96 56 23 10 31.13
1996 145 95 65.52 46 38 11 33.79
1997 170 129 75.88 47 42 40 48.24
1998 179 121 67.60 49 36 36 40.22
1999 189 137 72.49 52 46 39 44.97
2000 183 122 66.67 53 41 28 37.70
2001 183 101 55.19 39 33 29 33.88
2002 155 101 65.16 44 33 24 36.77
2003 134 94 70.15 43 26 25 38.06
2004 121 73 60.33 35 23 15 31.40
2005 161 110 68.32 37 38 35 45.34
2006 136 90 66.18 52 23 15 27.94
2007 158 109 68.99 58 34 17 32.28
2008 184 112 60.9 57 35 20 33.33
2009 150 116 77.3 57 26 33 39.3

Biology

Year One Two Three Four Five Tests Pass Rate Nat'l Rate Rate of 4/5 Nat'l 4/5 Rate Sr Class Size Sr Pass Rate
1990 0 3 4 2 5 14 78.57 50.00 289 3.81
1991 1 2 11 2 6 22 86.36 36.36 237 8.02
1992 1 3 5 13 5 27 85.19 66.67 286 8.04
1993 0 5 10 13 6 34 85.29 55.88 373 7.77
1994 0 7 16 22 7 52 86.54 55.77 342 13.16
1995 0 0 29 11 2 42 100.00 30.95 315 13.33
1996 2 21 18 13 4 58 60.34 29.31 355 9.86
1997 0 7 13 24 24 68 89.71 70.59 358 17.04
1998 2 9 13 15 24 63 82.54 61.90 350 14.86
1999 1 4 13 25 27 70 92.86 74.29 356 18.26
2000 0 6 10 22 15 53 88.68 69.81 358 13.13
2001 1 5 9 18 25 58 89.66 74.77 74.14 43.14 352 14.77
2002 0 1 13 14 15 43 97.67 66.41 67.44 42.42 337 12.46
2003 0 2 9 8 10 29 93.10 60.76 62.07 38.13 348 7.76
2004 0 1 5 3 4 13 92.31 64.05 53.85 42.27 348 3.45
2005 1 8 13 4 3 29 68.97 60.96 24.14 37.99 354 5.65
2006 0 10 7 6 2 25 60.00 60.76 32.00 39.52 337 4.45
2007 1 11 10 5 1 28 57.14 60.47 21.43 29.22 336 4.76
2008 14 5 11 5 4 39 51.3 23.1 334 5.99
2009 3 6 6 3 12 30 70 50 354 5.93

 

Chemistry

Year One Two Three Four Five Tests Pass Rate Nat'l Rate Rate of 4/5 Nat'l 4/5 Rate Sr Class Size Sr Pass Rate
1994 1 4 14 4 0 23 78.26 17.39 342 5.26
1995 2 3 15 3 6 29 82.76 31.03 315 7.62
1996 3 6 19 13 3 44 79.55 36.36 355 9.86
1997 5 18 24 12 14 73 68.49 35.62 358 13.97
1998 2 20 26 12 8 68 67.65 29.41 350 13.14
1999 5 12 22 14 8 61 72.13 36.07 356 12.36
2000 4 17 22 8 5 56 62.50 23.21 358 9.78
2001 16 13 8 2 1 40 27.50 62.91 7.50 38.26 352 3.13
2002 8 14 12 8 3 45 51.11 58.11 24.44 33.43 337 6.82
2003 6 4 14 4 3 31 67.74 57.61 22.58 34.32 348 6.03
2004 1 11 6 2 0 20 40.00 58.45 10.00 33.32 348 2.30
2005 7 3 5 4 3 22 54.55 55.45 31.82 32.81 354 3.39
2006 3 9 19 6 3 40 70.00 57.22 22.50 34.83 337 8.31
2007 4 6 3 5 1 19 47.37 55.44 31.58 32.45 336 2.68
2008 2 2 4 7 3 18 77.8 55.6 334 4.19
2009 3 5 9 1 3 21 61.9 19.0 336 3.67

Physics B

Physics B is a voluntary exam. The Honors Physics class uses the Physics B curriculum but does not do in-class test preparation.

Class of One Two Three Four Five Tests Pass Rate Nat'l Rate Rate of 4/5 Nat'l 4/5 Rate Sr Class Size Sr Pass Rate
1999 0 3 4 0 0 7 57.14 0.00 356 1.12
2000 11 7 2 1 0 21 14.29 4.76 358 0.84
2001 22 15 14 4 1 56 33.93 59.42 8.93 34.26 352 5.40
2002 17 6 11 2 1 37 37.84 64.63 8.11 32.98 337 4.15
2003 5 8 12 2 1 28 53.57 76.87 10.71 38.25 348 4.31
2004 4 13 14 3 1 35 51.43 75.74 11.43 34.15 348 5.17
2005 5 1 11 5 0 22 72.73 66.68 22.73 33.39 354 4.52
2006 2 5 11 4 0 22 68.18 59.69 18.18 30.37 337 4.45
2007 1 10 28 3 3 45 75.56 59.30 13.33 30.37 336 10.12
2008 11 16 33 7 3 70 61.4 14.3 334 12.87
2009 1 4 24 10 6 45 88.9 35.6 336 11.30

Physics C

As of 2003, Physics C students take two exams--Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism. Prior to 2003, they only took the Mechanics exam.

Mechanics

Class of One Two Three Four Five Tests Pass Rate Nat'l Rate 4/5 Rate Nat'l 4/5 Rate Sr Class Size Sr Pass Rate
1993 3 7 6 5 2 23 56.52 30.43 373 3.49
1994 0 4 7 8 3 22 81.82 50.00 342 5.26
1995 1 0 11 9 2 23 95.65 47.83 315 6.98
1996 4 7 3 9 4 27 59.26 48.15 355 4.51
1997 3 8 11 6 2 30 63.33 26.67 358 5.31
1998 11 13 10 9 4 47 48.94 27.66 350 6.57
1999 16 11 13 7 4 51 47.06 21.57 356 6.74
2000 6 10 19 10 8 53 69.81 33.96 358 10.34
2001 1 9 9 9 2 30 66.67 57.40 36.67 27.41 352 5.68
2002 3 5 4 9 5 26 69.23 66.51 53.85 46.96 337 5.34
2003 1 3 6 5 8 23 82.61 67.69 56.52 44.61 348 5.46
2004 0 7 3 11 7 28 75.00 70.81 64.29 46.79 348 6.03
2005 0 6 12 11 11 40 85.00 67.11 55.00 46.52 354 9.60
2006 2 5 7 9 6 29 75.86 69.73 51.72 48.48 337 6.53
2007 2 4 11 8 8 33 81.82 71.05 48.48 50.81 336 8.04
2008 2 2 8 8 7 27 85.2 55.6 334 6.89
2009 2 3 13 6 6 30 83.3   40.0   336 7.44

E & M

Class of One Two Three Four Five Tests Pass Rate Nat'l Rate 4/5 Rate Nat'l 4/5 Rate Sr Class Size Sr Pass Rate
2003 5 6 2 7 3 23 52.17 74.73 43.48 55.06 348 3.45
2004 5 9 7 4 3 28 50.00 73.51 25.00 53.72 348 4.02
2005 2 10 6 14 8 40 70.00 68.36 55.00 47.03 354 7.91
2006 0 6 4 6 7 23 73.91 70.39 56.52 57.94 337 5.04
2007 2 8 6 13 4 33 69.70 71.11 51.51 58.88 336 6.85
2008 6 10 1 7 3 27 40.7 37.0   334 3.29
2009 0 7 5 6 6 24 70.8   50.0   336 5.06

 



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