STUDENT GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS

Introduction

The May 2006 College Board AP Examinations were taken by 1,339,282 students from 16,000 secondary schools.  College and high school teachers, called readers, who are familiar with college-level course demands, scored the free-response sections from the 2,312,611 examinations taken.  Computers at ETS® scored the multiple-choice sections. 

The Chief Readers, relying on their subject-matter expertise, statistical equating data, data from comparability studies, and historical trends, determine the grade-setting thresholds for the 5-point AP grade scale: 5 = extremely well qualified, 4 = well qualified, 3 = qualified, 2 = possibly qualified, 1 = no recommendation.  Listed below are the Chief Readers who directed the scoring of the free-response sections of the May 2006 exams.

Summary Table of Students’ Grades 

The grades earned on the May 2006 AP Examinations are summarized in the form of grade distributions shown in the table on the next two pages.  For each exam, the table provides the number and percentages of students receiving each grade, the total number of students, and the mean and standard deviation of grades.  It should be noted that AP students are among the most academically able students of the college-bound group and that AP grading standards are held to higher standards in their secondary school AP course work than college students are in comparable courses at most colleges.

Additional information

Entire examinations, multiple-choice answer keys, scoring standards for the free-response sections, and sample student responses are available in most subjects.  These publications are available through the College Board store at store.collegeboard.com.

CHIEF READERS

Art History				Joy Sperling			Denison University
Biology					Dwayne Wise			Mississippi State University
Calculus				Caren Diefenderfer		Hollins University
Chemistry				Eleanor Siebert			Mount St. Mary’s College
Computer Science			David Reed			Creighton University
Economics				Arthur Raymond		 	Muhlenberg College
English Lang. & Comp.			David Jolliffe			University of Arkansas
English Lit. & Comp.			James Barcus			Baylor University
Environmental Science			Susan Postawko			University of Oklahoma
European History			George Munro			Virginia Commonwealth University
French					James Day			University of South Carolina
German 				Wiebke Strehl			University of South Carolina - Columbia
Government and Politics			Kerry Haynie			Duke University
Human Geography			Tim Strauss			University of Northern Iowa
Italian					Frank Nuessel			University of Louisville
Latin 					John Sarkissian			Youngstown State University
Music					Kenneth Stephenson		University of Oklahoma
Physics					William Ingham			James Madison University
Psychology				Jane Halonen			University of West Florida
Spanish 				Gwyn Campbell			Washington and Lee University
Statistics				Brad Hartlaub			Kenyon College
Studio Art				Raul Acero			Sage College of Albany
United States History			Raymond Hyser			James Madison University
World History				Kenneth Curtis			California State University