More North Carolina high school students are taking and passing Advanced Placement exams than ever before, according to new data presented on Wednesday by the state Department of Public Instruction.
North Carolina's results have come following years of training and support for schools and for AP teachers and recent emphasis in enrolling more students in AP classes, which has contributed to a growing number and rate of students passing exams.
Other WRAL Top Stories
They've also come following a revamp of scoring for nine of the tests by the College Board beginning in 2022 that's resulted in higher scores across the country. Critics have accused the College Board of inflating scores to retain relevance and public investment. But the College Board said the scoring is more fair now because of artificially stringent standards before that didn't align with college course pass rates, making it easier to pass a college course than to pass an AP exam.
"North Carolina's public school students are making history," Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green said.
Part of the credit goes to getting more students enrolled in AP classes, said Sneha Shah-Coltrane, DPI's senior director of the Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education. More than 97,000 students are enrolled in AP classes this fall, up from just less than 75,000 during the 2014-15 school year, the first year of the General Assembly-established North Carolina Advanced Placement Partnership and free exam fees for all students.
"It doesn't matter where you live," Shah-Coltrane said. AP classes are expanding across the state and schools are changing their mindset to AP classes being for all students, she said.
Pamlico County Schools, home to about 1,100 students in southeastern North Carolina, doubled the number of students taking AP exams from 49 in 2021 to 98 this spring, and increased the number of exams passed from nine to 71.
Alamance-Burlington Schools dumped its honors calculus class in favor of an AP calculus class to push more students into AP coursework.
North Carolina's success mirrors the national trend of higher scores, though last year a higher percentage of North Carolina students passed an AP exam than nationally, 72.1% to 70.1%. More than 123,000 AP tests in North Carolina received a passing grade last year, out of more than 171,000 tests taken.
The 2025 school year was the first in which AP exams were administered only on computers, rather than on paper.
The state pays for students' AP exams, totaling $17.6 million last year, helping to increase the number of students taking them. Some efforts to tighten state spending have prompted the state Senate to propose eliminating that funding in its budget bill.
It's a potential financial boon for students, however. DPI estimates the credits earned in AP tests add up to as much as $92 million in college tuition that would be saved.
State officials also credit the exams being free to students with more students taking the exams.
The state has seen improvements in participation rates and scores among all ethnic groups and geographic regions of the state. Some gaps remain, but they are closer, Shah-Coltrane said.
State investment in testing
The North Carolina Advanced Placement Partnership has been in place since the 2014-15 school year, when pass rates were in the mid-50s.
The partnership, which costs $2 million annually, provides extra support for school districts struggling with AP enrollment and test and provides training for AP teachers. It also provides scholarships for some teachers to attend that training.
Pass rates and AP enrollment mostly rose in the years after the onset of the partnership, but not at the rate they've most recently achieved.
While the Senate budget proposes cutting the funding for AP exam fees, the House budget doesn't.
The state budget is more than four months overdue, and lawmakers are at a standstill over just how much money the state should spend this year and next and how much income taxes should be cut.
Changing AP test scoring
The College Board, which owns and operates Advanced Placement courses, changed the scoring in 2022 of nine tests: English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Psychology, Environmental Science, Physics 1, Physics 2, Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: Electricty and Magnetism and Human Geography.
The College Board said the changes better aligned a passing grade with a level of knowledge that would likely give a student at least a C in a college class.
Before the change, panels of experts decided what the pass rate would be for a test, according to the College Board. Now, scores attempt to assess just knowledge.
"We think that the scoring is more accurate than it's ever been because of the way that they've gone about doing it," said Brian Barnes, the College Board Senior Director for the North Carolina AP Partnership. "I'm glad Americans doing better and even happier that North Carolina's improved on that."
Barnes said teachers also have more resources now to help them teach and prepare students for the tests.
Shah-Coltrane said noted the state has made even bigger progress in the last year than other states, where students are taking the same test, so students are clearly doing better on them. That's paying off for them, regardless of any recalibration, she said.
"Our students are still earning that college credit," Shah-Coltrane said. "And so, to me, if you're saving $92 million and we have all of these students passing these incredible exams that have been approved at individual universities and colleges to accept those, that's the proof we need."