Area Students Lead Country in AP, IB Tests Taken

College-Level Exams Increase

Arlington County high school senior Phyllis Petronello called the workload of her college-level program "insane." But the region's students are plunging into such academic madness at a greater rate than students anywhere in the country, a Washington Post survey has found.

The Post's annual survey of public high schools in the District and 21 area cities and counties found that 110,244 college-level tests were given in the spring, a 69 percent increase since 2002.

The survey also showed that 70 percent of Washington area high schools reached a benchmark known as the Post Challenge Index: They give as many or more college-level tests each year as they have graduating seniors. Only about 5 percent of high schools nationwide reach that target. Most of the tests are Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate examinations.

The Post survey, coupled with national data collected this year for Newsweek magazine's "America's Best High Schools" list, shows that the Washington region has a higher concentration of schools than any other U.S. metropolitan area that meets the Challenge Index benchmark.

Fueling the surge in the Washington area, especially in Northern Virginia, is a move by many schools to pay the fees for all AP and IB students to take the tests.

"I don't know of any area of the country in which the concentration of AP exam-taking is so high, or where the concentration of districts paying for the AP on behalf of their students is so great," said Trevor Packer, executive director of the AP program for the College Board.

The push has been particularly intense in some school systems thought to be lagging academically. Prince George's County high schools raised their average Challenge Index rating nearly 35 percent this year, after some principals for the first time paid AP exam fees for all students.

Some educators and parents applaud the growth in the popularity of college-level courses and tests as a long-overdue upgrade of the typical high school curriculum. Others denounce it as academic overkill. High school students are deeply split.

"I doubt I'll look back and have really fond, happy memories of all-nighter homework nights or my weekends spent reading 'Crime and Punishment,' " said Petronello, a senior in the IB program at Washington-Lee High School.

Cate Frazier-Neely, who has a son who recently graduated from Einstein High School in Montgomery County and a daughter who is a student there, said that the school's IB program leaves little time for "experiencing art, activity, religious education, hanging with friends and family, mindless exploration of whatever interests them [and] learning to share chores around the house in the spirit of taking care of one another."

But many students said they were willing to put in the long hours because they thought the courses would increase their chances of getting into good colleges and prepare them for the foot-thick reading lists and difficult writing assignments they would find there.

Christen Dressel, a senior at South River High School in Anne Arundel County, said she will complete 10 AP courses by the time she graduates and thinks that is why she has begun to receive merit scholarships. One college admissions officer wrote at the end of an acceptance letter: "I am very impressed with your course selection, Christen!"