Each May, along with the excitement on the circle, the slow walks down to the pond, and the blooming flowers, Middlesex students participate in another annual rite, Advanced Placement testing. On the heels of a year’s worth of learning and preparation, Middlesex students dedicate the first two weeks of May testing what they have learned on these national exams, which are taken by students throughout the country. Each year, Middlesex students display strong performances, and the 2015 AP exam results were no exception. Indeed, the 2015 AP results rank among some of the best Middlesex students have achieved. A record 602 total exams were taken in 2015. Of those exams, 245 scores of “5,” 215 scores of “4,” and 102 scores of “3” were earned, representing 94% of all AP tests taken; 77% of were a “4” or “5.”
A cohort of Middlesex sophomores took the AP World History exam for the first time, as the sophomore history curriculum shifted this year from European History to World History. 17 of the 25 students who sat for the exam scored a “4” or a “5”, and the mean score was a 3.84. Also in its first year, AP Physics 1 was a new AP course offered by College Board in 2015. Remarkably, 30 of the 33 students who sat for the exam scored a “4” or a “5”, and the mean score was a 4.27, compared to the national mean of 2.4. Michael Schaeberle, Head of the Science Department, stated, “Despite the College Board making it more difficult to earn a 4 or 5 in their redesigned science courses, Middlesex students continue to excel. In the first year of the AP Physics 1 course (formerly AP Physics B), 90.9% of Middlesex students enrolled in the course earned a 4 or 5 compared to just 16.9% nationally. We continue to see excellent results in the other sciences that have undergone a curriculum redesign, including AP Biology and AP Chemistry. The results of the AP exams demonstrate the effort of Middlesex students and faculty to push knowledge past simple memorization and into the forefront of our everyday life.”
Each year, all Middlesex juniors take AP English and sit for both the AP English Language and AP English Literature exams. John Hirsch, Head of the English Department, praised the juniors’ performance this year, commenting, “though they don’t do coursework to prepare for the test, they used their strong analytical reading and writing skills to earn 50% 5’s and 80% 4’s and 5’s on the exam; they also did very well on the slightly more challenging English Literature AP, earning 70% 4’s and 5’s on that exam.” Other course highlights of note include: AP Computer Science mean: 4.74, AP U.S. History mean: 4.7, AP Spanish Language and Culture mean: 4.6, and AP Biology mean: 4.5.
Congratulations to our students!