Advanced Placement Statistics—Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

The Advanced Placement Statistics course, first offered in 1997 after more than 12 years of planning, allows high school students who pass an examination to receive college credit for a statistics course taken at their high school. In its third year 25,240 students took this examination, and 57% “passed.” The three-hour exam consists of both multiple choice and free response questions, which cover the four sections of the AP Statistics syllabus: Data exploration, study design, probability distributions through simulation, and inference. Although some problems remain, both students and teachers find the course to be challenging and valuable.