High School Advanced Placement Research Articles

High School Advanced Placement and Student Performance in College: STEM Majors, Non-STEM Majors, and Gender Differences

Background/Context The past few decades have seen an explosive growth in high-school student participation in the Advanced Placement program® (AP), with nearly two million exams completed in 2011. Traditionally, universities have considered AP enrollment as an indicator for predicting academic success during the admission process. However, AP exam performance may be predictive of future academic success; a related factor in gender differences in major selection and success; and instrumental in predicting STEM persistence. Purpose This study focused on determining the influence of patterns of AP exam completion and performance on indicators of post-secondary academic achievement. These patterns were examined in the context of gender differences and for the prediction of grades, STEM persistence and graduation rates. Subjects The sample consisted of 26,693 students who entered the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) as first-year undergraduate students during the period of 1999-2009. Research Design Archival admissions records and college transcripts were obtained for entering first-year (non-transfer) students, to examine patterns of AP exams completed and performance on the exams, as they related to indicators of college academic performance, inflow and outflow STEM majors and non-STEM majors, and attrition/time-to-degree criteria. For predicting college performance, patterns of AP exams were examined in isolation, exams grouped by domain, and instances of multiple examinations completed (e.g., three or more AP exams in the STEM area). These patterns of AP exams were evaluated for predictive validity in conjunction with traditional predictors of post-secondary performance (e.g., high-school GPA and SAT scores). College course enrollment patterns were also examined, in conjunction with AP exam patterns, to determine the associations between AP exam performance and course-taking patterns in post-secondary study. Data Collection and Analysis Admissions records were obtained from Georgia Tech, including high-school grade point average information, along with college transcripts, including initial and final major declaration, attrition, and graduation data. Course enrollments were classified by level and by domain. Advanced Placement exam and SAT records were obtained from the College Board, and matched to the Georgia Tech records. Conclusions/Recommendations Although student completion of AP exams was positively related to post-secondary grades and graduation rates, this overall pattern masks the relation between AP exam performance and post-secondary success. Students who did not receive credit tended to perform at a level similar to those students who did not complete any AP exams. Increasing numbers of AP-based course credits were associated with higher GPAs at Georgia Tech for the first year and beyond. Students with greater numbers of AP-based course credits tended to complete fewer lower-level courses and a greater number of higher-level courses. Such students graduated at a substantially higher rate and in fewer semesters of study. Average AP exam score was the single best predictor of academic success after high school GPA (HSGPA). The most important predictors of STEM major persistence were receiving credit for AP Calculus and if the student had successfully completed three or more AP exams in the STEM areas. Men had substantially higher rates of these AP exam patterns, compared to women. Given that slightly over half of the AP exams are now completed by high school students prior to their senior year, it is recommended that admissions committees consider use of actual AP exam performance data, in addition to, or instead of AP enrollment data as indicators for predicting post-secondary academic performance.

Second Language Learners' Contiguous and Discontiguous Multi‐Word Unit Use Over Time

ABSTRACTResearch has described the key role of formulaic language use in both written and spoken communication (Schmitt, 2004; Wray, 2002), as well as in relation to L2 learning (Ellis, Simpson–Vlach, & Maynard, 2008). Relatively few studies have examined related fixed and semifixed multi‐word units (MWUs), which comprise fixed parts with the potential for flexible slots in L2 learners' language use over time. Building upon the corpus linguistic methodology of concgramming and usage‐based linguistic research on a construction‐based developmental sequence in language acquisition, this article describes learners' multi‐word inventories through the analysis of a learner corpus of out‐of‐class instant messaging and blog use in a U.S. high school advanced placement Spanish language course. We examined this corpus using concgram analysis of phraseological tendencies to document related MWUs used in fixed and schematic fashion. Patterns in student language use are described in terms of meaningful permutations of constituency variation over time. Related patterns used by different learners are analyzed and discussed in light of methodological considerations in tracking second language use and the pedagogical implications of the concgramming approach to MWUs.

Cognitive Apartheid: On the Manner in Which High School Students Understand Evolution without Believing in Evolution

Abstract High school science students are often unwilling to learn about evolution due to a perceived conflict with their religious beliefs. Other students are able to understand evolution despite the fact that they do not believe in evolution. According to Cobern (Sci Educ 80:579–610, 1996), students can wall off that which is believed from that which is not believed in a process he called cognitive apartheid. A mixed-methods study was conducted to determine the extent to which understanding of evolution differed among high school Advanced Placement science students who did and did not believe in evolution. Two students who demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of evolution despite their admonition that they do not believe in evolution were then interviewed. Eight themes emerged from the interview that provide insight into the views of students learning of evolution despite the fact that they do not believe in evolution. Based on these themes, several implications for the teaching of evolution are presented.

Virtual Transgenics: Using a Molecular Biology Simulation to Impact Student Academic Achievement and Attitudes

The transgenic mouse model is useful for studying the causes and potential cures for human genetic diseases. Exposing high school biology students to laboratory experience in developing transgenic animal models is logistically prohibitive. Computer-based simulation, however, offers this potential in addition to advantages of fidelity and reach. This study describes and evaluates a computer-based simulation to train advanced placement high school science students in laboratory protocols, a transgenic mouse model was produced. A simulation module on preparing a gene construct in the molecular biology lab was evaluated using a randomized clinical control design with advanced placement high school biology students in Mercedes, Texas (n = 44). Pre-post tests assessed procedural and declarative knowledge, time on task, attitudes toward computers for learning and towards science careers. Students who used the simulation increased their procedural and declarative knowledge regarding molecular biology compared to those in the control condition (both p < 0.005). Significant increases continued to occur with additional use of the simulation (p < 0.001). Students in the treatment group became more positive toward using computers for learning (p < 0.001). The simulation did not significantly affect attitudes toward science in general. Computer simulation of complex transgenic protocols have potential to provide a “virtual” laboratory experience as an adjunct to conventional educational approaches.

Diversifying the Environmental Workforce: Addressing an Early Environmental Justice Challenge

Abstract The environmental workforce has yet to reflect the increasing racial diversity of the U.S. population. Part of the challenge is the inability of college-level environmental programs to recruit students of color. Our study examined multicultural eco-high schools and the high school Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES) test in order to determine if a substantial population of potential college recruits remained untapped. The 184 multicultural eco-high schools in 29 states in this study graduate at least 32,000 students of color each year. In 2007 more than 4,200 students of color scored ≥ 3 on the APES test, the score often required to receive college credit for the high school APES class. That year 2,192 students of color received a college degree in agriculture- or natural resource-related disciplines. This study proposes that more targeted recruitment by colleges of high school students of color attending multicultural eco-high schools or performing well on the APES test could signifi...

Connecting Research to Teaching: Slope, Rate of Change, and Steepness: Do Students Understand these Concepts?

How do we mathematics teachers introduce the concepts of slope, rate of change, and steepness in our classrooms? Do students understand these concepts as interchangeable or regard them as three different ideas? Here we report the results of a study of high school Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus students who displayed misunderstandings about the meaning of these three concepts. We then share an example of a typical rate-of-change problem commonly found in mathematics textbooks that may contribute to the development of these misconceptions. Finally, we provide a classroom task that supports the discussion of the differences among these three concepts, and we ask readers to reflect on ways to help students differentiate among them.

Ventriloquation in Discussions of Student Writing: Examples from a High School English Class

This study examines discussions of model papers in a high school Advanced Placement English classroom where students were preparing for a high-stakes writing assessment. Much of the current research on talk about writing in various contexts such as classroom discourse, teacher-student writing conferences, and peer tutoring has emphasized the social and constructive nature of instructional discourse. Building on this work, the present study explored how talk about writing also takes on a performative function, as speakers accent or point to the features of the context that are most significant ideologically. Informed by perspectives on the emergent and mediated nature of discourse, this study found that the participants used ventriloquation to voice the aspects of the essays that they considered to be most important, and that these significant chunks were often aphorisms about the test essay. The teacher frequently ventriloquated raters, while the students often ventriloquated themselves or the teacher. The significance of ventriloquation is not just that it helps to mediate the generic conventions of timed student essays; it also mediates social positioning by helping the speakers to present themselves and others in flexible ways. This study also raises questions about the ways that ventriloquation can limit the ways that students view academic writing.

AP Studio Art as an Enabling Constraint for Secondary Art Education

Advanced Placement (AP) Studio Art is an influential force in secondary art education as is evident in the 31,800 portfolios submitted for review in 2008 (A. Sims-Gunzenhauser, personal communication, August 11, 2008). From the perspectives of a high school educator and AP Reader, I have observed how the constraints of the AP program can be used to generate support for high school art programs and opportunities for large numbers of students to be seriously engaged with art learning. The AP portfolio can function as an for secondary art education. An enabling constraint creates structure and coherence by constraining a domain while simultaneously engendering unanticipated, imaginative, and divergent outcomes or responses (Davis, Sumara, & Luce- Kapler, 2008). The AP Studio Art program also shapes student artmaking, primarily through the constraints of the portfolio assessment. The character of these constraints and whether they enable desirable outcomes are worth considering in the context of recurring questions about what constitutes foundational knowledge in studio art.The AP program can be an effective means to advocate for high school art programs because AP participation is highly valued by parents, school leaders, and colleges (Freedman & Krugman, 2001). Although the degree to which colleges accept AP courses for credit or advanced placement varies, participation in AP courses is viewed favorably by colleges and successful performance in AP courses correlates positively with success in college courses (Dougherty, Mellor, & Jian, 2005; Geiser & Santelices, 2004). The College Board has established educational policies that support high school art teachers, equitable access to its programs, collaboration among college and secondary faculty, and curricula that are analogous with some college foundation courses.Although certain schools reserve advanced art classes for an elite handful of students, I have observed many other schools that extend the program to a wide and diverse range of students. These schools recruit students who might not otherwise enroll in AP courses by reducing enrollment barriers and preparing students within a broad array of courses prior to their junior or senior years. This is consistent with the College Board's policy of open access to AP courses (Freedman & Krugman, 2001). While equitable access remains a challenge, initiatives such as College Board start up grants designed to give traditionally underrepresented students access to AP courses have successfully involved significantly more students in the program (College Board, 2008). In the schools where I have worked, active recruitment, open enrollment, and expansion of the program to include photography and digital media encouraged many more students to enroll in AP Studio Art. The enormous variety of skill, experience, and content that is evident in the portfolios at the annual AP Reading supports the inference that students with a broad range of art experience are participating in the program.However, a large-scale assessment such as the AP portfolio runs the risk of breaking down the complex relationships among process, context, and culture into discrete and formalist parts, particularly when the evaluation focuses on the artifacts of student production taken out of context (Boughton, 2004). Springgay (2006) argued that authentic assessment is impossible without considering curriculum, teaching, and assessment as part of an inseparable relational dynamic. Can an evaluation that removes artistic production from the context of its creation properly support the complexities of artistic practice and ways of knowing? The AP portfolio requirements enable the art teacher to develop a curriculum of relatively unstructured tasks that encompass a wide variety of media and conceptual approaches, allowing students freedom in solving each section of the portfolio. The concentration section of the portfolio, in particular, emphasizes individual investigation of ideas and relationships between form and meaning. …

Parasitology as a Teaching Tool: Isolation of Apicomplexan Cysts from Store-bought Meat

Our goal was to design a bench experiment tailored to the environment of advanced high school biology, college freshman biology, and nonmajor labs. To accomplish this goal, we developed a scientific protocol for isolation of apicomplexan cysts from store-bought meat by adapting existing protocols (Cornelissen et al., 1981 ; Blewett et al., 1983 ; Dubey, 1992 , 1998 ; Omata et al., 1997 ; Garcia et al., 2006 ). The majority of buffers used were common chemicals found in many introductory biology laboratories, and the protocol is simple enough for a freshman to use. What we found to be most challenging was modifying the experiment to fit time constraints imposed by a typical high school schedule. This experiment takes ∼3 h. We found that the lab could be split up into 4 d for high school and 2 d for college. The teacher should make some initial preparations (i.e., making buffers and solutions) to shorten the lab period. We suggest that students split up into at least five groups of six students each. The students should be encouraged to compare and share their results. We recommend that the students spend time researching T. gondii statistics on the CDC website (www.cdc.gov) and reading newspapers to identify related topics, such as food recalls as a result of tainted product. Specifically, we suggest creating a quiz to test their knowledge of food safety and administering it before and after the exercise. We would also suggest including a follow-up discussion section investigating student response to this assignment. For example, how has completing this laboratory exercise affected their opinions about food, science, and laboratory experiments? We have listed several very useful websites in Materials and Methods. These sites are extremely helpful in providing pictures for identification purposes and background information on the parasites themselves. In addition to T. gondii, numerous other organisms (i.e., multiple types of nematodes and tapeworms) can be observed by sampling the bottom of the meat slurry instead of the supernatant. Although we had multiple years of experience at the lab bench, we found that we were surprised by the abundance and diversity of organisms in meat. It provoked us to ask the question: “Just who is eating who?” Although many of these pathogens are species specific and thus not a health threat to human (i.e., N. caninum), some of the organisms, such as T. gondii, are human pathogens. We realized that it reinvigorated our interest in the topic, and we were fascinated by the images in the microscope. Some of us could not eat meat for a week after doing the experiment. This realization validated for us the idea that science at the bench as opposed to simple book learning is essential for biology and nonmajors students alike. It drives home the point that well-prepared foods (washing and cooking) are a cornerstone of food safety. Carrying out this experiment familiarizes students with the microscope and more advanced isolation techniques such as the use of Percoll. It introduces some concepts about parasitology and food safety. It can be incorporated into a lesson plan covering infectious agents or health. It meets Indiana secondary school standards for advanced life sciences (standard 2: health, safety, and microbiology of food), and human anatomy and physiology (standard 10: immune mechanisms). Completion of this exercise also meets national educational standards for secondary school in the topics science as inquiry, interdependence of organisms, personal and community health, and science as a human endeavor (National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment, 1996 ). Upon completion of this exercise, the following positive outcomes are expected for students: 1) gain confidence about ability to carry out labwork and stimulate curiosity about pursuing other science classes, 2) obtain insight about health and safety of food and provide students the chance to critically evaluate articles in the newspaper regarding food recalls, and 3) change student behavior in terms of food choice, food preparation behavior, or both. In sum, the ultimate outcome of this exercise is for students to apply the procedure to investigate a real and meaningful problem and, as a result, to describe organisms found in the meat supply, the hazards they pose, and procedures for avoiding the hazard. Because there is a compelling repulsion factor, there is a strong possibility that students would also change their behavior (either food choices or food preparation behavior). For teachers, it represents an innovative teaching strategy that provides a relatively inexpensive laboratory experience with direct student involvement that meets several national education standards.

Students’ Conceptions of Ionisation Energy: A Cross‐cultural Study

Previous studies have indicated that A‐level students in the UK and Singapore have difficulty learning the topic of ionisation energy. A two‐tier multiple‐choice instrument developed in Singapore in an earlier study, the Ionisation Energy Diagnostic Instrument, was administered to A‐level students in the UK, advanced placement high school students in the USA, and first‐year university students in China, New Zealand, and Spain to determine whether the students from different countries and educational systems had similar conceptions and difficulties as the students in Singapore with the concepts assessed in the instrument. The results showed that, in general, the students in all six samples had similar alternative conceptions, which were grouped under the categories of octet rule framework, stable fully‐filled and half‐filled subshell conceptions, and conservation of force thinking. The students also resorted to relation‐based thinking when answering items involving the trend of ionisation energies across Period 3. Implications for teaching and further research are discussed.

Competing Visions, Shifting Boundaries: The Construction of Latin America as a World Region

Latin America is a popularly accepted world region. A systematic review of geographic interpretations of Latin America reveals that the origin of the term goes back to the mid-nineteenth century and that the region's boundaries have shifted over time. This article argues that four basic principles operate in the formation of world regions such as Latin America: contiguity, continentality, geopolitics, and human relatedness. The article considers different conceptualizations of Latin America in an effort to challenge students to consider how regional boundaries are constructed and what they tell us about places. This article is a case study with guided questions for high school advanced placement or college students in introductory courses. Students will encounter geographic elements that play into the definition of a region while undertaking an exercise in academic reading for primary themes and supporting illustrations.

The Use of Limits in an Advanced Placement Chemistry Course

This article describes the use of limits in topics that are usually covered in a high school advanced placement chemistry course or a first-year college chemistry course. Such an approach supplements the interpretation of the graph of an equation since it is usually easier to evaluate the limit of a function than to generate its graph. In addition, the evaluation of the limit of an equation provides another viewpoint, which may solidify students' comprehension of concepts in the form of an equation.

MAKING EVOLUTION RELEVANT AND EXCITING TO BIOLOGY STUDENTS

Several years ago, the Texas State Board of Education (BOE) undertook its periodic review of biology textbooks for use in Texas high schools. This is a regular event that most educators in the state have come to dread. The supposed intent of these reviews is for the BOE to determine if textbooks meet the standards set for the Texas high school curriculum, and to determine if the books contain any errors. Books that are approved for use in the public schools are purchased by the state and are available for adoption by individual school districts. Few members of the BOE have any academic background in science, and the process of book review typically is dominated by various political agendas. However, the curriculum is recommended by individuals with backgrounds in the respective disciplines. Because modern biology courses make no sense without a thorough coverage of evolution, the state standards for the biology curriculum do include coverage of evolutionary biology. Thus, all the textbooks must have thorough coverage of evolution to meet the state curriculum standards. Some members of the BOE, however, are elected on an antievolution agenda, and they attack the coverage of evolutionary biology in the textbooks. A favorite strategy is to pick on particular examples and classic experiments in the textbooks, bring in a supposed “expert” to criticize the example, and then argue that the book is factually incorrect and should be rejected. It will come as no surprise to many readers that these “experts” are rarely academic biologists, but rather staff from antiscience organizations with an antievolution political or religious agenda. Fortunately, Texas state law prohibits the BOE from rewriting or editing textbooks, and also fortunately, the antiscience members of the BOE have been in a minority in recent years. However, several members of the BOE are viewed as swing voters, and have in the past either voted in support of strong science textbooks, or against them, depending on the political climate and the testimony at the BOE textbook hearings. Thus, it has become increasingly important for academic biologists throughout the state to come to the public hearings and testify about the biology textbooks. Otherwise, the only testimony the BOE hears is from people with an antiscience agenda, many of whom claim to have expertise in biology. For the 2003 hearings, I obtained copies of all of the biology textbooks that were up for consideration. This was quite a long list, and included virtually all the textbooks that are used from ninth-grade biology up through the textbooks used in university courses for biology majors (these latter books are used in the high school advanced placement biology courses). I reviewed the evolution coverage of all these textbooks. I also asked my son Erec, then a sophomore in high school, to read the evolution sections of the books. We also both read the written criticisms to the BOE from various antievolution groups about supposed errors and weaknesses of the books. We then sat down together and compared our rankings of the books and notes on the criticisms. All the books we reviewed were, almost without exception, factually accurate. They all covered the basics of evolution at a level that was understandable for high school students. We each testified (at two different hearings) that the books should be approved for use in Texas high schools, an action that was eventually taken by a majority vote of the BOE. Erec’s testimony (one of a few by high school students) undoubtedly carried more weight than mine did. One of the criticisms of the books had been that they did not cover alternatives to evolution by natural selection. He impressed some BOE members by citing specific page numbers from his notes about where other evolutionary mechanisms (such as drift) were discussed in the books, and by providing specific details about the books under consideration in response to other criticisms. In contrast, most professional biologists (including myself) who testified tended to focus more on the general issues (e.g.,

Development of an experiment for high school biotechnology laboratory programs

For the past 20 years, IISME (Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education) has linked San Francisco Bay Area K-12 science and math educators in summer partnerships with professionals in local industry and academia. As summer fellows, teachers gain hands-on practical experiences that may serve as a stimulus for curriculum development. The host employer gains not only a mature short-term employee to work on relevant problems but also the satisfaction of being able to make a real long-term contribution to education at the summer fellow’s home institution. In the current study we describe the development of a biotechnology laboratory exercise suitable for incorporation into a high school advanced placement biology or biotechnology course. In this exercise, students gain experience in using size-exclusion chromatography to separate a mixture of macromolecules. Students chromatographically separate a standard mixture of three highly colored macromolecules of known molar mass on a short Sephacryl S-300 column, determining their relative elution volumes. Students subsequently apply a sample of wheat germ acid phosphatase to the column, collect eluant fractions, and determine the elution volume of the enzyme by means of a quick enzyme assay carried out in a 96 well plate. The relative molar mass of the enzyme is later estimated by comparison of its elution volume to the elution volumes of the macromolecules in the standard mixture. This work was supported by an IISME summer fellowship grant from Santa Clara University.

Simulating Realistic Satellite Orbits in the Undergraduate Classroom

Physics students are intrigued by activities in space. To link this natural curiosity with solid problem-solving skills, we developed a spreadsheet simulation for satellites moving through an atmosphere of variable density. The simulation-laboratory has been used in U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) introductory physics classes for several semesters. Spreadsheet variants have also been used in a USAFA advanced division space physics class, a high school advanced placement physics class, and in the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling graduate summer school course.

The Facts on File dictionary of ecology and the environment

The Facts On File Dictionary of Environmental Science covers the terms and concepts used in the high school Advanced Placement course in environmental science. Like the subject - which is interdisciplinary and involves ideas from a number of fields of study - this volume deals with the science behind interrelationships of the natural world as well as with natural and human environmental problems. In terms high school and undergraduate students will understand, it explains the underlying principle of environmental science which holds that the Earth is a single interconnected system that can be altered by human activity and that cultural, social, and economic factors are vital to the development of environmental solutions and it defines the various terms, issues, and ideas that constitute the fundamental elements of the science.

Student Enrollment in High School AP Sciences and Calculus: How does it Correlate with STEM Careers?

Many high schools offer students the opportunity to take advanced placement (AP) courses in many subjects including science and mathematics. Studies have shown that students who take these classes are more likely to succeed in college and that failure in engineering education is strongly correlated to deficiencies in mathematics and science. This article presents the background of AP classes and their impact on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career choices of college students. The results of this study confirm that students who take AP classes in calculus and the sciences are more likely to select majors in careers such as engineering, science, mathematics, and the medical field. In this study, both minority and nonminority students who were taking AP calculus and/or science courses in high school selected STEM careers at a higher rate than other careers and males selected engineering at a higher rate than females. Females selected science and mathematics and the medical field at a higher rate than males. Furthermore, the size and location of the high school, profession of parents, and socioeconomic level of parents all affect the number of AP classes offered in high schools as well as which ethnic groups primarily take them.

Virtual voices in “letters across cultures”: Listening for race, class, and gender

Reflecting on e-mail written by pairs of Advanced Placement high school and first-year composition students, the authors view the Internet as a site where students can develop personal voices and practice effective listening while exploring their own and others' cultures. By writing privately, students can cultivate their own voices. By having a real audience, they can analyze the effects of their voices on others and also negotiate difference. The classroom provides a social epistemic context where race, class, and gender stereotyping on the Net can be identified and where respect for and acceptance of cultural difference can be encouraged.

Student understanding of basic calculus concepts: Interaction with the graphics calculator

The recent efforts to reform calculus have, in many cases, included increased use of technology. Several studies have explored the interaction between the use of technology and student learning of calculus. Our study seeks to build on this work by exploring the understanding of basic calculus concepts by students who are studying calculus in a graphics calculator-based environment. In particular, the purpose of the study is to developed descriptions of calculus students' understandings of function and limit, to explore the interrelationships among their understandings of these conceptual areas, and to identify instances where there is evidence that the students' understanding seems to have been influenced by the availability of the technology. Data for the study was collected through a series of clinical interviews with a small group of students enrolled in a first semester college calculus course and an advanced placement high school calculus course. The data was used to build descriptions of the students' understanding and the role the graphing technology might play in that development. Implications of these findings for calculus curriculum and instruction are presented.

New Version of Pimentel Report L· Learning Resource for Young People

Thousands of science teachers are finding Santa Claus has come early this year. The National Research Council has issued its new book, Opportunities in Chemistry: Today and Tomorrow, and, with the help of several organizations, including the American Chemical Society, has distributed thousands of free copies to high school chemistry teachers. The new book is a more accessible version of NRC's 1985 report, Opportunities in Chemistry. It is written for advanced placement high school students, college nonscience majors, and their teachers. The original book is known as the Pimentel Report, for University of California, Berkeley, chemistry professor George C. Pimentel, who chaired the NRC committee that prepared it. That massive effort was a consensus view of the chemical community on the status of chemistry in general and the most fertile areas of chemical research. The new version—referred to as Pimentel Jr. by some wags—covers the same material as the original, but has been drastically reorganized. ...