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Despite Push From Tech Giants, AP CS Exam Counts Don't Budge Much In Most States

Posted by timothy on from the can't-argue-with-a-pig dept.

theodp (442580) writes "Well, the College Board has posted the 2014 AP Computer Science Test scores. So, before the press rushes out another set of Not-One-Girl-In-Wyoming-Took-an-AP-CS-Exam stories, let's point out that no Wyoming students of either gender took an AP CS exam again in 2014 (.xlsx). At the overall level, the final numbers have changed somewhat (back-of-the-Excel-envelope calculations, no warranty expressed or implied!), but tell pretty much the same story as the preliminary figures — the number of overall AP CS test takers increased, while pass rates decreased despite efforts to cherry pick students with a high likelihood of success. What is kind of surprising is how little the test numbers budged for most states — only 8 states managed to add more than 100 girls to the AP CS test taker rolls — despite the PR push by the tech giants, including Microsoft, Google, and, Facebook. Also worth noting are some big percentage decreases at the top end of the score segments (5 and 4), and still-way-too-wide gaps that exist between the score distributions of the College Board's various ethnic segments (more back of the envelope calcs). If there's a Data Scientist in the house, AP CS exam figures grabbed from the College Board's Excel 2013 and 2014 worksheets can be found here (Google Sheets) together with the (unwalkedthrough) VBA code that was used to collect it. Post your insight (and code/data fixes) in the comments!"

13 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Don't bother with AP CS by russotto · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...if you're going into a CS program. This holds in general with AP tests, don't take the ones in your intended major, because you're unlikely to get useful credit for them. This varies from school to school of course, but it's generally true.

    1. Re:Don't bother with AP CS by liquidweaver · · Score: 4, Informative

      Took the Comp Sci AB test (more advanced form of AP test, doesn't exist now) in 2001; skipped to sophomore level classes. My anecdotal experience counters your citation free claim :)

      --
      mov ah, 4ch
      int 21h
    2. Re:Don't bother with AP CS by Manywele · · Score: 2

      If you already know you are going into a CS program, you already have experience coding and a coding mentor around to train you then yes, the AP CS course is probably not for you. If you're not sure you want to code for a living or if you think you do but all you've ever done is make it through a couple of basic python tutorials then you probably want to get some experience coding before you go and major it in.

    3. Re:Don't bother with AP CS by reiscw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I teach AP Computer Science. I definitely think it's worth the time if you can fit it into your schedule. That's the main issue at my school. I constantly hear from students that they are told by admissions people (and yes, admissions people from engineering schools) that the school would rather see a fourth year of Spanish than a year of computer science. The students just can't fit it all in (and I don't want them stressing themselves out to do it). One of the best things about AP Computer Science is that you get some good experience with recursion, inheritance, interfaces, class design --- more advanced topics that you might not encounter as a self-educated programmer (and many of the students in my classes are extensively self-educated). For students majoring in engineering / natural science fields other than computer science or computer engineering, it's definitely equivalent to the first-level undergraduate course. For a student majoring in CS / CompE / EE, I would suggest re-taking the introductory course. One of the things I got out of my introductory CS course at college (my background is EE / math) was familiarization with Unix. It's also easier transitioning into the advanced courses like data structures (especially if the language used is C++ instead of Java, which AP CS uses). I took five AP classes in high school (including the AP CS AB exam in Pascal and Calculus AB). I retook CS and Calc even though I passed the exams (and not because I didn't get useful credit for passing those exams, but because I thought it was unwise to skip them).

  2. For the love of god... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If women want to be in IT/Engineering/Math/Whatever then they'll be in IT/Engineering/Math/Whatever. The idea that there needs to be an exactly equal amount of all groups in every field is patently absurd. People are different. All of us. Even the ones who are in the same ethnic/religious/chromosome group. Quit trying to put people in neat boxes, it doesn't work. Let this issue die. Please Slashdot. It's for your own good.

    1. Re:For the love of god... by Inka22 · · Score: 2

      Oh please. School teaching for one. Because women (both mothers and teacher) automatically view every male as potential child molester, thanks to feminist propaganda that every male is a potential rapist.

      Nursing is another. Men feel unwelcome in the profession, both from the nurses AND the customers (who want pretty female nurses).

      Women's cloths modeling (if you apply your brains for a second, it's not as absurd as it sounds - plenty of models are thin, tall and built like men, except a man would have to wear fake breasts). And it's an extremely well-paid profession so excluding men from it is highly discriminatory

      Then we have straight men being excluded from clothing and fashion design.

    2. Re:For the love of god... by Inka22 · · Score: 2

      "routinely sexually harassed in those classes" - this is a stupid, misandrist, and spurious argument.

      - You have no data backing up the "routinely" part aside from your own certain conviction that all men are evil
      - You have made absolutely ZERO effort to establish causality even if we assume for a second that you can find such data. Counterproof: women are a LOT more routinely sexually harrassed in politics (Bill Clinton anyone? One count of rape, one count of open-and-shut sexual harrassment. Or hell, look at how prevalent sexual assault was at OWS). Yet women go into politics. In droves.
          Or, let's take another example: entertainment industry. The epitome of sexual harrassment (look up "casting couch" term). I'm finding it hard to observe a shortage of women. SO... what would make STEM so goddamned special that a couple of instances of nerds not knowing how to express romantic interest drives 100% of women out?
      - You have ALSO completely discounted that if the male sexual harrassment was the reason, then all-woman colleges would stamp out female STEM majors like hotcakes. in tens of thousands. NEW female-only colleges for STEM would be opening daily. Women-friendly startups started by women would TROUNCE women-hostile ones because the creme-de-la-creme of women STEMs would join them. NONE of that happens, because the problem isn't sexual harrassment.

  3. Interest vs capability by jader3rd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Apparently those who are capable of taking the AP CS exam are also those who are interested in taking the AP CS exam. Getting outside pressure to increase interest does not increase capability. Color me shocked.

    1. Re:Interest vs capability by Smallpond · · Score: 2

      Yes. What a surprise that a year of marketing hype hasn't had a major effect on people's choices for what to do for the rest of their lives.

  4. Who cares about a test? by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 2

    As an employer, I would care far less about how people do on a test then I do about actual projects they've worked on or finished programs they can demonstrate. IMHO, STEM jobs are far less about theory and more about practical applications.

  5. Re:Obvious for some, but... by beatle42 · · Score: 2

    advanced placement, they're courses in High School where if you score well enough on the final exam you can often get college credit

  6. The brightest people don't go into CS anymore, duh by supremebob · · Score: 2

    I'd like to think that the brightest US high school students would be smart enough to avoid going into a field that is being outsourced overseas and go into something like Medicine that pays better and is more secure.

  7. what if there was a better monetary incentive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Would more people, maybe even girls, be interested in this test if employers stopped shipping in visa workers and started to increase pay?

    Let's try it, for science.