AP Precalculus

The College Board has unveiled a new Advanced Placement course: AP Precalculus. The course, which will launch not this coming school year but the following school year — in the fall of 2023 — is billed as “an opportunity for more students to prepare for college math and succeed in STEM majors and careers,” according to a press release from The College Board. And why the new course? Well, students applying to elite colleges take AP Calculus. Many even go beyond AP Calculus BC. But most high school students aren’t applying to elite universities and, for these students, it’s an added incentive for them to keep taking math through their high school years. And, of course, it’s more money to line the deep pockets of The College Board, a company that has been hit hard by so many of our nation’s colleges choosing to go test-optional.

According to the release from The College Board entitled “New AP Precalculus Course Will Expand Access to STEM Majors and Careers,” “Developed by college math professors and high school math teachers, AP Precalculus will create a new pathway to college-level math in high school. By making an advanced math course available to students regardless of where they begin their high school math journey, AP Precalculus opens the door for more students to bypass remedial math in college and succeed in high-demand STEM fields…Half of American students don’t begin Algebra I until 9th grade. Providing them with an AP credit opportunity for precalculus will motivate many students to persist in four years of high school math and will significantly boost student readiness for the subsequent math and STEM classes.”

With so many students no longer taking the SAT because of the preponderance of colleges that no longer require an SAT or ACT score, is it any surprise that The College Board is coming up with new courses and new exams in the hope of filling their coffers? Let us know your thoughts by posting a comment below.