Racial Composition in the U.S. v.s. in AP and AP CS Exams
Racial representation in AP CS Exams*
Looking at AP CSA and CSP exams as an aggregate, the majority of AP CS exam takers are whites (45.8%) and Asians (27.1%). The graph above shows the racial decomposition of AP exam takers and exam passers in 2018, in comparison with the entire U.S. population. While young Hispanics constituted 22% of all AP exam takers, they were relatively underrepresented in AP CS exams. Blacks were underrepresented in both AP CS exams and AP exams in general. In terms of passing the exam, the pass rates of Asians and whites were consistently higher than that of Hispanics and blacks. Though 6% of all AP exam takers were Native Americans, less than 0.5% of all AP CS exam takers were Native American, and they constituted only a 0.1% of exam passers.
Exam Takers and Pass Rate by State
For all AP exams in 2018, the average pass rate was 58.4%. AP CSA had a pass rate of 67.4% and AP CSP 71.0%. Among the major racial groups, Asians had the highest pass rate and blacks the lowest, as shown in the table of pass rate below.
AP Exam
All
Asian
White
Hispanic
Black
CSP
71%
82%
78%
54%
40%
CSA
67%
76%
69%
46%
37%
Biology
61%
74%
69%
38%
31%
Calculus AB
57%
68%
62%
39%
32%
US History
52%
66%
60%
33%
27%
All APs
58%
71%
64%
44%
31%
Zooming in on the Minorities
As mentioned before, Hispanics and blacks are two major race groups underrepresented in AP CS exams. The interactive map below shows the number of exam takers and the pass rate by state in AP CSA 2018 for four groups respectively: blacks, black females, Hispanics, and Hispanic females.
This analysis is visualized and written by Willa Hua, a data visualization enthusiast. It is meant to supplement the data and report from Barbara Ericson, assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan who has been working with AP CS data since 2004.
*Data for the racial composition for the U.S. population comes from Kaiser Family Foundation estimates based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2008-2017. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race; all other racial/ethnic groups are non-Hispanic.
There was a huge increase in Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles (CSP) exam takers nationally (from 43,780 in 2017 to 70, 864 in 2018 – a 62% increase). The Computer Science A (CSA) exam also grew (from 56,088 in 2017 to 60,040 in 2018 – a 7% increase).
The number of exam takers for all states for AP CSA from 1998 to 2018 is at
AP CSA is no longer the most male skewed of any of the AP exams as of 2018. The most male skewed exam is now Physics C: Elec. & Magnet. However, AP CSA is the 2nd most male skewed of the AP exams and AP CSP is the 5th most male skewed after Physics 2 and Physics C: Mechanics. Thanks to Willa Hua from the University of Michigan for creating the following graph.
The percentage of female exam takers increased slightly for CSA from 23.5% in 2017 to 23.9% in 2018. However, the percentage of female exam takers varies from state to state. For AP CSA, the range was from 0% (no female exam takers) in Mississippi and South Dakota to 37% in Alaska (not pictured below). Five states had 27% female exam takers: West Virginia, California, Arkansas, New-York, and Washington. Thanks to Willa Hua from the University of Michigan for creating the following graph.
Percentage of female AP CSA exam takers by state
The percentage of female exam takers increased slightly for CSP from 30% in 2017 to 31% in 2018. However, the percentage of female exam takers varies from state to state. For AP CSP, the range was from 0% (no females took the exam in Montana) to 40% in New York and 47% in the District of Columbia. Thanks to Willa Hua from the University of Michigan for creating the following graph.
The percentage of students who pass the AP CSP exam nationally is higher than the percentage who pass AP CSA, Biology, Calculus AB, and US History. As you can see from the table below Black students have the lowest pass rate on all of these exams and Hispanics have the second lowest pass rates.
Pass Rates for AP
Exams in 2018 by Racial Groups
AP Exam
All
Asian
White
Hispanic
Black
CSP
71%
82%
78%
54%
40%
CSA
67%
76%
69%
46%
37%
Biology
61%
74%
69%
38%
31%
Calculus AB
57%
68%
62%
39%
32%
US History
52%
66%
60%
33%
27%
The female pass rate for the CSA exam in 2018 was the
highest ever at 65%, but this was still a bit lower than the pass rate for
males, at 68.2%. The female pass rate on
the CSP exam fell slightly from 70.4% in 2017 to 68.5% in 2018. The female pass rate at 68.5% in 2018 was
slightly lower than the male pass rate, at 72.1%. The female pass rate is lower than the male
pass rate on many AP exams, including Biology, Calculus AB, and US History. The
female pass rate is higher than the male pass rate for English Lit. & Comp.
and Studio Art – Drawing. Black and Hispanic females had a lower pass rate in
2018 on the AP CSA and AP CSP exam than Black and Hispanic males.
Exam
M
F
Hisp M
Hisp F
Black M
Black F
CSA
68%
65%
48%
37%
39%
32%
CSP
72%
69%
57%
49%
42%
38%
Biology
67%
58%
46%
34%
34%
30%
Calc AB
60%
54%
43%
35%
34%
30%
Eng Lit
47%
48%
28%
28%
19%
21%
Art
82%
91%
75%
84%
71%
82%
US Hist
61%
52%
39%
29%
29%
26%
The Black female pass rate varies quite a bit. Arkansas had 21 Black female students take
the AP CSA exam and only one pass it, which is a pass rate of 4.76%. Connecticut
had 4 of 6 Black female students pass the AP CSA exam, which is a pass rate of
66.67%. In 16 states, no Black female student took the AP CSA exam (Alaska,
Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico,
North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming). Only 7 states had more than 10 Black female
students pass the AP CSA exam (California 13/36, Maryland 15/59, Virginia
16/54, New Jersey 19/48, Georgia 22/56, New York 26/77, and Texas 28/64).
Only 10 states had more than 10 Hispanic females pass the AP CSA
exam (Ohio 12/13, Georgia 13/29, Washington 15/23, Virginia 31/55, Illinois
33/60, New Jersey 34/72, New York 45/153, Florida 71/152, Texas 107/355, and
California 146/453).
All states had students take the AP CSA exam, but the number
of exams per 100,000 of population varied from 43 (New Jersey) to 0.2 (South
Dakota). All states had students take
the AP CSP exam, but the number of exams per 100,000 of population varied quite
a bit from 59 (Maryland) to 1 (Kansas and Montana).
The ten states with the highest number of exams per 100,000
of population:
AP CSA
AP CSP
1
New Jersey
43
1
Maryland
59
2
Virginia
39
2
Florida
41
3
Maryland
36
3
Connecticut
36
4
Massachusetts
35
4
California
35
5
Wash D.C.
31
5
Rhode Island
34
6
California
30
6
Alabama
33
7
Connecticut
30
7
New Jersey
31
8
Washington
29
8
New York
30
9
Texas
25
9
Georgia
29
10
Illinois
25
10
Massachusetts
28
In four states, no Black students took the AP CSA exam: Kansas,
Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
In 12 states, in which at least one Black student took the exam, no
Black student passed the exam: Hawaii (4) Utah (4), Iowa (3), Maine (2), Alaska
(1), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (1), New Mexico (1), Vermont (1), West
Virginia (1), and Wyoming (1).
The states with the highest number of Black students taking
the AP CS exams.
AP CSA
AP CSP
1
Texas
228
1
Florida
866
2
Maryland
217
2
New York
758
3
New York
211
3
Maryland
478
4
Georgia
178
4
Georgia
325
5
Virginia
174
5
California
312
6
California
167
6
Texas
254
7
Florida
140
7
Alabama
216
8
New Jersey
133
8
Massachusetts
179
9
North Carolina
97
9
North Carolina
144
10
Massachusetts
84
10
Virginia
139
In three states, no Hispanic students took the AP CSA exam: Wyoming,
Mississippi, and South Dakota. In seven
states, in which at least one Hispanic student took the exam, no Hispanic
student passed the AP CSA exam: Kansas (4), West Virginia (3), Maine (3),
Alaska (1), North Dakota (1), Vermont (1), and Montana (1).
The states with the highest number of Hispanic students
taking the AP CS exams.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
I am an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. I have been woking in computing education research since 2004. I was at Georgia Tech as a research scientist from 2006 to 2018. I have run teacher professional development, created computing summer camps for 4th – 12+ graders, ran competitions, ran weekend workshops with youth serving organizations, and written books (both paper and ebooks). I have worked on two ebooks for Advanced Placement Computer Science: one for AP CSP at http://tinyurl.com/StudentCSP-newand one for AP CSA at http://tinyurl.com/JavaReview-new
I have been working on mixed-up code problems, which are also called Parsons problems. The correct code to solve a problem is provided, but the code is broken into blocks and mixed-up. The learner must select blocks and put them in the correct order.
