The website that many use to check/take standardized tests is changing and evolving with each graduating class

AP tests have started to decline due to the offer of dual enrollment through Cuesta College, which offers college credit that can be transferred without having to pay the AP fee or struggle through notoriously hard exams allowing students to have a better ability to use those credits. AP fees currently cost $96. Yet DE offers a guarantee that they can transfer the credits to a desired college.

History is one of the more common classes that is taken online specifically during sophomore year, allowing for an open place in the six spot schedule.  Students opt to take it through Cuesta where they can earn the credits from the advanced class as an alternative to the high school’s  AP classes.

Passing challenging exams in order to earn college credit  is another factor that students consider when planning their schedules.

College career counselor Jessica Shatwell sees both programs as  beneficial. “There are some colleges that will not allow any college coursework completed in high school to count for credit, and there are some schools that may choose not to accept the AP exams. Receiving college credit or a 3 or higher on the AP exam can both be beneficial.”

Overall the high school’s numbers in higher passing rates for both the AP exams and the SAT have decreased the past two years from previous years, seen mostly from the impact that the pandemic had on students’ education.

Pre-pandemic our numbers were higher. However, in the last two years they have remained consistent.
Jessica Shatwell
College and Career counselor

About five of the classes offered to take through Cuesta or Hancock are applicable as credit for AP classes. The classes include: AP US History, AP Language, AP Literature, AP Statistics. The passing score for the test is three or higher, the score max at five and one at the lowest. PRHS also offers dual enrollment for 34 CTE (Career Technical Education) and FSC (Field Studies Collaborative) courses.

Some colleges do not take the dual enrollment that is offered leaving some student athletes with the only option to take the classes through the high school as to not risk their NCAA status.

Taking any classes during the summer, or doing classes through cuesta, I cannot take those unless I don’t want to run in college…It’s a weird rule and I don’t understand why.
Sydney Moore
a senior cross country athlete who has taken six APs, said

The SAT and ACT are the other type of standardized testing that students are offered in order to appeal to colleges that still take the scores. The better the score the more merit that it carries, possibly lowering out-of-state tuition and increasing the money that students could earn in scholarships.

“The SAT is more popular for our students to take. It is also more accessible because we offer it on campus. This year we are offering it during the school day for the first time,” Shatwell said. There are 57 students that are going to take the up and coming SAT.

This year’s SAT will be held April 25, 2023 on campus for the first time making it accessible to more Bearcats since it is on a school day as well, with the PSAT (the prep SAT that is available to sophomores) being offered too.

The high school does not offer the ACT because it is through a different program other than the college board. The ACT has a science section as a part of the testing, which some students are more experienced in.