Excellence is expected in AP English classes at Judah. These Advanced Placement classes give high school students the chance to develop college-level thinking, habits, and skills and the chance to earn valuable college credit.
Succeeding in AP classes is no easy feat. AP students must dedicate themselves to rigorous training to obtain qualifying end-of-year exam scores.
Nevertheless, Judah AP English students continue to perform exceedingly well on their AP exams. Just look at the results. At the end of the 2023–2024 school year, 92% of our AP English juniors scored a 3 or higher on their AP English exam. The global average was only 72%. Even better, 46% of the AP juniors scored a 4 or 5, compared to the global average of 41%.
According to College Board, the administrator of the AP exams, students who score a 3 out of 5 are considered qualified for an introductory college course. Students who score a 4 are considered well qualified, and students who score a 5 are considered extremely well qualified. That means that almost all of our AP English juniors finished last year qualified for introductory college courses in English and that almost half finished the year well or extremely well qualified.
And our AP English juniors were not the only ones with exceptional scores. An impressive 73% of our AP English seniors scored a 3 or higher on their AP exam. The global average was just 55%. Even better, 40% of the AP seniors scored a 4 or 5, compared to the global average of 31%.
Clearly, Judah AP English students are outperforming global averages in AP English courses by a wide margin.
This raises two questions. Why are so many Judah students choosing to take college-level courses as high school juniors and seniors? And how are so many of these students doing so well?
When we asked Judah’s juniors and seniors why they took AP English classes at Judah and how those classes have impacted them, they gave near-identical responses. Their responses centered around three main points: furthering their education, growing under the teacher’s influence, and planning for the future.
For many students, the motivation behind taking on such challenging courses is so that they can further their education. Judah junior Jackson Dalbey said, “The goal is to expand my English knowledge and get better at my reading comprehension.”
Keaton Welch, a Judah senior now in his second year of AP English classes, similarly explained his motivation behind enrolling in the AP classes. He said, “You learn not only as a writer but also as a reader. You’re not always going to have the option of having some surface-level thesis, so being able to think deeper and pick the brain of whoever wrote that piece of literature and then put that into words has made a huge difference for me.”
Another of the three reasons students were inspired to take AP English classes was the opportunity to obtain a strong education and influence from such an experienced and well-qualified teacher. “Mr. Himick would never say it, but he is the absolute GOAT,” said senior Keaton Welch frankly. “He has provided the most consistency and the best results for Judah in a really long time. So just being able to take advantage of really good resources and pushing myself and preparing for my future was a big thing for me.”
Mackenzie Jackson, a Judah junior, agrees. She said, “I like Mr. Himick as a teacher, and I think if I stick with him, I will not only get consistency but also improve my skills.”
The final point, and the most recurrent one, that students made for why they are taking AP English classes at Judah was preparation for the future. Senior Braden Laird put it best, saying, “I chose to take the AP route to really get me into that mindset that I need to be in to be successful in higher education.”
Talon Fazio, a Judah alum who is now a freshman at the University of Illinois, remarked on how the AP classes helped him transition to the U of I. Talon said, “I was able to get college credit for Rhetoric 105, which saved me money as well as time. With AP credit and skills, I could move on to more advanced courses more quickly. In these courses, you are expected to write full essays on your midterm exams, and being able to write them quickly and efficiently is a crucial leg up in college courses.”
The two-course sequence in AP English has only been available to Judah students for three years, but it has made a profound impact on everyone who has seen the sequence to its end. Judah English students are proving the quality of their education. They are earning substantial amounts of college credit, saving considerable cash on college tuition, and bypassing their college’s general education requirements in their freshman year.
Judah looks forward to our juniors and seniors performing remarkably well on AP English exams again this year and in the years to come.
—Liza Carder, class of ’26