AP Comparative Government and Politics
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Advanced Placement Comparative Government and Politics (or AP Comparative Government and Politics) is an examination given by the College Board through the Advanced Placement Program. It tests the topics of a first-semester college modern comparative government course.
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[edit] Exam Scope
[edit] Nations Examined
The countries whose events, histories, and politics are examined during this AP test and its corresponding course are:
The Federal Republic of Nigeria (Nigeria)
The Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran)
The People's Republic of China (China)
The Russian Federation (Russia)
The United Kingdom (Great Britain)
The United Mexican States (Mexico)
Note: For testing purposes, the College Board uses the names in parentheses when making reference to these sovereign entities.
[edit] Content Spectrum
Examination information provided for this AP test by the College Board states that the following topics are examined in the context of each of the nations whose materials are specified above for inclusion by the test:
- Political Institutions (35%)
- Sovereignty, Authority, and Power (20%)
- Citizens, Society, and the State (15%)
- Political and Economic Change (15%)
- Public Policy (10%)
- Introduction to Comparative Politics (5%)
[edit] Exam Changes
In order to better match a typical first-semester college course, several changes were made to the exam that was administered in Spring 2006, and shall be effective on all such examinations hereafter. These changes include:
- Greater emphasis on analysis of concepts and themes
- Shifting focus to coverage of six core countries (China, Great Britain, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia)
- Emphasis on themes such as citizen-state relations, democratization, globalization, political change, and public policy
[edit] Criticism
Since different college professors and universities may teach slightly different nations and trends in the introductory comparative government course, the AP exam is not accepted for credit and placement at many United States colleges and universities.[citation needed]
Moveover, as a new exam, the criteria used for grading the testing is still in a state of flux. During the reading, most graders (readers) of the exam were not sure what ETS was looking for as ETS kept changing its criteria during the grading week.[citation needed]
[edit] Grade Distribution
In the 2006 administration, 12,742 students took the exam from 1,041 schools. The mean score was a 2.76.
The grade distribution for 2006 was:
| Score | Percent |
|---|---|
| 5 | 13.0% |
| 4 | 18.5% |
| 3 | 21.8% |
| 2 | 24.5% |
| 1 | 22.2% |
For the last two years, the College Board has named the AP Comparative course taught at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, IL led by Diane Haleas-Hines as the top program in the United States in this subject area. [1]
