A large number of students at West Hartford’s Northwest Catholic High School achieved high schores on 2017 Advanced Placement exams.

Submitted by Maureen Scudder, Northwest Catholic High School

Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford is pleased to announce that 55 students earned Advanced Placement Scholar titles after the May 2017 exams. 

Twenty-six NWC students earned AP Scholar awards, meaning 26 students received scores of 3 or higher, out of a potential 5, on 3 or more exams. Twelve students earned AP Scholar with Honors, earning an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on 4 or more of these exams. And 17 NWC students were awarded AP Scholar with Distinction, scoring at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scoring 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. Two students earned 5s on each of their 6 exams.

At NWC a total of 275 Advanced Placement exams were taken in 21 subject areas. Both numbers are impressive in a school of 554 students. Fifty-one percent of students received a 4 or 5 on each of their exams. Eighty-one percent received 3 or higher: that’s 21 percentage points higher the the world average of 60 percent.

In 2013, 72 percent of NWC students taking an AP exam scored 3 or higher. Five years later that percentage climbed to 81 percent — a nine point increase. Connecticut standards remain at 72 percent, and global standards remain at 60 percent. 

Northwest Catholic’s AP Calculus teacher, Mrs. Deborah Metzler, enjoys teaching the AP curriculum and admitted, “I love the test!”  Metzler explained: “The FRQs — Free Response Questions — are tricky and challenging and smart and really make students think. The questions ask students to take five or six concepts they’ve learned, pull them together, and apply them. They demand big picture thinking.”  There is no doubt Metzler is thinking big as well. Metzler’s AP Calculus students always perform well on the May exam.

Like Metzler, Mr. Paul Fitzpatrick also exclaimed, “I love AP!” Fitzpatrick has been teaching AP Government at Northwest Catholic for two decades and has been an evaluator pf AP exams at AP’s annual conference in Salt Lake City. Fitzpatrick appreciates the AP Government curriculum because it insists the students draw connections to current events and it exposes the students to challenging concepts. Last year Fitzpatrick added AP Comparative Government to his course load. 

Advanced Placement classes are a good fit for students academically prepared and eager to tackle college-level work. Motivated students in search of a challenge feel at home in their AP courses at Northwest Catholic.

To learn more about Northwest Catholic High School and its course offerings, visit  www.northwestcatholic.org.