Bob Jones High School students who passed advanced-placement exams received $51,500 from A+ College Ready at a celebration on Oct. 15. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Bob Jones High School students in advanced-placement classes recently received an incentive — cash.

“Our students earned $51,500 in awards through A+ College Ready,” Bob Jones Assistant Principal Sylvia Lambert said. In total, 328 students compiled 515 passing scores, many students qualifying multiple times.

At a celebration on Oct. 15, students received a $100 VISA gift card for each AP exam they passed in spring 2014.

A division of the non-profit A+ Education Partnership, A+ College Ready was established in 2008 to improve student achievement in math, science and English, particularly increasing AP enrollment. (apluscollegeready.org)

Bob Jones offers 26 AP courses and 28 honor courses, Lambert said. Students have AP options in these subjects: English, two; math, three; science, five; social studies, seven; computer science, one; world languages, five; art, two; and music, one.

To pass an AP class, “students must make a qualifying score of 3, 4 or 5 on an AP science, math or English exam,” Daniel Elegante said. Elegante chairs the Bob Jones Science Department and teaches AP chemistry.

Educational Testing Services (ETS) writes AP exams for the College Board. “Carefully chosen college and high school faculties (nationwide) score the exams,” Elegante said. “ETS sets the scoring boundaries, which change yearly.”

Each AP Exam score is a weighted combination of the student’s scores on multiple-choice and free-response sections. “The final score is reported on a 5-point scale: 5, extremely well qualified; 4, well qualified; 3, qualified; 2, possibly qualified; and 1, no recommendation,” Elegante said.

“A passing AP score means the student has learned knowledge equal to a college class,” Elegante said.

AP courses prepare students “for their next level in high school and post-secondary choices,” Lambert said. “AP classes require … high-level calculating and critical thinking that students encounter” as college freshmen.

College admissions personnel want to see that students have taken the most challenging courses available. “Success in difficult courses is an indicator of student preparedness for college,” Lambert said. AP courses can equate to college credit, thus saving tuition money.