Updated: This story has been updated with the latest national data on students taking AP Precalculus exams, and racial/ethnic breakdowns of exam takers.
When the College Board launched its Advanced Placement Precalculus course in 2022, it aimed to expand students鈥� access to advanced math courses and open more doors for students to earn college credit while in high school.
In just two years, that course has exceeded expectations. It鈥檚 now the fastest-growing AP course in the nation and has significantly boosted participation among Black and Latino students in AP STEM subjects overall.
鈥淲e were hopeful that this course would reach many students. I was not prepared for it to be as large a debut as it was last [school] year and was certainly not prepared for it to continue to grow so quickly in the second year,鈥� said Trevor Packer, the head of the College Board鈥檚 AP program.
According to the College Board, more than 184,000 students took the AP Precalculus course exam in May 2024. More than 247,100 students registered to take the exam in May 2025; actual numbers on test takers have not been released yet by College Board.
Students register for AP exams in November. Nationally, Black students made up 5% of AP Calculus AB and AP Statistics exam takers but 8% of AP Precalculus exam takers for the course鈥檚 inaugural year. Hispanic students made up 17% and 16% of exam takers on AP Calculus AB and AP Statistics respectively, but 23% of AP Precalculus exam takers.
And in May 2024, 76% of AP Precalculus exam takers scored 3 or higher on the 1-5 scale test, making them eligible for cost-saving college credit. That number grew to 81% in May 2025.
At the local level, school and district leaders told Education Week that the course has helped fill a need to ensure all students have access to college-level math courses while still in high school.
AP Precalculus expanded access to college-level math
At the district level, school leaders say AP Precalculus helped fill a long-standing gap: giving more students access to college-level math鈥攅specially those not on the calculus track.
In Florida鈥檚 Seminole County public schools, the traditional progression was Algebra 1, geometry, Algebra 2, then precalculus. Students who started Algebra 1 in high school鈥攖he 9th grade鈥攚ould not traditionally have been able to progress to an AP math course like AP Calculus, instead maxing out at precalculus honors their senior year, said Mike Rice, the district鈥檚 assistant superintendent of secondary education.
When district leaders first proposed replacing the honors course with the new AP version, parents expressed some pushback, including concern over whether their children were even ready for an AP Precalculus course. And while the AP version closely mirrored the honors course, teachers found some surprises in the approach of how to teach some of the concepts, Rice said.
But by giving teachers access to resources and collaboration and planning time and explaining the benefits of the AP course to students and families, interest in the course took hold.
The Florida district serves a little more than 59,000 students, with about 21,000 students in high schools. In the first year of offering AP Precalculus, 1,377 students took the exam with an 83.4% passing rate. This past school year, 1,310 students took the exam with an 85.7% passing rate. There are currently 1,530 students enrolled to take AP Precalculus this fall.
District leaders found that 115 students who would not traditionally have been in an AP math course, gained access through AP Precalculus. About 47% of these students were Black and Hispanic.
鈥淭his is about opportunity. This is not just about getting a passing score,鈥� Rice said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about an opportunity for students to experience a college-level course, to be able to potentially have an opportunity to pass at the end, to be able to get college credit and save yourself some money.鈥�
A cost-saving pathway for college-bound students
The cost-saving opportunity from AP Precalculus was part of why officials in the Morgan County schools in Decatur, Ala., sought out the course.
The district serves about 5,500 students. When the district started offering AP Precalculus in the 2023-24 school year, many students weren鈥檛 quite ready to make the jump to calculus, and some didn鈥檛 need calculus but wanted that exposure to precalculus before heading to college, said Matt Adams, the director of secondary education and mental health.
The district offered precalculus options prior to the AP course, but not at the same level of rigor. And while the district offers dual-enrollment options, many students aren鈥檛 able to afford them.
鈥淏eing able to give them an AP course where they can earn college credit absolutely saves them some money while we鈥檙e working on trying to find grants and scholarships for those students as well to get them down the path that they want,鈥� Adams said.
The new AP option changed that. In the first year, 14 students took it with a 46% passing rate. By year two, those numbers grew to 57 students with a 69% passing rate.
鈥淎 lot of those students that would have taken it that first year maybe weren鈥檛 ready for it. So by the second year, students have had the opportunity to plan for it,鈥� Adams said.
New AP course causes ripple effects in K-12 math
At Greenwich High School in Connecticut, AP Precalculus not only increased participation in AP Calculus (both AB and BC) but also prompted teachers to reevaluate their approach to teaching Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and geometry, said Andrew Byrne, the school鈥檚 mathematics department administrator, in an email.
The Connecticut high school serves about 2,700 students. In the 2023-24 school year, 189 students took the AP Precalculus exam with an average score of 4.87. In the 2024-25 school year, 216 students took the exam with an average score of 4.90, Byrne said.
To continue to grow student interest, the school offers a Bridge to AP Precalculus program in the summer, open to any Algebra 2 student interested in taking AP Precalculus, which helps ensure access to the class for all students, he added.
Byrne and his math colleagues also see a broader benefit to schools seeking to invest in the AP Precalculus course.
鈥淏y the College Board developing precalculus as an AP course, they have increased the breadth of material covered in a precalculus course and improved both its rigor and formal mathematical language/notation, thereby standardizing a more rigorous and comprehensive study of precalculus nationwide,鈥� he said.
