Boise School District Student One of Only 33 in World to Earn Perfect AP Exam Score
Boise, ID -- (12/06/13) -- Boise School District is pleased to announce Max Mulcahy, who graduated from Boise High School in the spring of 2013, is one of only 33 students in the world to earn a perfect score on the Advanced Placement Microeconomics Exam. Max took the AP exam last May and earned every point possible on the exam, answering every multiple-choice question correctly and earning the maximum scores on each of the essays in the free-response section of the exam.
When you consider the fact that a total of 67,682 students worldwide took the AP Microeconomics Exam in the spring of 2013, Max's accomplishment is an extraordinary academic achievement.
Boise High School and the Boise School District applaud Max for his hard work and congratulate him on this outstanding achievement. In addition, the school and District recognize his AP teacher's dedication to engaging students and enabling them to excel in a college-level course.
"We are very proud of Max for his outstanding scholarship and his AP Teacher, Mr. John Coulthard, for his commendable instruction," said Boise High School Principal Amy Kohlmeier. "Boise High School is very fortunate to have both students and teachers who exhibit the highest commitment possible to learning."
"I am very happy for Max, said Mr. Coulthard, AP Microeconomics Teacher. "He certainly earned the perfect score he received on this AP exam. Max struck me in that he was not concerned with memorizing facts, but instead was interested in understanding. Max is an active learner. If he did not understand he would question you until he understood the concept completely. His questions not only helped me become a better teacher but added to the classroom learning environment. He was a joy to have in class."
Max is currently attending the University of Virginia where he plans to double major in Economics and Commerce. He was excited to learn he had aced the AP Exam.
"After finishing the AP exam last may, I knew I had conquered the test, but it was a surprise to hear that I did it to this extreme," explained Max. "During the course, I knew that Sam Faucher (2012 Boise High graduate) had earned a perfect score on this test last year. I frequently thought how cool it must have been for him to have done that. It's funny that I ended up following suit."
Max is thankful to his AP Microeconmics Teacher, Mr. Coulthard, for helping him succeed.
"Mr. Coulthard was a great teacher," said Max. "He went beyond just teaching the material, and took the extra effort to show us the relevance of what we were learning. "Understanding the real world applications of economics really helped the topics stick in my mind."
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| Maxwell Mulcahy |
About Advanced Placement
The College Board's Advanced Placement Program (AP) provides willing and academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school. In 2013, approximately 4 million AP exams were taken by 2.2 million students at 18,920 high schools around the world. Students received scores of 3 or higher on 59-percent of these exams, potentially qualifying them for college credit or advanced placement (or both) at colleges and universities worldwide. In Boise School District, the percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher on AP exams is 74%.
Boise School District was one of fewer than 400 public school districts in the nation honored by the College Board with a place on the 2nd annual AP® Honor Roll, for simultaneously increasing access to Advanced Placement coursework while maintaining the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams. In addition, for the fourth consecutive year, all four of Boise School District's traditional high schools appear in Washington Post's (formerly Newsweek's) annual listing of America's best high schools for effectively preparing students for college.
The Advanced Placement Exams are written and scored by college professors from around the world and are typically designed to cover a full-year of intensive, college-level knowledge and skills, so it is very rare for a high school student to earn every point possible on the exam. Looking across approximately 4 million AP Exams that were taken by 2.2 million students in 2013, in subjects ranging from Art History to Calculus to Physics, a total of 109 students earned every point possible on an AP Exam - a result characterized by the College Board's AP Program as "an extraordinary academic achievement."
