Table 5.
Studying, Course-Taking, and AP Exam-taking Behavior (percentages)
| Took high school calculus |
Took an AP exam |
Homework time: 10+ hours/week |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High school cohort | 1982 | 1992 | 2004 | 1992 | 2004 | 1982 | 1992 | 2004 |
| U.S. average | 9.2 | 10.3 | 15.2 | 16.5 | 30.9 | 10.2 | 26.7 | 20.4 |
| Test quintile | ||||||||
| 1st | 2.0 | 0.3 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 13.7 | 4.6 | 15.1 | 10.3 |
| 2nd | 1.8 | 1.2 | 3.8 | 6.2 | 14.6 | 5.3 | 20.0 | 15.4 |
| 3rd | 2.4 | 3.7 | 5.5 | 8.6 | 24.6 | 7.5 | 22.5 | 17.8 |
| 4th | 7.9 | 10.1 | 13.2 | 16.9 | 36.6 | 11.9 | 30.1 | 23.1 |
| 5th | 31.5 | 38.7 | 49.9 | 49.0 | 66.2 | 21.3 | 39.4 | 35.9 |
| Application status | ||||||||
| 4-year school | 19.7 | 19.2 | 23.3 | 27.5 | 44.8 | 18.4 | 34.7 | 27.4 |
| Selective private | 43.9 | 43.6 | 52.3 | 60.0 | 77.9 | 38.7 | 49.5 | 45.2 |
| Selective public | 26.6 | 29.4 | 36.8 | 39.7 | 60.8 | 22.7 | 40.0 | 33.7 |
| Region | ||||||||
| New England | 15.4 | 15.8 | 19.3 | 19.0 | 31.6 | 16.8 | 35.8 | 23.7 |
| Middle Atlantic | 13.8 | 13.8 | 18.2 | 20.6 | 31.7 | 12.1 | 25.8 | 18.6 |
| South | 6.4 | 9.5 | 15.2 | 17.4 | 32.9 | 7.5 | 25.4 | 17.7 |
| Midwest | 8.2 | 8.9 | 14.8 | 13.0 | 26.9 | 9.6 | 25.2 | 19.4 |
| Southwest | 4.6 | 10.3 | 13.2 | 10.8 | 31.7 | 5.3 | 23.3 | 16.1 |
| West | 8.0 | 9.1 | 13.3 | 19.5 | 32.6 | 12.4 | 30.8 | 26.7 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, longitudinal surveys (HSB82, NELS92, ELS04). The cohort year refers to the year on-time students would have graduated high school.
Notes: The universe is high school seniors in the year designated for each cohort, and all figures are weighted to match the population universe. The test quintile comes from a survey-specific cognitive test battery given to the respondents of each survey during the spring of their senior year; by construction, it is normalized by cohort. (The test batteries are similar but not identical across surveys.) See the online Data Appendix available at ⟨http://e-jep.org⟩ for the definitions of selective schools and the regional breakdowns. Application status refers to the types of colleges to which the respondent applied, and it is nonexclusive. Calculus and AP taking are based on students’ self reports in the survey. Homework time is also based on self reports with categorical answers; the categories can consistently be aggregated across survey cohorts to construct a 10+ hour per week measure.