AP, IB, and Cambridge:
How to Choose at Troy High School

Troy High School runs three advanced course systems at once: 27 AP courses, an IB Diploma Programme offered since 1986 (12 courses), and Cambridge International A Level courses offered since 2020 (13 courses). In May 2026, 1,643 students took 4,291 AP exams, with an average score of 4.13, and 94.6% earned a 3 or higher; in the same year, students took 296 IB exams with a 95.7% pass rate and 297 Cambridge exams with a 97.8% pass rate. This page brings together who each system suits, subject-level results, and recommended combinations to help parents make a choice before course selection in grade 10.

Who Each System Suits

At Troy High School, the three systems are not a difficulty ranking but three different methods of assessment. The school integrates them with the Troy Tech magnet: grade 9 Troy Tech students are automatically eligible for IB and Cambridge and make their choice during course selection in grade 10. Many courses correspond to more than one exam. For example, AP Calculus BC can also lead to the IB Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches SL exam, AP Physics 1 can lead to IB Physics SL or the first year of HL, and Cambridge Advanced Biology A Level can lead to IB Biology SL.

AP Pass Rates by Subject (2026)

The following data come from the Troy High School 2026-27 School Profile and are counted by exam: the denominator is the number of exams taken, not the number of students. Of the 4,291 exams taken schoolwide, 94.6% earned a 3 or higher, with an average score of 4.13.

IB and Cambridge Exam Results (2026)

IB totals were 296 exams with a 95.7% pass rate. Note that the three systems use different score scales: AP scores run from 1 to 5, with 3 or higher counted as passing; individual IB subjects are scored from 1 to 7; and Cambridge A Level uses grades A to E, with C or higher usually required for college credit. The “pass rate” in the two tables above follows the School Profile measure (pass rate) and cannot be converted directly into the AP “3 or higher” figure.

Cambridge totals were 297 exams with a 97.8% pass rate. English Language AS alone accounted for 130 exams, the largest subject in the Cambridge system, corresponding to the grade 10 Cambridge Advanced English Language AS Level course.

Grade Levels Offered

AP Computer Science Principles and AP World History: Modern are available from grade 9; the former is the common starting course for all 9th-grade Troy Tech students. Grade 10 adds AP European History, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science A, AP Precalculus, AP Business with Personal Finance, AP Drawing and AP 2-D Art and Design, and AP Music Theory. AP Calculus, AP Physics, AP Statistics, AP Psychology, AP US History, and three AP world language courses are concentrated in grades 11 and 12, and AP English Language and AP English Literature are both scheduled in grade 12.

Grades Offered and Requirements for Each AP Course

The Troy High School course description pages do not publish specific grade cutoffs and instead state “see the registration presentation each February.” The requirements visible on the course list are symbols: a single asterisk means the course prerequisites must be met, and a double asterisk means a teacher recommendation or tryout is required. The table below lists each course from the 2026-27 course list.

AP Courses the School Does Not Offer

• AP Microeconomics
• AP Human Geography
• AP Art History
• AP Comparative Government
• AP Latin
• AP Japanese
• AP Seminar / Research

The 2026 AP exam data contain no records for these subjects, which indicates that self-study testing in them has not developed at the school. Students who want to take these exams need to complete the coursework outside school and register on their own; the school’s AP exam information page allows students to test at other schools, but students must contact the test site themselves and confirm that the exam does not conflict with the Troy High School exam schedule.

AP Course List

IB and Cambridge Course List

Recommended Combinations by Intended Major

Data verified on 2026-09-21. Course catalogs are updated each spring; prerequisites follow the school's current Course of Study.