Sandy Chico said she feels an overwhelming sense of pride toward her former student, Matthew Kulczak, who earned a perfect score on his AP Microeconomics exam last spring at Wheeling High School.
According to a Township High School District 214 press release, Kulczak was one of only 15 students in the world to earn a perfect score on the exam last spring. Kulczak was the only students in Illinois to earn a perfect score on the AP Microeconomics exam.
“This does not happen at all,” said Chico, an economics teacher, about Kulczak’s accomplishment. “That is unheard of. It’s a spectacular achievement.”
Kulczak said he was “really happy to find out about it, and kind of surprised” of his accomplishment.
“My AP economics teacher was really amazing,” said Kulczak. He said Chico held special review classes a couple weeks prior to the exam that helped him to prepare.
Kulczak now studies actuarial science at the University of Iowa. He said taking AP courses in high school has helped him in college.
Chico said the AP courses help prepare students for the skills they will need and use in college. Wheeling High School offers a wide variety of AP courses in various subject areas, like psychology and United States government.
If they do well on the AP exams, some students are able to start college at the sophomore or junior level, Chico said. At Wheeling High, students are encouraged to take at least one AP course.
“We do the best we can as teachers to prepare them for the test,” said Chico. She said that AP exams are graded on a 5-point scale, with 5 being equal to an A in a corresponding college course. Several students received a 5 in her class, but it is very rare to receive a perfect score, she said.
Erin DeLuga, associate principal of instruction at Wheeling High School, called Kulczak “extremely intelligent, but very humble.”
Kulczak earned straight A’s in high school, DeLuga said. She called his musical ability “absolutely incredible.”
According to a press release from District 214, about 1.5 million students in 11th and 12th grade attending U.S. public high schools took 4 million AP exams in 2014. Of those, 285 students earned perfect scores.
“It’s a very rare situation,” said DeLuga.