NORTH HOLLYWOOD : 2 Schools Shine on Placement Exams

North Hollywood High School and Van Nuys High School students aced the 1993 Advanced Placement tests, according to districtwide figures released this week.

Students prepare for these exams in advanced placement classes that usually involve college-level work and require extra homework. The tests are offered in a variety of subjects including languages, math, art, history, sciences and computers. Students earn college credit if they pass.

Van Nuys High School administered 625 of the rigorous tests, the most of any school in the district. The school also offered tests in the greatest number of subject categories, administering 21 of a possible 30, and scored in the 95th percentile in 20 of them.

A majority of the students who take the Advanced Placement tests at Van Nuys High are enrolled in magnet programs at the school, said Joan Martin, who coordinates the math/science and medical magnet programs.

“Students here are extremely academic,” Martin said. “The school is geared to assume that AP exams are as good as football games.”

North Hollywood High School, which administered the third highest number of tests in the district with 535, also ranked third in the number of subject areas covered, scoring about 94% in 16 of 17 subjects taken.

Two North Hollywood 1993 graduates, George Colindres and Eric Hong, performed so well on the tests last May, they were chosen as two of only nine students in the country to be 1993 Advanced Placement Scholars of the year. Colindres, attending Georgetown University, completed 15 advanced placement tests. Hong, who attends Harvard University, completed 14 tests and scored perfectly on 10 of them.

At Birmingham, North Hollywood, San Fernando and Grant high schools, at least 98% of the students who took the Spanish language exam passed.