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BHHS Senior Henry Jackson Earns Perfect Score on AP US Gov & Politics Exam

(Bloomfield Hills  Schools, Oct. 1, 2022)

Henry Jackson, a 12th grade student at Bloomfield Hills High School, took the United States Government and Politics AP exam in spring 2022. Of all the students who took this challenging, college-level examination, Jackson is one of only 21 students who earned every point possible, placing in the top 0.01% of 2022 AP United States Government and Politics Exam takers from around the world.

Reflecting on the achievement, Jackson notes, “AP classes tend to have a reputation for being rote and test-based. My experience has been that the organization and content focus is stimulating, in most cases. My teacher, Mrs. Small, was particularly organized and efficient in her presentation of the content. The structure of the class made studying for the exam effortless. And not only was she an excellent AP teacher, Mrs. Small inspired me to consider questions of political engagement and learning beyond the classroom and on a deeper level than the tests required. Getting a perfect raw score seemed like an arbitrary achievement in some ways; I know many of the students I had class with consistently got the same scores or higher on unit tests, and it’s very possible that many students were only a few questions away from getting everything right, but happened to be unlucky.”

AP US Government and Politics teacher Kathleen Small, who has been teaching this course for three years at Bloomfield Hills High School, reflects, “I am so very proud of him and beyond honored to have been his teacher. A few things that really stand out about Henry is that he was always attentive in class, asked real world questions, exhibited resilience, and was always growing as a learner. He was always interested in improving and growing as a student. It takes hard work and dedication throughout the school year to achieve this level of success. It also is a very collective effort on behalf of his other teachers, parents, and his own personal work ethic. One thing that I believe allowed for his success in the course and on this exam is that he had a genuine interest in local government and national politics.”

Learn more about Bloomfield Hills Schools at https://www.bloomfield.org/