Hispanic high school students in the US now make up a greater share of those achieving a passing score on an Advanced Placement (AP) exam than at any other point in the past decade, according to a report released Wednesday by the national College Board, reports the Christian Science Monitor. According to the College Board’s annual report, the “AP Report to the Nation,” 14.6 percent of US high school seniors who passed an AP exam in 2010 were Hispanic, an increase of 2.6 percent since 2001. The rise follows an effort by the College Board to recruit more minority students to take the demanding tests. AP exams measure college-level competency in a wide range of subjects, from English and calculus to Spanish and US history, which test takers have usually studied in AP courses taught according to a standardized curriculum. The exams are graded on a 5-point scale and may confer college credit if a student passes with a score of 3 or higher…