Hillsborough students passed 38 pecent of their AP exams this year, up from 36 percent last year, despite another double-digit jump in the percentage of tests taken, the latest results show.

In Pinellas, meanwhile, the results show the district following the same, long-term trend as the state: A big upswing in participation. A big jump in passed tests. A dip in pass rates.

Pinellas students took 9,806 exams this year, up from 7,686 last year. Forty-one percent of those tests were scored at a 3 or above, down from 47 percent last year. In raw numbers, 4,020 exams were deemed passing, up from 3,603 last year.

"It certainly doesn't make us happy" to see pass rates fall, said Bill Lawrence, the district's director of advanced studies. But "it's not unusual for this type of implementation dip when districts have opened access and experienced great growth in their AP programs."

Read more here.

Pinellas results here. Hillsborough results by school here, by subject area here.