Among AP Courses, Geography and Environment Are Hot

Geography may not be particularly known as a hot topic among today's students—even some advocates suggest it suffers from an image problem—but by at least one measure, the subject is starting to come into its own.

Across more than 30 topics covered in the Advanced Placement program, participation in geography is rising faster than any other. It's joined by AP courses like Chinese, environmental science, psychology, and world history that have been gaining ground most rapidly in recent years.

New data show that for the class of 2011, some 45,000 AP exams were taken in geography, more than quadrupling the figure from the graduating class five years earlier. And participation is up 30 percent compared with...