Mid-Pacific Institute and a Maryknoll School teacher each received the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement during a ceremony at the State Capitol yesterday, recognizing the schools' push for students to take AP tests.

The schools reflect a trend in Hawai'i high schools in which an increasing number of students are choosing to take, and pass, college-level courses and year-end proficiency tests. Many colleges may grant course credit to students who do well on AP exams.

Mid-Pacific and Maryknoll each saw the number of students taking Advanced Placement courses double during the past five years, school officials said.

About 4,880 public and private school students in Hawai'i took AP tests in the most recent academic year, an increase of about 150 students from the year before.

Mid-Pacific was recognized as the Hawai'i high school doing the most to foster student participation in AP courses, while the Siemens Foundation selected Maryknoll statistics teacher Lance Suzuki as the state's top teacher.

"It's nice to be recognized for what you do," Suzuki, 35, said, "but it's really a reflection of my students' efforts."

Suzuki has taught statistics at Maryknoll for the past seven years. His lessons require students to create their own game shows based on class concepts.

From 2004-05 to 2005-06, Hawai'i students scoring a passing grade of at least three out of five points on their AP exams increased by 5.5 percent, according to state education specialist Anna Viggiano.

Test scores for AP exams taken in the 2006-07 school year will be available later this month.

Mid-Pacific Principal Richard Shaffer said the school's focus on college preparatory courses grew within the last five years when another college-level program, International Baccalaureate, was implemented.

The IB program provides resources for students to gain a better understanding of global cultures, he said. Those who pass the series of courses during high school can apply the credit to their college careers.

There are more than 554,000 IB students throughout the world participating in the program.

The Siemens Foundation provides about $2 million in college scholarships and awards every year to U.S. high schools. Other programs include the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, which two Mililani High School students received during yesterday's ceremony.

Siblings Phillip and Lucia Mocz of Mililani High earned the Western Region Silver Medal during the Siemens competition last year. The pair studied methods to identifying and diagnosing cancer.

"It started off as a freshman science project," Lucia Mocz, 16, said, "but we further developed it because we knew we wanted to win this competition."