Eighteen recent graduates of Suffolk schools offer evidence of the quality of advanced placement education available in the city’s public school system.

The College Board awarded honors to the students for their performance on 2013’s advanced placement exams. Thirteen Suffolk students were named AP Scholars, three were named AP Scholars with Honors and two were designated AP Scholars with Distinction.

The designations are evidence of hard work by the students and by the teachers of the advanced-placement, college-level courses the students took to prepare themselves for the exams.

From a practical standpoint, the students are now enjoying varying amounts of college credit as a result of their prowess on the exams. On another level, the success they achieved can serve as an encouragement to other students wondering whether they should put forth the extra effort needed for the advanced courses and whether they should pay the cost involved in taking the tests.

College Board data shows 276 Suffolk graduates took a total of 389 AP exams last year. A score of 3 or above was earned on 43 percent of those exams. But even those students who didn’t take the tests — or who took them and didn’t earn scores high enough to qualify them for college credit — still benefitted from the advanced placement program.

The simple experience of taking a college-level class in high school has its own value. Advanced-placement courses help students learn advanced academic skills, teach them to be critical thinkers and help prepare them for the level of oral and written communication at which they will need to be proficient in college.

Suffolk’s AP scholars have good reason to be proud of themselves, and the school system can be proud of the teachers and the program that gave them the chance to do so well.