Question about 2020 AP Scores: I know college board has said that they will be used to offer credit, but will 2020 scores seriously be considered as a factor for admission? I’m sympathetic to the fact that CB was given the impossible task of preventing high schoolers from cheating but even then, they did a TERRIBLE job. The exams had no camera/microphone on, no virtual proctor. Also, they only covered a fraction of the content. A 20 question test is not enough to distinguish between 1-5s, an exam like this tests merely how good you are at not making silly mistakes rather than truly you mastering content. Additionally, I’ve heard many stories of students using their parents/tutors to take the exam. For all these reasons I can’t imagine these results to be a fair way of assessing between students. Thoughts?
Unless there’s something more than hearsay “stories” and “the score is obviously wrong, I always score higher than that” claims, I see no reason the scores won’t be factored in as in the past. Which, frankly, mostly ranges from not at all to just a little.
The score distribution of the 2020 scores compared to 2019 and 2018 scores are extremely consistent. All of my D’s AP teachers have privately said the scores received pretty much line up with what they expected based on student classroom performance.
Fwiw, College Board has no say as to whether a school uses the scores for credit.
What APs were 20 questions? There were no multiple choice tests this year, AFAIK.
I believe that college admissions officers are aware of the situation students had to face this year, but I also do think they will consider everything they get for as much context as possible. If you received a four instead of a 5 this year there is virtually no difference, considering that there were two questions or one essay as an exam for a subject. If you did poorly, you also do not need to report your scores, unless you are applying to a school that requires you to do like Georgetown ( you can also pay extra to college board to hide a score from your score report). Either way, if you have 4s or 5s or even 3s you should send them in, and if you don’t, don’t send them in.
Most colleges have committed to using the scores as they had in the past, which as RichinPitt said (and is worth repeating), ranges from “Not at all to just a little”.
There was a lot not to like about this year’s testing and I am sorry you didn’t get the score you hoped for. You have the option to not submit any scores with which you are unhappy.
However some kids did make the best of it and did well, and colleges should honor their statements to use those scores however they did in the past, whether they count for anything or not. A lot of kids took the colleges at their word and would have asked for the refund and not put in hours and hours of preparation had the colleges announced in advance that the scores would count neither for credit, nor placement, nor admissions.
If you have actual proof of cheating, submit it to the college board. If all you have is anonymous social media posts, then all you have is heresy and sour grapes.