<p>Did anyone's teachers here offer up rewards of any sort to those students who did well on AP tests? I've had a few teachers over the years play the "get a 5 and I'll bump you up a letter grade" game, and this year my psych teacher promised all those who received 5s a barbecue at his house! In addition to a tour of the "forbidden" areas of my school's campus (mainly the top of our bell tower and the underground tunnel network). I imagine that he did this mostly because a good majority of the class was graduating, and come test time in May nobody would have otherwise cared to try. </p>
<p>So, does anyone here have teachers who proposed similar deals?</p>
<p>Nothing quite as cool as that, but my AP Chem teacher gives a practice AP test for our final exam (A=5, B=4, etc.). If you do better on the real AP test than the practice test, she’ll go back later in the summer and change your final exam grade (i.e. if you got a 3 on the practice test and received a C for the final exam, but then got a 4 on the AP test, she’d change your final exam grade to a B).</p>
<p>My teachers give absolutely no “incentives”. They just want us to do well. Perhaps we get a pat on the back… at most… but nothing else. I wish they bumped grades up!</p>
<p>My son’s public high school got a grant from the National Science and Math Initiative, which is funded by the ExxonMobil Foundation, as well as the Gates Foundation and the Dell Foundation. Because of this grant, half of the cost of science, math, and English AP exams were covered. (Before this year the student paid full price on every test.) Moreover, if a student makes a 3, 4, or 5 on math, science, and English exams, he/she gets $100 per exam. While my son won’t get money for his 4 on Macro or his 5 on U.S. Government, he will get $400 for his 5 on Environmental, his 4 on English Lit, his 4 on Chemistry, and his 5 on Calculus AB.</p>
<p>Like vandycentremom, my district covered half the price of the AP test I took this year (I assume it’s the same grant) and I get $100 for getting a 5 on my AP Human Geo. It’s a great incentive; it has really encouraged kids who normally wouldn’t feel the need to try their hardest or even take the test to go for it. I think it’s definitely a positive effect.</p>
<p>“In addition, in APES and AP U.S. Gov, students that took the AP test were exempt from the final.”</p>
<p>Same here, but most of the kids took exams to skip finals then just slept through their tests. Case in point: 10 minutes into the Macro FRQ, I could hear half of the entire gym (we had around 100 kids take the test, so we all just tested in the auxiliary gym) softly snoring. lol :P</p>
<p>haha. The guy next to me got his test and then promptly fell asleep. When the FRQs started, he drew lovely pictures for about 30 minutes then resumed his nap. </p>
<p>It was even better two years ago. It was the first–and only–time this one teacher decided to let AP testers be exempt from the final, and the entire class took it. When they opened the MC booklet, everyone burst out laughing because they had no idea what the question was talking about. :P</p>
<p>My school doesn’t do this, but I heard some schools change student’s grades to an A (no matter what they got in the class before) if they get a 5 on the AP test.</p>
<p>At my school, the exams are only half-price because of some grant. The low-income kids payed $10 before the grant; now they pay $5. The rest of us pay $43. We also get $100 for each 3, 4, or 5 we get. The teachers each get $100 for each of their students that get at least a 3. In addition to that, they also each get $1000 if more than half of their students get at least a 3. That is a MAJOR incentive for teachers to teach well.</p>
<p>At my school, in some classes, AP test takers are exempt from finals.</p>
<p>Other than that, one of the math teachers paints your name on the wall of his classroom if you get a 5 on an AP calc test; my government & policitics/microeconomics teacher puts your name on a bulletin board in his classroom if you get a 5 on either of his subjects; if you get a 5 on a science test, you get a plaque with your name, picture, and test that goes on the wall in the science hallway. These incentives seem to work pretty well.</p>