<p>So I'm taking an alternate exam... will the curve be harder? Because most of the kids that take alternates have a conflict with another AP exam, so that means they're generally better students than the general population of kids who take the regular AP exam. Because of this, more of them will do well; does that mean that more kids will get 5's, or does the alternate have a separate curve? If it does, is it usually significantly harder?</p>
<p>Regular and Form B tests have separate curves. Your theory on people taking alternate exams being the ones that take more and therefore are better students sounds plausible. Generally, I’ve heard that the Form B has a harder curve, though I’ve never seen any real data on it.</p>
<p>that sux
the college board has not realized this?</p>
<p>form b has a harder curve? for ap euro form b, the frqs were so much easier compared to form a. :/</p>
<p>Not exactly Form B vs. Form A. It’s alternate testing curve vs. non-late testing curve. Fewer people take alternates than Forms A or B, so I think the curve would be more harsh.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>I would think that the college board would make it that the cut off scores for the late testing exams represent the same level of achievement depending on the difficulty of the exam in comparison the the Form A exam.</p>
<p>I don’t think so. The test will solely be a different version.</p>
<p>Like the SAT curve, the curve used to map from composite score to 5-4-3-2-1 can not depend on how many people take form B or how high in quality those students are. Since the test <em>is</em> different, however, the curve does take into account any difference in the difficulty of the two forms of the test. The curve would be nicer if the test was harder, or harsher if the test were easier.</p>
<p>If it helps at all, I took the makeup (late) AP World test last year, and still made a 5… Hopefully the same will occur with the APUSH test I took today. :)</p>
<p>How many AP forms do they actually have in one year for one subject?! Theres normal Form A, then Form B, and 2 make-ups. For Calc BC, AB, and APUSH there’s two versions, too.</p>
<p>CB reuses make-up exams (or at least, I think they do). That’s why neither MC or FRQ of the make-ups are released.</p>
<p>^
Yeah, I’m pretty sure they do as well.
The APUSH exam I took today had 78 instead of 80 questions, probably because they threw out two questions based on a low percentage of correct answers in the past. (that’s our guess).</p>
<p>I noticed that with my Comp. Gov. test - only 52 out of 55 questions.</p>
<p>Form B exams are administered to countries other than the US at the same time the US exams are being administered. Form B =/= makeup exam.</p>
<p>The makeup exam FRQ’s are never posted on CB’s website.</p>
<p>Curves are not harder, according to the lady at my school’s College & Career Center. I’ve taken 2 alternates and they don’t seem harder than they should be. But they might have less questions, which might make it ever so slightly harder. Ex: Bio MC last year alternate was 99 instead of 100 Qs.</p>
<p>I really hope not. I’m taking Physics E+M tomorrow. It’s hard enough with a generous curve.</p>