AP biology 2008 grade distribution: 34% 1's

<p>The AP bio teacher said there must have been a change in the grading. the grade distributions for 2007 and previous are posted in AP college board, and usually, about 15% receive 1's. In 2008, that total MORE THAN DOUBLED to 34.6% (according to wikipedia, and unable to confirm with college board). Has anyone heard about a change in grading? or suddenly, we got stupider?</p>

<p>i also saw that on wikipedia but i found no source for it :/
can anyone say it's true?</p>

<p>Actually, it is. My AP bio teacher told our class that collegeboard moved the cutoff for the scores higher. So for those people who would've gotten 2's had CB not changed it, they got 1's instead. Apparently, CB did some study that involved giving college freshmen the current ap bio test and found that they did MUCH better than the average for high schoolers. I guess their answer to that result was to make the test standards higher.</p>

<p>^ do you have a link to cb? i want to see the APAH cut offs for 2008 but all APs only have 2007 posted :[</p>

<p>AP</a> Report to the Nation 2008</p>

<p><a href="http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/ap-report-to-the-nation-2008.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/ap-report-to-the-nation-2008.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>as far as I know cb has only changed the grading for the bio test</p>

<p>my bio teacher said that they started grading the free response a lot tougher and were more picky on that</p>

<p>hazmat: that's the grade distribution for 2007</p>

<p>Not like it makes much of a difference. For an examination like Biology, studying hard is the only way to do well. Those people who got 2's mustn't have studied very hard, I suppose, so a 1 wouldn't mean much difference.</p>

<p>actually, it does make a difference for anyone who sat on the borderline of 2-3, 3-4, 4-5. Previously, if 15% received 1's, then 85% had 2-5. But now, if 34% have 1's, then 66% of the grades were re-distributed beween 2-5. Anyone on the cutoffs points were moved DOWN . Only 15% had 4s (usually 20%) and 16% had 3s (usually 21%). How'd you like to study hard and get a 4 b/c you just barely missed the usual cutoff for a score of 5?</p>

<p>well thats jewish because i got a 4 and i was confident that i'd get a 5.</p>

<p>The data doesn't correlate for my school. </p>

<p>but not in the way you'd think. </p>

<p>About 80 percent of the AP Biology class got 1's.</p>

<p>My twin and I studied the exact same amount. I got a 5, my twin got a 4, because we both were sitting just on the border- she may have just missed one more than me. so I'm kinda p*ssed that they redid stuff, now everybody thinks that she slacked and I studied my butt off, which is completely unfair (and incorrect. I'm the one who slacked off.)</p>

<p>My friend got a 1 on it, I'll be sure to thank her for making up that 34%. I got a 4 :<</p>

<p>Don't you think it's ridiculous to purposely aim for the set borderline between 4-5, 3-4, whatever? Honestly, really, when there are black-and-white borderlines between grades, the person who falls just below the cut-off will suffer. No matter what.</p>

<p>34% got 1's?! Thats ridiculous. Just ridiculous. (Got a 5 ^^)</p>

<p>This is the reason why im contemplating between AP Physics C and AP Bio 2.... My teacher said alot of her students got 2's on the exam and she was extremely disappointed and frustrated since the CB change their grading procedures.....BTW what book did you guys use?</p>

<p>Campbell's Biology Textbook 2007</p>

<p>
[quote]
Apparently, CB did some study that involved giving college freshmen the current ap bio test and found that they did MUCH better than the average for high schoolers.

[/quote]

Not surprising. This is why the whole idea of the AP test is a joke; AP classes (especially in the sciences) don't compare to their college counterparts. Yet CB continues to tout the whole "college level courses in high school" thing. My AP bio class was cake compared to college intro bio, which went into much more depth and breadth and had much more difficult exams.</p>

<p>I totally agree... AP Chemistry is especially guilty lol.</p>