<p>Is this a normal practice? My student's school has many teachers who will change student course grades in AP classes from "B" or even "C" to "A" if the student passes the AP exam--after the fact. This was done for over 100 students in one class when only 35 earned the real "A"-- I can only imagine how many hundreds of grades have been changed when all AP courses are taken into account. Now that my student is a senior and is a student who has earned all "A" grades without any of this grade changing, the class rank, class decile, and valedictorian ranking are altered due to other students being handed unearned weighted grades. Obviously, the top students who really earned their grades are hurt, especially those who take extra classes which interest them (art, music, etc) and are unweighted.</p>
<p>I'm not too sure how many schools do it, but my school doesn't. Then again, my school is a science/math magnet school where 100% of students scored a 5 for Calc BC and Physics C this year :P</p>
<p>That is not the usual practice I am aware of. Also, don't know what you mean by being given an A in the course for "passing" the AP but there is a significant difference between getting a 5 and a 3 on an AP. Many high schools have grade inflation but yours is the first I heard that has it applied after the fact and is more accurately described as grade "manipulation" rather than grade inflation.</p>
<p>I have read about accounts on this and am against it completely. Doing well in class is a whole year's effort; getting a good score on the AP is a separate task. They require separate skill sets; doing well in class rewards devotion and hard work. One shouldn't be rewarded for a year of middling performance with a passing AP exam. It's also unfair to students who worked hard all year and earned that A. It's completely unacceptable.</p>
<p>In the example I used, grades were changed during the summer after AP test scores came out, and every student who passed with a score of 3 or better was given an A. Some teachers use different systems to dole out the grade changes based on scores, but the grades are changed based on the single AP exam. A very frustrating system for those who work hard and earn the grades to see others above them senior year who did not earn all the grades, but have them anyway under this system.</p>
<p>Wow. This was not the case at my D's school. That would be very frustrating for the students who actually earned the "A" as well as for the teacher who has their grading decisions disregarded. Was there any penalty applied to students who, for example, earned an "A" in the class, but only scored a 1 or a 2?</p>
<p>No, no penalty for not passing the test. It is the grading decision of the individual teachers to change the grades, though, so it goes class by class. Even though colleges grant credit for the courses, and a one point GPA boost is awarded for AP courses, the teachers claim they need to change grades to "motivate" students to do well on the AP tests. There is no way for colleges to tell the difference between students in a school that has this kind of system in place. All students end up looking alike on paper. A Princeton review course and some cramming can make up for a year of slacking off.</p>
<p>^^ I am for these types of programs...grades should be changed in both directions though</p>
<p>Perhaps I'm a tad bitter that I got the lowest grade in my AP history class, but a 5 on the AP (800 on USH SAT II; not a fluke in other words)...</p>