<p>A very impressive list. You are fortunate that your school offers such a wide variety of AP courses. You will do very well at Tulane, I am quite sure.</p>
<p>I think you are correct that BIO is the only one on your list where a 5 is different than a 4. It is also true for Chemistry, which you didn’t take, otherwise every other subject counts a 4 the same as a 5 as far as I can tell.</p>
<p>This year, the Bio exam was completely redesigned, and only about 5% of test-takers got a 5. I barely knew the material and did well because it was, in essence, a test designed for those with good test-taking skills, as opposed to actual bio knowledge (I found that most of the questions were based more on logic and the process of elimination than, well, biology). I think that would make it especially frustrating to get a 4 and get less credit for it, since it was hardly an accurate reflection of bio knowledge. If it had been, I think I would’ve failed. -_- I’m just glad I’ll presumably never have to take another bio course.</p>
<p>Cruxclaire: congratulations on your superb results! Most impressive. I’m curious where you heard the information about the Biology AP exam being redesigned, and, in particular, the low percentage of takers getting a “5” this year. Thanks!</p>
<p>All the bio teachers have known about it through notices/curriculum changes from the CB that came into effect this past year. The score distributions were released by “AP Trevor,” a CB official, on Twitter and compiled here:
[2013</a> AP Exam Score Distributions](<a href=“2012 AP Exam Score Distributions”>2012 AP Exam Score Distributions)</p>
<p>Thanks, Cruxclaire! The notes accompanying the results are also interesting. I guess the AP Biology test is now the gold standard!</p>
<p>Seems to me that when you have a test where the percentage of people that score a 5 is that far off from every other test, the test has to be flawed. Only World History was about as low, with a couple of others (Env. Science, English Lit and Composition) pretty low also. But what is especially problematic regarding the new test is that it represents a drop from about 19% scores of 5 last year [2012</a> AP Exam Score Distributions](<a href=“2012 AP Exam Score Distributions”>2012 AP Exam Score Distributions) while those other subjects had similar scores in previous years. I suppose one could argue that the previous tests were too easy or something, but I would be more than a little peeved if I were a student taking the new test and scored low after scoring high on previous year’s practice tests. Of course I am very happy for cruxclaire, but that really is a dramatic drop in scoring.</p>
<p>Just in general, it seems to me a fair test is one where about 15-25% of the people score 5’s, same for 4’s, etc. I could see it being a little skewed towards the higher end since these students are generally higher achievers than the overall population of students, but not 40-50% 5’s and not 5-10% either.</p>
<p>My DH is an AP Bio teacher, and he is pretty unhappy with this year’s results. In past years, he could pretty reliably predict his students’ AP scores by how well they did in his class. This year, students he would have pegged to get 5’s were getting 3’s and feeling pretty bad about it. He also had the opposite happen - students he would have guessed would get 1’s or 2’s were also getting 3’s.</p>
<p>Yeah, I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of negative feedback about the test.</p>
<p>I personally thought the test was rubbish, but if all those College Board-affiliated AP Bio teachers say it’s great…</p>
<p>Well, there was an interesting article in the NY Times focusing on the AP bio exam to some degree. In it they say
That was in the context that the number of “facts” was growing so exponentially it was impossible to keep basing the exams strictly on memorizing certain material. I guess the jury is out as to whether they achieved that goal or not.</p>
<p><a href=“Rethinking Advanced Placement - The New York Times”>Rethinking Advanced Placement - The New York Times;
<p>Thanks for the NYT article - I sent it on to DH. I’m not sure he’s received any real explanation up to now of WHY the test was changed - he felt like they were fixing something that was not broken. </p>
<p>My daughter also took the test this year & got a 4. It was definitely her strongest in-class subject this year & she was hoping for a 5, but she felt good about her 4 after learning that most of her dad’s top students were pulling 3’s. I can tell you that in past years, the day DH got his students’ scores (which was yesterday this year) was always an exciting & fun day for him - this year, not so much!</p>
<p>I hear you on that, Gertrude. My D’s teachers were really invested in the results of their students as well. I know in chemistry, her teacher had some kind of impressive record going with kids getting 5’s. I don’t remember the details, but my D was very relieved to get her 5, not just for her own satisfaction and the credits (and of course to not let down her chemistry major Dad), but also to keep up the streak.</p>
<p>I was expecting a 3, and crossing my fingers for a 4 on Bio, since I didn’t do any of the assigned reading, or really any of the homework, all year. I detested the course and my teacher and didn’t put in any real effort. Nor did I read any review books or study. I didn’t know the material, except for broad and general topics (I hated bio because I like thinking in terms of broader themes, and we focused on microbiology, which was more concerned with the details of processes, breaking things down into many steps), and I was pretty general in my answers to the free response questions. I thought I rather lacked specific evidence. </p>
<p>Still, I got the 5, and the guy I thought was the best and most passionate about biology in the class got a 4, which doesn’t make sense to me. I KNOW I didn’t deserve a 5, and I could not tell you much about neurotransmitters or promoter sequences. That’s why I can’t think highly of the test - if someone like me who’s just good at testing but doesn’t know biology can beat someone who legitimately cares about the subject and did the reading, homework, etc. score-wise, I don’t think the exam can be said to accurately reflect test-takers’ mastery of the course material.</p>
<p>It is always a interesting debate. Is mastery of the process involved in solving problems in a discipline more important than memorizing facts, or is mastery of factual material a better reflection of knowledge of that subject? Especially in this age of computers and the Internet, when facts can so easily be looked up very quickly. Clearly it isn’t 100% either way, you have to have capability in both areas to be considered competent in a subject, but on which side does the balance tilt? I think the AP people were saying that problem solving and logic were more important, which plays to claire’s strengths. In the “real world”, though, if you don’t have the various factual pieces in your head at one time so you can process them to a new conclusion, you cannot make the breakthroughs. An interesting topic that is still being argued by educators everywhere.</p>
<p>I think substantive knowledge is trumped by superior reading and reasoning skills? Why do I say this? This is because this is a lot of what is taught in AP Biology at my son’s high school. I also know this from personal experience from the results of the AP test. In either event, Cruxclaire, you should applaud your good fortune!</p>
<p>I’m inclined to agree that, generally speaking, logic and reasoning skills are more important than the memorization of facts. I’m just not sure the test was specific enough to the course material; it was kind of like the ACT science section, measuring in part how much you could glean from a careful reading of questions and passages. I’m better with language than I am with the reasoning skills that usually apply to the maths and sciences, and my language skills were more helpful to me on the exam than I expected. </p>
<p>And “good fortune” indeed - it certainly wasn’t skill in biology that helped me pass. Also, random, but I think I’m in your region, newtrierdad (I went to Maine South). I heard there are some 10 people from NT coming to Tulane.</p>