***AP US GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS THREAD 2015-2016***

This was my first AP exam. I was pretty lazy during class, the only real studying I did for the exam was binge-watching Crash Course the night before. However, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I’m hoping to get a 3 or above…

I got a 5! I’m so happy, because I studied so much for this exam and also I’m really interested in government and politics.

5! This was my first and only AP course ever, so I’m pretty happy. Gets me 4 credit hours, too.

Fiveeeeeeeee!
Although it was pretty easy, not gonna lie.

Lol I got a 3… I expected it to be 4 the lowest. Hmph… oh well. How often are rescores bumped up a bit.

I got a 5 and this was so ridiculously easy. It was so easy that I even practiced the FRQ in some of my practice tests and on top of that some of the MC I saw in the practice tests I took in class so I knew for a fact I got a 5 back in May.

:)) :)) =)) \m/

Got a 5. This was by far the easiest AP exam I’ve ever taken with the exception of maybe Human Geo. Sad that I actually spent precious hours studying for this when I had AP Spanish Lit right after that i didnt even get to prep for ;(

5

My daughter got a 1 on this exam after getting straight As in the class as well as on the final. Most of her friends in the class failed too. Was the test really that easy? Seems something must be off when an entire class doesn’t do well on the test.

I thought the questions were really easy compared to what I was given in class. I was really sure of a 4 so imagine the surprise on my face when I got a 5 instead! @collegemom2000 Sometimes the teacher teaches in a more lenient way and gives A’s out when the material is harder or different if not taught to the test. I’m not sure how that happened.

Some of the students who studied for months using the study guides only got 3s. Seems strange to me.

@collegemom2000 I can say from experience that the amount of time you spend trying to learn something doesn’t matter. If a student spends 5 hours everyday reading a Barrons book or doing homework and gains nothing out of it then it was useless. If they studied for months, and gained knowledge about government and politics (and that’s a big if) they could’ve forgotten it by the time the AP exam rolled around as well.

@elephantayee that’s true. But since the highest score in the school this year was a 3, something seems amiss somewhere. My good friend teaches IB history and tells me that the AP test scoring is very subjective and that the rubrics are incredibly vague. Therefore someone scoring tests from one part of the country may interpret the rubric differently are grade easier. Even he thinks the College Board is a scam and he’s been teaching this stuff for 30 years.

I think something is wrong at your child’s school - to be precise, the teacher. AP Govt is thought to be one of the easiest AP classes next to HUG. If the students are not scoring well, it seems as though there is a problem at your child’s school. It is a bit humuros however that an IB teacher thinks AP exams are a scam since in fact IB is one too (if we are using his/her definition). Also your idea that one person can grade differently than another is very true - that’s why when AP
Exams are graded by high school teachers, college professors, etc. Each ‘reader’ as they’re infamously called, gets assigned one frq question and grades only that one with his table. The table leader and them help create a rubric before even looking at students work. Then, they grade however one reader is not the only one assigned to each frq. Their are usually 3 different graders that overlook and discuss the same frq in order to ensure that the same work is getting the same score. Also you mentioned that nobody got higher than a 3, I doubt that unless your child’s government teacher told you him/herself. Many students (believe me I know) lie about their scores to classmates who don’t do as well to help their feelings. So their may have been some 4s and 5s but they’re just lying or you’re son/daughter doesn’t know the nerds of the class. @collegemom2000

@elephantayee Absolutely my friend who teaches IB also believes it is a scam. He teaches IB because he loves the level of the material and the types of students it attracts. However he is the first to admit the whole system is severely flawed.

I know for a fact the highest score was a 3 because I talked to the teacher about it I was so concerned. This is the first year he has been teaching this that it has happened (according to him.) Believe me, we know who the nerds in the class are. My daughter has been in GT courses since the third grade and knows them all. I have been contacted by some of the parents of the “nerds” who are also complaining about their child’s 2 or 3 score. So unless the parents have some reason to lie to another parent, I feel pretty confident that what the teacher and these other people are telling me.

Well something is amiss. Whether it’s the teachers fault or the students, I wouldn’t be the one able to differentiate. However you should be comforted by the fact that AP scores are just a small factor in college’s “holistic” decisions. @collegemom2000

Does anyone who is taking the class think that the quarter of economics in APUSG will be enough knowledge for the macroeconomics exam?