I was shocked when I saw my APWH test score and it was a 3. I really did not expect that. Infact, I walked out of the testing room confident that I got a 4 at the least. Most of all people I know got a 4 or a 5. Im just really shocked . Also I did pretty well in the class.
Here is a breakdown on my studying:
-did really good on practice multiple choice and practice dbq essay. The other two practice essays (change over time and similarities and differences) I kind of struggled with because I dont have really good memory about stuff we learned a while ago so I struggled to find material to write about.
-read over pretty much the entire Princeton review book. Kind of procrastinated so skimmed through the last half
- I had a really good teacher so I was confident that I would do well on the exam. pretty much all students who ace the class get 4s or 5s on the exam. </p>
During the exam:
-multiple choice I thought was easy. Finished multiple choice just in time. A lot of people complained about the readings but I didnt find those too time consuming.
-spent WAYY too long on dbq. I organized it really well, may have missed a point or two in basic core.
-rushed through other two essays. I made a big mistake in that I didnt take time to study material to write on for essays, because i found out the information I wrote was wrong for one of the essays and the other essay
well lets just say I kind of just said random stuff.</p>
Still, I cant believe I got a 3. I did as well as a friend of mine who had a bad teacher, didnt try too hard in the class, and didnt study at all for the test.
Im considering taking a lot of AP classes next year to make up for doing bad on this test. I want to prove myself I can do better.
Thoughts on what led to me getting a 3 on this exam are appreciated.</p>
<p>If you miss a point or two in basic core, than you have no chance of getting 6+ on the essay. Sorry bud but you just didn’t do as well as you thought you did. Move on.</p>
<p>You might consider getting it rescored. Errors are rare, but they happen.</p>
<p>I think it’s most likely that you didn’t write the essays in enough detail. I failed a couple of tests in AP Psych before I realized that’s what I was doing wrong, and then I got A’s and B’s on the rest and a 5 on the AP.</p>
<p>Or maybe you were just tired or something. AP Physics C has two APs. I got B’s both semesters of the class, then I got a 4 on the first test and a ONE on the second - mainly because I was worn out from the first one. If you were up late the night before or burned out from other tests, you could’ve had the same problem.</p>
<p>Did you hear before the test that you don’t have to get that many right for a 5? I <em>really</em> wish no one had told me that, because it made me overconfident and in many cases the curves weren’t nearly as hefty as I’d been told. For Gov, IIRC, you need an 88% or so for a 5 and somewhere in the low 80’s for a 4.</p>
<p>In all likelihood, you’ll never really know, and there’s nothing you can do about it now. However, this is only one of many tests you’ll take over your educational career, so don’t spend energy worrying about this one.</p>
<p>Well, you kind of already do know why you got a 3. You spent too much time on the DBQ and rushed the other two essays, one of which you spewed random stuff. What this means is that all in all your essays were probably not as organized as they should. One of the reasons people do not as well as they think is because those taking the exams (typically tenth graders) don’t have the writing skills. </p>
<p>This year’s FRQs were difficult, and had I taken world this year instead of last year, I would’ve gotten a 3. Ibombed one essay last year and got a 4. Bombing two probably results in a 3 or less.</p>
<p>Here’s how you can improve: when taking content heavy APs like APUSH and World, review throughout the year. Dedicate a lot of time prior to the test. Know each time period and the significant events. Meumonic devices are very helpful at times. Don’t cram the week or month before, read the textbook and discuss the things that could possibly be in tests with others.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply everybody. Hopefully next year will provide me with another chance to gain confidence in AP and standardized testing.</p>
<p>Did you really think the reading was easy?
It was really time consuming, and I probably would have gotten a 5 if we had more time to actually read the questions carefully…i found that alot of the multiple choice section wasn’t actually testing our knowledge, but understanding. I got a 4 btw, but I was expecting a 5.</p>
<p>alot of my friends did not pass though, even though they got A’s in the classroom, which i was very surprised about. many got 2’s.</p>