<p>I will check my intuition with some of the AP teachers at our school, but I suspect that most teachers <em>do</em> use the tests provided to teachers with the books as part of the curriculum, as the tests in their classroom throughout the year. There is no reason they shouldn't do so! The students don't have access to those tests, and they are written to check students' progress through the material: the teachers have no reason to believe the students would have prior knowledge of these tests, and should not have to make up a second set of tests for the students! </p>
<p>The teachers don't seem to me to be in the wrong here. I have decided it's a problem with the prep center. These folks <em>have</em> to know that classroom teachers are provided with a set of tests to use throughout the year, and by using these same tests in their prep program, they <em>have</em> to know they'll be exposing students to the testing materials shortly before the actual tests are given to them. Since they key their prep work specifically to the progress of this school's AP classes, they know when tests will occur. If anything, **they<a href="the%20prep%20center">/b</a> should be creating new tests, not the classroom teachers! The prep center should earn its money by adding NEW VALUE to the students' learning experience, not just giving them extra practice in their teachers' tests shortly before they actually have to take them.</p>
<p>So. My take on this, FWIW: Classroom teacher: no blame for using the testing materials provided. Parents: probably no blame, probably were not aware of situation. Students: ethical lapses, should not have taken unfair advantage, possible honor violations. Prep center: fully aware of its ethical poverty, should have been creating their own supplemental materials and not using what is provided to classroom teachers.</p>
<p>The last time I checked my S's math problems was when he was in 3rd grade and he was going nuts over an assignment. The teacher had photocopied some problems which turned out to have been inaccurately worded. She had not looked over the problems to check for inaccuracies. I wish that teachers would reword the problems they get from problem banks, changing quantities, for example.</p>
<p>Our math teachers do use their own tests. Depending on the teacher, they can be harder than the AP problems.
In biology, which this was, it's actual information that is being recalled. There is a vast amount of reading material for this class, and not every concept is tested. I think what gives kids the biggest advantage in this type of test is knowing what of that vast material will actually appear on the test, and how it will appear. Exactly what do we have to know?, the kids ask. My son studies all the material because he has no idea what will be tested (and I hope, at least partially, so he can LEARN), but the kids who see the test ahead know exactly what to study, down to the last detail. Even if they haven't seen the answers, which they probably have, they know the questions.
It's a little different in math, where it's all quantitative.</p>
<p>Was it the exact same test, word for word & question for question? How would ANYONE have the exact test in advance of the AP that year? Isn't the reason all AP are administered on same day to avoid anyone having the advantage? </p>
<p>When I sutdied to get my RE license there were all sorts of OLD tests in circulation (legally) in study guides. The RE exam asks about 100 questions out of 1000's of possible questions. But every tests would ask a different 100. So a few study guide Qs might reappear on a current exam but lots would be different.</p>
<p>If certain Qs from old AP tests were recycled on the current AP, there is no ethical problem. If, somehow, the prep center got ahold of & used the exact AP test that was about to be administered, it is wrong.</p>
<p>Or is the situation that all AP teachers have a copy of that year's AP? This seems impossible.</p>
<p>SBmom, they're not talking about the actual AP test itself. Instead, they are talking about a series of tests, provided to AP teachers and meant to accompany the classroom learning. These would be mastery tests to be given along the way, throughout the school year as the class progresses. Most teachers would use these tests to give grades to the students who take their class: the AP exam at the end isn't likely to figure into their actual school grade in most cases.</p>
<p>What has happened here is that the prep center somehow qualified in the same way as a classroom teacher would, and ordered the same set of mastery tests, and are using them with their prep students in advance of these same tests being used by the classroom teacher.</p>
<p>Does that make sense? It's not the AP test, it's the mastery tests along the way.</p>
<p>Okay, well in this case it doesn't seem to be cheating. It is legitimate prep material. A kid who self studied & went to prep center would be on level playing field with AP kid. Some teachers are slackers so I am okay with kids being able to be prepped if they need it. A few AP teachers in our HS are abysmal.</p>
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<p>My son studies all the material because he has no idea what will be tested>> </p>
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<p>This is also what I find confusing. What I don't understand is how the tests can be absolutely the same in class and at the test center. Presumably, the test bank has a long list of questions from which teachers can pick and choose. I somehow doubt that the teacher would assign ALL the questions in the test bank for a particular chapter. So there must be some randomness to the in-class tests.</p>
<p>Ok so this was for AP Bio. The recommended text is Campbell's which is now in its 7th edition. The book comes with a CD rom, and a link for practice tests and quizzes divided by chapter and sections. Each section has a vocab part, multiple choice and if wanted essay. The tests and quizzes are available online as interactive learning aids IF the high school opts for the additional instruction.</p>
<p>We realized schools do it differently and use different editions when we moved mid-year while son was taking AP Bio. First high school spent a ton, buying packages and online subscription for each student and access to the test bank. Second school had the 3rd edition, with pages missing, growing mold. Second school did not know all the other materials were available, FOR A FEE.</p>
<p>Gee, could this be the reason first school had a more than 85% pass rate for AP Bio while second school had less than 3 students take it and none pass?</p>
<p>The tests are generated online and can be taken more than once per chapter. So that way, a student is exposed to more than 1 set of answers. A teacher or in this case, a prep center just prints out a test. There is of course a finite amount of questions. And if it was the Campbell text anyone can buy these tests with the right answers. It is made for that reason, as to appeal to homeschoolers and those that self-study.
Also the CD rom is another study aid which is also valuable, but the school needs to have purchased an access code to make it work.</p>
<p>The publisher for Campbell has a ton of extra stuff because this is the text used for most universities Principles of Bio class. Older son has it now as a college freshman at a LAC in MN and DD has it here for second semester zoology. The online tutorial stuff is amazing.</p>
<p>If the test-prep center used this text that is why they have access to all the materials. But it is expensive.</p>
<p>To SBmom -This is not "prep material." They are tests made by the book publisher intended to be used as classroom TESTS, for classroom teachers only. All year long, these kids (only the few in the expensive tutoring center) have had previous access to the tests the teacher used.. The other students in the class had no such access, nor even knew such access existed if they could afford it. The teacher didn't know that some students saw her tests beforehand. The other students didn't know these kids had access to the tests beforehand. What makes it even stickier, is that the class is graded on a curve. SBmom - the kids that went to the prep center were not on a level playing field with the other AP kids at all - they had great advantages.</p>
<p>I know you didn't imply as much, but this teacher is no slacker -she's very well respected. btw- My kid gets it with just in-class participation and homework, so she can't be that bad!</p>
<p>I like Cal Tech's honor code. It states that no student shall knowingly take unfair advantage over another student. Clearly not the case here.</p>
<p>marite - maybe you're right about this. Perhaps all the questions they are shown are not on the test. It is true that they are shown all the questions that appear, but there may be some that don't appear on her tests. I really don't know.
In either case, it's fine with me if S has to study everything. I want him to learn all the material for the AP in may, and just because. Like I said, he has not been personally damaged by this. I do have some friends who do feel like their kids have been hurt - those getting b+s on her tests who think they be doing better if a) the curve weren't so high due to those with test access, or b) if their kids were in the test prep, too.</p>
<p>I like your son's philosophy and attitude. My own view about test prep centers, whether they are for SAT, such as Kaplan or Princeton, or for math, such as Kumon, or for bio, such as the test center near your school, is that they force some measure of discipline on their students. There's really little to prevent students from covering all the materials on their own, as your son has done. So while I'm sympathetic about point a--the high curve--, I'm less so about point b.</p>
<p>"Ok so this was for AP Bio. The recommended text is Campbell's which is now in its 7th edition. The book comes with a CD rom, and a link for practice tests and quizzes divided by chapter and sections. Each section has a vocab part, multiple choice and if wanted essay. The tests and quizzes are available online as interactive learning aids IF the high school opts for the additional instruction."</p>
<p>Campbell??? Ick! That was a horrible, horrible book.</p>
<p>I would also say the preparation center knows exactly what they are doing. They most likely researched which schools in the area were using the text. I think some post above pointed out they charged big bucks for their service. Bottom line; I think the center, the kids and the parents knew exactly what was going on. The kids who cheated should be dropped from the class with a failing grade.</p>
<p>The way I read the original post, we're talking about in-class tests, not the national AP exam.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like the test prep center was simply predicting how a lazy teacher would behave, based on a record of past laziness. It also sounds to me like the school teacher was in violation of copyright law. (He/she could raise a "fair use" defense if called to task legally, but I doubt that a court would accept that defense if the teacher duplicated an entire test.)</p>
<p>When I was a high school student back in the 70's, our homework assignment for every Thursday in my biology class was to answer the ten review questions at the back of each chapter. Every Friday, the teacher would give us those same ten questions (out of order) as a quiz. I seemed to have been the only one in the class who noticed. Was I cheating? Certainly not - I did what every good student should do, which is to pay attention to information teachers give (implicitly or explicitly) about what will be on tests, and study accordingly.</p>
<p>The analogy doesn't hold for obvious reasons. No wonder cheating is rampant in our high schools and colleges. Heck; even Barry Bonds said the other day; "I don't know what cheating is."</p>
<p>"record of past laziness. It also sounds to me like the school teacher was in violation of copyright law. (He/she could raise a "fair use" defense if called to task legally, but I doubt that a court would accept that defense if the teacher duplicated an entire test.)"</p>
<p>I don't think it was a copyright violation. The tests are in the back of the book for exactly so that they can be assigned to students.</p>
<p>It takes no genius and no research whatsoever to guess which text would be used in AP-Biology. Campbell's is the most widely used text in AP-Biology and college introductory biology classes. Bluealien, the main difference between AP-Biology and my S's college biology class was that my S had to buy the book while his schoolmates got their copy free. Ouch.</p>