<p>I go to a private school. I took AP Chemistry this year. I struggled all year and managed to get a B- both semesters. I got a 4 on the AP Test. </p>
<p>My friend goes to a public school and took AP Chemistry. He easily got an A both semesters but got a 2 on the AP test.......</p>
<p>Both are schools dont rank.</p>
<p>Fair? He'd probably have the advantage in college admission.</p>
<p>I'd agree. Anyone who says "are" when they need to say "our" has a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Also, as someone who took AP Chemistry and got an A both semesters but a 1 (yes, a 1) on the AP test, I don't think its unfair. Sorry Jay, but I stayed out all night before the AP test and was just happy I didn't have to go to regular school. All year long I had worked hard to get my A by studying all the time and participating in class. Colleges are going to look more at what students have done for an entire year than at what they can do in a random 2 hour test.</p>
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Both are schools dont rank.
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</p>
<p>Cut him some slack. He forgot to type "that" between "are" and "schools." </p>
<p>To the OP, I think if colleges saw both of your test scores, you would have the edge. Grade inflation is relatively easy to detect, and when a college consistently receives applications from a particular HS, the regional admissions officer becomes familiar with how grades work at that school. For example, my AP History class was very difficult, and even some really good students received B's. But when it came time for the AP, 90% of the students made 4's and 5's. In the case of your friends HS, colleges would take his A with a grain of salt when they saw that only 40% of the students passed the AP. </p>
<p>adidas, there certainly are exceptions like the one you pointed out. If, however, a college saw that your entire class made 1's and 2's and still got A's, then I don't think they would be able to assume that you really did work hard and participate.</p>
<p>jay, I wouldn't be too concerned about the discrepancy. Colleges have the necessary information to spot grade inflation or even deflation, so I don't think it is a huge issue. Also remember that you are only evaluated within the context of your school, so you are not directly competing with your friend.</p>
<p>most of the time,</p>
<p>AP and SAT II > Grades</p>
<p>Read "A is for Admission".</p>
<p>Yeah, completely agree with OP, it's ridiculous. At my school AP classes are limited to 8-12 people each. I have not heard of anyone getting a 3 on an AP exam in the past 3 years, with the exception of AP Spanish.
Every single person in the APUSH class last year got a 5 on the exam. Out of the 11 people, maybe 4 had A's for the year.
Only 1 AP is available soph year, and in junior and sr years it's impossible to take more than 3 APs, and even then it's ridiculously hard.<br>
I'm at a huge disadvantage in the admissions process because I'm not taking any APs whatsoever.</p>
<p>On the other hand you have HSs where people can manage 5+ APs per year and get A's in all of them, and the school brags about their 60% pass rate on the exam. People at my school would be horrified to get a 3 on an AP exam.</p>
<p>And then I hear that most colleges don't even really care about the score on the AP exam, they only mostly care about the student's grade in the class. Completely ridiculous.
Besides, even if the colleges were looking at the exam scores, they wouldn't see the senior scores until they had already accepted the student.</p>
<p>I have the same problem.</p>
<p>I took AP European History, a senior class at my school, as a sophomore. My teacher was absolutely ridiculous and is notorious for pushing kids to the edge of their sanity. No one in that class of 5 people got anywhere above an A- for the year, but everyone got a 5 on the exam. My Euro teacher has NEVER had a kid get below a 4 on that test.</p>
<p>My friend goes to a very prestigious boarding school in our area that basically has the same academics as my school but far more of a reputation. In her sophomore Euro class, she passed with A+s earned mainly on reading quizzes and got a 4 on the exam.</p>
<p>I'm frustrated that my B+ in a class I worked so hard in will be ignored in favor of her A+ that she earned with probably less than half the effort. Yet my 5 and her 4 will not come into account at all. lkdsalkd.</p>
<p>School is unfair. I got good grades in all my classes this year, even in the hard AP US History class. But then here comes English and my new English teacher who APPARENTLY HAD NEVER TAUGHT BEFORE AND CANNOT BE A TEACHER AND NEVER TAUGHT US ANYTHING AND NEVER KEPT ANY OF HIS PROMISES FROM THE BEGINNING. Even though I, like the rest of the class, tried very hard (come on, this is Junior year), he gave most of us B+. I mean, my grade was A, A-, B+, B+, B+ for that class. (not even counting the actual numbers, which would at least be 89.6) Who doesn't round that to a A-???</p>
<p>You didn't earn an A-. You earned a B+.</p>
<p>I have a question....Does anybody think that some of these cases could be a result of some teachers "teaching to the test" more than others? Not that the class is an easy A, but just not preparing the students for the actual test as well as other schools do. Just a thought.</p>
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I have a question....Does anybody think that some of these cases could be a result of some teachers "teaching to the test" more than others? Not that the class is an easy A, but just not preparing the students for the actual test as well as other schools do. Just a thought.
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PA Mom: AP teachers are supposed to "teach to the test." An AP class, by definition, involves following the curriculum created by the College Board, which is then tested by the AP test. The goal of the AP program is to have students accross the country learning a standard, supposedly "college-level", curriculum and then be assessed on how well they learned the curriculum. A teacher not "teaching to the test" is not teaching an AP class.</p>
<p>I see. I just thought it was supposed to be a "college level" course using a college text. Never really looked into the specifics. Thanks for clearing that up.</p>
<p>My AP biology teacher did not teach to the test; he taught us more than what we were expected to know. This was frustrating, but most of us got 5's. I only think not teaching to the test becomes a problem when the teacher does not cover everything on the test.</p>
<p>i feel you completely</p>
<p>i struggled in ap chem and got c's both semesters. and passed the exam with a 3</p>
<p>my friend at a different school got a's both semesters and a 1 on the ap exam</p>
<p>fair? i dont think so.</p>
<p>What are you talking about? maybe your friend tried really hard all year long and just didnt study enough for the exam. Anyone could study one of those AP chem books and "pass" the AP Exam, but it takes a lot of work to retain an "A" in ANY AP class, regardless of inflation. And, you got a "C." Thats a bigger deal than say, a "B." Even if you have the natural ability to take tests well and can get a 3, you still don't have the work ethic to keep a high mark in your class all year long. </p>
<p>Its not unfair, get over it.</p>
<p>nonono, i took ap chem, aced the class because it's not one of those bs ap classes, didn't do anything to study but take a practice ap (got like 90%), got a 5. it's nearly impossible to get an a in a class but fail the standardized exam. looking at ap scores a grades, at my school usually a = 5, b = 4, c = 3, and so on, with probably 50% of the scores varying by one point (a b student getting a 5 or an a student getting a 4). if nearly all of the 100+ ap chem kids got ap scores that somewhat matched their grades in the class, then when i see a person getting an a but getting a 1, 2, 3 on the ap test, it means the class was easy.</p>
<p>i get the impression ap test scores don't matter so much in college admissions.</p>
<p>adidas, while your suggestion is possible, it is predicated on the assumption that large numbers of AP students who care enough to work hard all year to get an A (in what you suggest is a difficult class) don't care enough to study for the AP test. This seems unlikely. The fact is that the material taught in a good AP chemistry class is the same material tested on the exam. There may be instances in which the teacher elects to cover more material, but regardless, students who make good grades in a good AP class should pass the exam.</p>
<p>well let me explain my situation then. I didnt find out till this summer what the college application process even was. I had NO idea the PSATs had anything to do with college, or what the merit finalist thing was, or that you had to get recomendations or build a list of impressive EC's. I knew nothing, except that I just wanted to do well in school. So when we started preparing for the AP TEST i just did the stuff in class and did the homework, but never really worried much about it after that. Now I'm not smart at math or science, but I work hard in them - even though I am horrible at taking tests. Still, I managed to do all my homework, come in for extra help, stay late to finish labs, do the extra credit assignments, pay attention in class and take good notes and stuff like that and got an A, but still got a 1 on the AP Test (I blanked). Maybe its your opinion that that means my class was "EASY" or something, but for me, ive never had to dedicate more time or effort to it. </p>
<p>Yes, I shouldve got higher than a 1 obviously. But I had no idea the test was important and flew through it in half an hour (MY BAD). Maybe if my school had better college counseling ;-)</p>
<p>Adidas, you're ridiculous.</p>
<p>it's difficult to ascertain how much it'll matter because colleges are beginning to notice how low the curves are for ap exams.</p>
<p>the ap exam for physics c: e+m two years ago had a curve so generous that if you got a 45/90, it was a 5. many universities stopped granting credit to ap physics after that data came out (e.g. case western reserve university) idk if this is the case with chemistry, but i would guess that it's somewhere close to that.</p>
<p>with that in mind, i would probably argue that your mediocre grades and your friend's bad ap exam demonstrate that both of you aren't very good at chem. in that respect, it's fair.</p>