Hi! My 11th grader took two AP classes last year and got Bs in both of them both semesters. They are AP Lang and AP Bio. She got a 5 on the Lang AP test and a 4 on the Bio test. It’s kind of irksome to me particularly for AP Lang because her B was completely off of scoring of essays. She never got a grade higher than a B on any graded essay ever, yet she obviously mastered the material because she got a 5. The school has a policy of allowing individual teachers to decide if they want to change a grade after AP test and one teacher says she’ll change one semester only (student choice) and the other teacher so far hasn’t responded one way or the other. What is the policy where other folks live? Is this common? I don’t remember “grade bumps” for AP when I was in HS a zillion years ago. Thanks!
At my son’s HS, very few teachers (maybe 1 or 2) gave grades bumps for AP test scores of 4 and 5.
My son’s already had A’s in the AP classes where they received the 4’s and 5’s scores.
No; it’s very uncommon. Most schools have locked final grades by the time AP scores come out. Anyway, for me personally, there was no bump for getting a 5. All I cared about was college credit/placement.
Gosh, I wish my son’s school had this opportunity.
No grade bump for my kids either. The AP scores come out in July. The grades for courses are done by mid June.
The AP courses taken senior year…no scores until weeks after graduation.
Kids got 5s which helped one in terms of courses in college. That’s what mattered to him.
No grade bump at my public magnet HS when I attended in the early-mid '90s or from what I’ve heard from recent graduates/current students, currently.
It’s not unheard of for students taking AP courses there to score 5s on the AP exam and receive final grades in the C, D, or sometimes even the F range.
I have only heard of one person ever getting a grade change based upon an AP score. A friend’s son got a 5 on his AP Calc exam and the teacher went back and changed his class grade (without being asked - the teacher saw the AP score and made the grade change immediately - the student had technically already graduated.). This change had a small effect on his GPA which made him qualify for a scholarship he would otherwise have not been eligible for. A happy story for them.
When my older daughter took calculus (2008-09), every student in the class who took the AP test got a grade bump. Good thing, because otherwise my daughter might have failed the class. I’ll just say she did not get a 5 on the test.
From what I know, the high schools in my district does not do the “grade bump.” However, I do know that some students who slacked off on their AP courses (like Fs) scored 5’s on the AP test and was bumped to an A. Again, this is pretty rare, but it could happen.
Thanks, you guys. I think I’m bitter about how the AP classes went for her 10th grade year. For Bio, the teacher went out a few weeks into the semester on maternity leave and left the sub with powerpoints of the lessons with her voice recorded – that’s it. The teacher came back second semester, tried to teach, realized it wasn’t working and left so her students were shuffled into another teacher’s class. So my daughter and a bunch of others were playing catch up.
And for English, it was just very murky the entire time. The teacher said she “graded on improvement” but never really clarified what that meant. My daughter walked into the exam with very low confidence based on not getting good scores all year long and was shocked to get a 5 on the exam. It was that teacher’s 2nd year teaching any AP and her first year teaching AP Lang so I think she’s inexperienced.
This year my daughter is in 11th and 5 out of 6 periods are weighted – either IB or AP. So after having her get Bs on her only 2 AP classes last year, I’m hoping this will be better!
S’s school doesn’t have the type of retroactive grade bump discussed here, but those who don’t take the AP exam have to take a comprehensive final exam that the teachers warn will be at least as difficult as the AP exam and graded accordingly. Those who do take the AP exam get an assignment that is usually fun and always graded very leniently and weighted the same as a final exam. In one class last year that “gimme” project actually made the difference between a B and an A for the semester for my son. The teachers would prefer to exempt those who take the AP exam from having to do any final at all but the district won’t allow it. So the teachers try to lighten things up in the last few weeks of school after the AP exam, and they give students a chance to boost their grades a bit. It’s not enough to pull up the grade a huge amount (e.g. from a low B to an A) but for those on the ragged edge it can be enough to bump up to the next level (my son only needed to bring his grade up by a half point to go from B to A). S has never heard of anyone choosing to take the tough comprehensive final instead of the AP exam.
Our school does not change grades.
My son really disliked his AP World teacher and I believe the feeling was mutual. Apparently shortly before the AP he went around predicting what AP scores the kids would get. He predicted my kid would get a 2. He got a 5, one of the very few in the class who did. He got a B in the course. The good news is that he got into some excellent universities anyway and it’s all water under the bridge now.
Our HS does not bump up grades for APs nor did my HS back in the day. But (if affordable) I’d have your son send his AP scores to the colleges he applies to.
No bump at my D’s school either. Her AP Lang teacher gives out few A’s. My D got B+'s both semesters and got a 5 on the exam, 36 on English ACT and 35 on reading ACT. On the other hand, she got A’s in AP Spanish but a 3 on the exam.
The Physics C teacher at my school will bump your grade up if you get a 5 on the AP Physics C exams (A in 1st semester for Mechanics) and (A in second semester for E&M)
AP scores come out in July… Grades are done by the end of June.
I am pretty sure they don’t give grade bumps at my kids’ high school after AP scores come out. My daughter had a really tough grading AP lang teacher that wouldn’t give anyone a solid A. My daughter didn’t even want to take the AP lang test at the end of the year because she was so discouraged. And this with her getting an A- in the class . I don’t think the teacher cared that that a minus could impact her or anyone elses’ GPA. So my daughter ends up with a 5. She went and talked to her AP lang teacher yesterday (who is her current English 12 teacher) and let her know what she got on the exam. Her teacher told her that she made predictions of what scores her students would get and that she knew my kid would get a 5. Then why did she grade her work so hard? It certainly didn’t inspire her. This teacher is known for not giving anyone a better grade than an A-. I think that is kind of sad. I am not sure what is more important, her GPA, or the fact that she got a 5 on her exam?
It is not common in our HS, but I know it has been done in unique situations - without going into too many details, I know of one situation that involved a former teacher who was no longer in the picture, who gave a student a C purely for not attending multiple classes, and the teacher had not bothered to note there was an excused medical issue preventing the student from physically attending. The Principal, GC, and head of the department had to overcome a huge mess to re-open the grades and re-calculate the score - they permitted the grade change to an A (not an A+).
I am generally not in favor of bumping grades automatically, as teachers decisions should almost always be final. But since the GPA matters so much, if a kid has done the work and learned the material, there are times when flexibility is appropriate.
Our (large public) HS does not adjust grades based on AP scores. But I bet they’ve made exceptions for truly unique cases like 3puppies mentioned above.
It’s possible your D’s teacher were like my public magnet’s AP teachers’ feeling that the AP exam scores of 4 is the bare minimum and a 5 is expected…but doesn’t necessarily mean the student met the standards of an actual college-level course.
A factor in why some would actually ROTFLOL at students who broach the idea of giving them a grade bump for getting a 5 on the AP exam.