These are often the same students who have their up-to-the-minute average memorized, and argue with the teacher that they deserve a bump for their 89.495.
My kids school did not change grades based on performance on the AP exam. In order to get AP weighting for the class the kids had to take the AP exam but their exam performance did not affect the transcript in any way.
my kid took APush as a Dual Enrolled class her second semester of junior year i think. She breezed through the first semester but got a B second semester. When she decided on a college, her 5 on the AP test was trumped by the B in the DE class; and that B goes on her college transcripts. Her college wouldn’t take the 5 on the test. She so wished she they’d grade bump! but they wouldn’t.
Our HS doesn’t change grades after they are locked down in June. (I’m sure there could be certain circumstances like post #17.)
There’s no expectation here that AP scores and class grades correspond. Lots of As in the AP English classes but not many 5s because the teachers don’t actually teach to the 5 essay rubric. They teach to the essay formula for a safe 3 and maybe 4. Similar situation for APUSH.
One the other hand, the Calc BC class is actually a dual-enrollment class. The course final in June is similar to the AP test in May, except that CA state standards require a couple extra topics be covered in the class in order for it to be transferable to the UCs. And, you have to get ~90%+ to get an A on the class final, whereas getting a 5 on the AP test requires only somewhere around 70% or so.
My kids’ school didn’t require you to take the AP exam even if you took the AP class. (There were lots of kids on scholarship who couldn’t afford the AP test fee. ) However, if you took the AP test, you were exempt from the final exam. It didn’t affect your grade, however, as this was figured based on course work and the mid-term grade.
Our county policy is a 5 = A and a 4 = B minimum regardless of the original grade on the transcript. I spoke to DD teacher who has taught AP for years and she has had exactly 1 student who scored a 4 on the exam and whose grade was bumped up to a B.
My daughter’s school did not offer a grade bump either- she received a B+ both semesters of AP Lang and scored a 5 on the exam- she did get a letter of rec from the teacher, though.
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Not always at my HS. Some of my HS classmates who tried arguing for a bump to an A after scoring a 5 had averages as low as the mid 70s(C) or even the low 60s(65 being the passing grade which translates to a D).
Didn’t matter. Teachers felt the class performance reflected better how they’d fare in an actual college class rather than the AP exam score.
Funny part was a student with an 89.495 would actually elicit a brief moment of sympathy…before the teacher would either say sorry, can’t change it or if unsympathetic, tell the student if you wanted an A…work smarter/harder next time.
Not exactly the same, but my Calc BC teacher gave a 3% bump and exempted the final for everyone who did two past FRQs, checked them, and wrote about their mistakes EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the month before the AP exam. If you missed a night you were out of luck. Scores on those practice FRQs increased from 2-3/9 to 8-9/9 throughout the month, and he had 100% pass rate so I think it helped.
My AP English teacher “counted” the AP exam scores in our grade as a normal test score. IIRC, 5 was an A+, 4 was a B+/B, and 3 was a C/C-… I don’t know if she had any kids who failed. She only changed your grade if the AP exam improved your average. Since we obviously had a lot of tests throughout the year, however, I don’t know anyone whose average changed more than a few tenths of a point either way… I got a 5 and my average went up two-tenths of a point.
At my kids’ high school, AP scores have no impact on the class grade. Your grade cannot be increased if you ace the test, and it will not go down if your score is lower than your grade. I have no problem with that. The test is one grade on one day - the class grade reflects performance and effort throughout an entire year. FWIW, AP classes at our high school are tough, and my daughter usually did better on the AP test than she did in the class.
My son failed AP Calc BC because he didn’t hand in any HW, but he got a 4 and a 5 on the sub-tests. His grade didn’t change but he got 8 credits at college. Likewise, he failed AP Physics C for the same reason, got the same scores and another 8 college credits. Our school requires you to take the test if you take the course.
AP teacher here… question for those who advocate a bump based on score… do you also think there should be reduction based on score? If the test trumps the class positively, should it trump it negatively as well? Just curious
Our public high school required you to take the AP, but they’d also pay for any kid who couldn’t afford it.
I also agree that APs are at a pretty minimal college level, so I have no problem with high schools feeling that what they teach is better than AP level. (Though in the case of my son’s AP World class - it was more a teacher who was full of himself and made up facts. He liked the kids who sucked up to him.)
Some of the AP teachers at my public magnet when I attended back in the early-mid '90s really wished they could do so.
However, they and the admins also understood very well that if anyone tries proposing such a policy, most of the parents…especially those of the small upper-east sider contingent would be calling for heads to roll. Especially that of the proposer.
@cobrat - I am certain the same call (for heads, esp mine) would happen in my district as well. And to be clear, I do NOT think grades should be changed based on scores - either positively or negatively. Here’s the tricky thing with the correlation between class grade and AP scores from my POV… The AP exam cannot be a true reflection of the learning that occurred in my classroom, because I have no direct knowledge of what will be tested. It is an outside evaluation of a larger subject, but it is not representative of effort/discussions/assessments etc inside my four walls. A class grade is. Every year, I have kids who breeze through, refuse to complete assignments etc - and score, b/c they are smart kids. That’s great… but if they didn’t do the classwork, they don’t deserve a good grade in my class. At the same time, I have kids who work well, are super consistent with assignments, participate and contribute… and then choke on test day. Those kids deserve the A they got in my class, even if they got a 1 on the exam.
The possibility that AP (or any grades) could be changed based upon AP/SAT subject/test retakes was unknown to me until recently a friend of mine told me her son was still waiting to hear if two C+ grades were going to be changed based on one test retake,( and I can’t recall the other reason) as well as this thread. I find it absolutely ridiculous that any school would bend to the College Board results over the quality of work in the classroom. Likewise I can’t believe high schools allow test retakes, corrections and extra credit work to boost grades. WOW. Neither of my DS’s schools do/did this. ( In fact, DS did not realize a part of his final grade in a class last year would be the result of an oral argument. Had he understood this clearly he would have sought accommodations due to an auditiory issue. The school’s position after the fact was that DS should have known, and should have advocated in advance. His resulting grade is a lesson.) @toowonderful, YES, if a school’s policy is that an AP test can bump the score to an ‘A’, then fairness dictates if that tail is going to wag the dog, it should do so to lower the grade as well.
This is one of the many reasons I struggle with test optional colleges. If colleges are willing to go test optional because there is inconsistency in test preparation ( and unfair advantages for some), why should they not also go gpa optional as clearly there is no consistency from school to school in policies, and rigor? While I don’t seriously suggest this, this thread makes me much more inclined to support SAT/ACT testing.
I am far from the CB’s biggest cheerleader, as one could tell from reading some of my prior posts about some so-called AP Subjects, but I have to defend them on this one.
The CB approves the syllabus. That is, they have a great deal of leverage on what is taught. However, they do not dictate how it is taught. Grading standards, workload, etc, are the responsibility of the teacher and his/her superiors. So any concerns with bumping/not bumping should be laid firmly on the school’s doorstep.
Totally agree. Some of these kids are in for a rude awakening when they get to college.
@skieurope, agreed. Not bashing the CB on this one (as much as I might enjoy it). This falls squarely on the shoulders of the HS. A high school grade should be reflective of performance in the high school class. Period. A student who fails to do the work, yet performs well on the test should be rewarded for doing well on the AP test (by the CB) but the grade in the classroom should remain reflective of the material, standards and testing in the classroom. The colleges can infer from this that the student wasn’t willing to meet standards set, follow instructions etc. That in itself is a valuable piece of information I would like to have if an admissions counselor.
I agree with @ toowonderful regarding a grade bump for a 5 on an AP exam. To give a bump to people who do well while not decreasing the grades of students who don’t do as well creates an unfair advantage I have known kids who sat through the exam and literally did not take it seriously because they were not planning on reporting or using the score. They sat for the test because the school may have had a mandate that if you are in the class, you must sit for the exam (my school pays for students on free lunch and who live in temporary housing, foster care)
In order for this to happen You would have to establish a school-wise policy. As per the NYC DOE academic policy, you can’t factor in the NYS regents exams part of your grade unless it is stated in the syllabus on the first day of class in the fall. You must establish up front what percentage the regents exam is as part of your file al grade and the knife has to cut both ways; if you do well your grade will increase if you don’t do well your final grade drops. If