How much do AP Scores matter?

<p>For example, I received a "B" first semester in my AP USH course. Second semester, I received a "C" because I was lazy. However, I received a "4" on the AP Exam, and the instructor will change the grades to an "A" for both semesters.</p>

<p>I think your teacher's system is terribly unfair, The Critic. Your grade in school should be a reflection of the work you did there. That system means that you are getting the same grade as someone who actually worked hard all year and got A's in the first place. I would understand if the teacher counted it as a final exam, or somehow boosted your final grade, but you did not work hard enough to deserve an A during the year, and A's all year implies that you did.</p>

<p>what about if ur Ap scores are kinda contradictory to your Sat II scores. See i have a 5 for US HIS and 4 for Physics, but a 560 for SAT history and 650 for SAT physics. what does this mean to colleges if any ? Thanks !!!!</p>

<p>Your opinion was certainly valid, and I do agree with you that the grading system was not entirely fair. Not all teachers at our school have such practices, btw. However, at the same time, I'll gladly take the grade improvement, whether I deserved it or not.</p>

<p>
[quote]
For example, I received a "B" first semester in my AP USH course. Second semester, I received a "C" because I was lazy. However, I received a "4" on the AP Exam, and the instructor will change the grades to an "A" for both semesters.

[/quote]

i somewhat agree with writonthetransom on this being quite unfair..i mean wow.u got a 4 on the AP test and the teachers increases u by 2 grades on one semester and 1 grade on the other..so wait what about other people who like...get A on both semesters and like...get a 5 on the AP test..what does he do to them? give them like A++++++++++ or like S+ ? (or does he invent a new letter..)</p>

<p>lol i am not tryying to be offensive..thats really is a question</p>

<p>
[quote]
i somewhat agree with writonthetransom on this being quite unfair..i mean wow.u got a 4 on the AP test and the teachers increases u by 2 grades on one semester and 1 grade on the other..so wait what about other people who like...get A on both semesters and like...get a 5 on the AP test..what does he do to them? give them like A++++++++++ or like S+ ? (or does he invent a new letter..)</p>

<p>lol i am not tryying to be offensive..thats really is a question

[/quote]

Different teachers have different policies when it comes to changing grades depending on the results of the AP exam. Some teachers do it, others do not. Mine happens to, for history.</p>

<p>If I remember correctly, her policy is to change both semesters to a "B" if one receives a "3" on the AP Exam, and to an "A" both semsters if one receives a "4" or higher. I could be wrong on the exact details, but she certainly will change the grades.</p>

<p>what if you get 3's on all the AP's you've taken, and it;s because u were utterly bogged down by ecs and you were taking well 7 at once...
???</p>

<p>Then you shouldn't have taken more than you could handle, and should've aimed for quality, not quantity.</p>

<p>What happens at The Critic's school happens all across the country. I've heard of teachers who change grades to A's for 4's and 5's and A- for a 3. I think it's preposterous on two accounts. Obviously, it doesn't encourage smart students to put any effort into classwork. Secondly, it's far too lenient. Getting a 4 on an AP exam is not a particularly good score, especially in US History. I'm not saying that a 4 is nothing to be proud of, but it's not amazing. If you use the scoring chart, a 50% is about a 4. So if you got 5's on your essays and 50 multiple choice questions correct, you basically got a 4. Is knowing less than 60% of the material really worthy of an A? I wouldn't have as big an issue with this practice if teachers raised grades by a letter grade (e.g. B to an A) for a 5, by half of a letter grade (e.g. B to a B+) for a 4, nothing for a 3, 2 or 1. It still puts some emphasis into the classwork, so you can't totally blow it off.</p>

<p>Zero:</p>

<p>SAT II's definitely matter more (SAT II = admission, AP = placement). I say study the formats of the subject tests and score higher, since its clear you understand the material. (Just try not to forget too much come October)</p>

<p>i think colleges want more consistancy between tests. if you get an A+ in the class you should get atleast a 4 on the ap and mid to high 700s on the SATII. however, if you had a bad day on one of the tests you shouldnt be in horrible shape</p>

<p>At my school they do not change your grade when your AP scores come in, and I like it that way. I got A- in both my APs last year (US History and Phsyics) and I got a 5 and a 4 repectively. However I heard from a lot of people in other AP classes with great grades that they got 1,2,3 on the exam. This makes me think that the correlation has less to do with class grade and more to do with how the teacher helps you prepare (mine did very well, but a lot of the others didn't). I think that the harder the teacher makes the class the better prepared you will be for the test, unless you are totally psychologically broken ;-). If you have a teacher that is basically leaving you on your own, by the prep book. It works. My history teacher actually gave them to us along with the other prep she did.</p>

<p>I got a 5 on my APUSH test (I took it with full-blown poison ivy and could hardly write. Very aggravating...) and an A in the class but I only got a 660 on my SAT 2. I blame not looking at history for 9 weeks before taking the test but it's still pretty bad. Will it hurt me much?</p>

<p>Bump
See above</p>

<p>I would think the AP would be weighed in assessing your history ability more, as it is a 3 hour test designed to assess your knowledge in us history, rather than 90 mc's designed to be breezed through in an hour. On the other hand, AP's are typically used for placement, not admission. Furthermore, a discrepancy between the tests points to inconsistency on yhour part. Interesting question. Other opinions???</p>

<p>Just a random question.. you know how three and up is considered passing.. what is the difference between four and five? if you get five on the ap exam then does that count as more credit in college? this is my first year taking ap exams.. took three exams and got 3,4,5 for them.. just curious about how colleges see these ap grades =)</p>

<p>For those interested, you can find out the score distributions for each AP test within your state (national summary too). The info is for the 2004 - 2005 school year (guessing these variations don't change too much year to year) and you need to be able to read a .xls file to view it. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_sum/2005.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_sum/2005.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>arandom question but is all 4's looked not good by top schools</p>

<p>"AP's are typically used for placement, not admission."</p>

<p>This is true for non-selective schools, but for the selective schools it more of an admissions game then placement. Selective schools don't give out very much credit, not like the old days.</p>

<p>really, not much at most schools, except maybe the Ivies and quasi-Ivies (Duke, Amherst, etc)</p>