<p>I recently found out from a senior at my high school that on the majority of AP Tests, it is amazingly easy to score a 5. He said that it is only necessary to get only 75 (sometimes less) percent of the questions on the exam correct to get a 5.</p>
<p>Is this really true?</p>
<p>Duh... In 2004 you just needed a little less than 60% of the questions right to get a 5 on the AP Physics B. Now it is slightly higher.</p>
<p>It may seem like a low percent, but you have to realize that this may or may not include the free-response section. Also, it is harder to get 60% for Physics than you think it is probably.</p>
<p>More important are the grade distributions - some exams have a mandate that only 12% get 5's, while others are around 25%. Also remember that this is a knowledge based test - you can't possibly know everything about the subject or be completely prepared for each question.</p>
<p>You should also keep in mind that this is a standardized national test given to all types of people. While most people on this site can get fives without much trouble, there are large numbers of people who struggle even with passing the tests for various reasons, whether out of trouble with the material, bad classes, lack of financial resources to buy tons of prep books and fancy calculators, or countless other reasons.</p>
<p>Different tests have different values for fives, at least that's what I heard. For example, chem was around 60% as well, but English is harder to calculate since you have to write essays (based on 1-9) that are more subjective.</p>
<p>It isn't easy to get a 5, by any means. Like kcirsch said, "you can't possibly know everything about the subject or be completely prepared for each question." For all you know, it could be like a SAT reading passage that you just don't understand and screw yourself over like that. On the other hand, hey, you might totally get it. It really depends.</p>
<p>I'm getting like 70% in ap physics mechanics!! and i heard that the official test is slightly harder! if it wuz that easy to get a 5 then everyone would get them! i know kids at MIT that didn't get all 5's in the math and sciences! so it must be pretty hard!</p>
<p>wow, I wonder how MIT kids could do that. You have to keep in mind that they probably aren't even majoring in math or science.</p>
<p>It has nothing to do with actually "getting a certain number of questions right and earning a 5." You are merely placed on a scale with everyone else, they decide how many 5's to award, and place a cutoff.</p>
<p>what's the usual grade distribution?</p>
<p>most of them do!</p>
<p>I have a question about grading the AP exams (this is a hypothetical situation):</p>
<p>Say one year you take the AP Spanish exam and get a 3. The next year you decide to retake the AP Spanish test, and you get a 4. As a result, the colleges see your score as a 3.5. I know that some colleges like Harvard only allow kids who get scores of 4 or 5 to obtain college credit. However, if you managed to get an average of 3.5, would it be considered a 4 in the colleges eyes?</p>
<p>They don't average your grade...that would be silly; too many conversions.</p>
<p>i remember seeing a grade distribution chart on the collegeboard website (or was it apcentral.. forgot) that had the grade distribution with respect to location, gender, ethnicity, etc.; so you might want to do a little search</p>
<p>thanks, prometheus, I'll look.</p>
<p>glucose101: so does that mean you have to get a perfect 4 or 5 to get credit, and there's no point in retaking a test?</p>
<p>It depends on the school. You should look at its website to findits AP policies. </p>
<p>And you can always retake AP tests for better scores. The higher one will be counted.</p>
<p>AP's are easy. :P</p>