<p>What this excerpt suggests is that Berkeley believes in the AP scores, not the grades received in AP classes. This is not surprising given that there is no way to evaluate the rigor of so-called AP classes if students do not take the test. Anyone can slap an AP-designation on a class.</p>
<p>I'd be very surprised if Stanford accorded AP classes the same weight as College prep classes. There are districts and schools that have classes that are not designated AP but are as rigorous as AP classes (if not more so). These are classes that do not conform to the usual AP curriculum (say, a whole class on Shakespeare instead of English language). Usually, however, the students in such classes do take the AP exams anyway.</p>
<p>Yes, I know. I just thought it interesting and perhaps suggests giving grades based on AP test scores is more appropriate than grades based on the work done in class.</p>
<p>I believe the new Stanford policy was discussed in the podcast by the Stanford professor who spent a year in a local high school that was posted on CC some time ago. It is an attempt to take some of the stress out of the college preparation ordeal. But, this from my ever increasingly frail memory.</p>
That is not the way to look at things. Even in college, because of curves, it is possible to get As with only a certain percentage of correct answers on the test.
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<p>I find this curious because I remember the AP teachers at my school saying this, that in college, the curve is usually such that tests end up being more in the 50%-70% range (for a good score), and I remember thinking that was somewhat odd. Well, now after 3 years of college, I believe that the lowest high score on an exam in a class I took was around 80%. More typically tests are designed such that it's virtually expected the highest score in the class is in the 90's (and this is in engineering too). Now, of course, that doesn't mean the average score is anywhere near that high. But then, the average grade isn't that high either: B-</p>
<p>Now, applying that to AP scores - it's hard to say whether you can/should correlate them with grades. For my AP English, there were no grade changes allowed, regardless of AP score, but for my AP US History, either a 4 or 5 would bump you up to an A (the teacher gave this liberal grading policy because she felt some students performance in class didn't reflect their true abilities). In the end it hardly mattered, as from what I heard, most of the students either got 5's or 3's (ouch, huge grade divide)</p>
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I find this curious because I remember the AP teachers at my school saying this, that in college, the curve is usually such that tests end up being more in the 50%-70% range (for a good score), and I remember thinking that was somewhat odd. Well, now after 3 years of college, I believe that the lowest high score on an exam in a class I took was around 80%. More typically tests are designed such that it's virtually expected the highest score in the class is in the 90's (and this is in engineering too). Now, of course, that doesn't mean the average score is anywhere near that high. But then, the average grade isn't that high either: B-
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<p>If I remember correctly, in one course my S took last year, the class median on a midterm was 54 and the highest score was somewhere in the 80s. I have no idea what that translated to in letter grades.</p>
<p>Taking the AP exam isnt required at my school, but some of the teachers base part of their final on whether or not their students take the exam. Of course, not for my calc BC class, but the AB teacher is willing to do this.</p>
<p>No school grades ever change as a result of the AP test result.</p>
<p>But in July, anybody who gets a "5" on the exam receives a plain white envelope, sent by the course teacher himself. Inside is a white index card with only a gold star attached. </p>
<p>The "5" kids hear their outcomes a few days early this way, but love that teacher for 1,000 other reasons.</p>
<p>Starting this year, schools can't slap an AP label on just any course. Schools planning to designate courses as "AP" have to send AP course audit information to CollegeBoard by June 1, 2007. CollegeBoard plans to publish a list of authorized AP courses which colleges can access to determine whether or not a course meets AP standards. For more details, check the educator portion of AP Central.</p>
<p>Our AP grades usually are equivalent to our scores, if not just a little bit lower. I got a 2 on my AP US, but a B- in the class. I would have done better, but the DBQ was on the women's idealist movement or something along those lines...and our teacher was VERY sexist. We never went into much depth, and I just couldn't make it up. I didn't really know the last essay either, and since I knew I bombed the DBQ, I made up some stupid story in ebaunics. It was funny, but rediculous.</p>
<p>EllenF, I really like this idea & believe it is long overdue. I hope it will be the first step in the auditing of other high school courses as well. Maybe this will also help to reduce AP-mania in schools where it has become out of proportion to course content & independent of the preparation of the student. (i.e., high scools will want to get their courses approved, & so will have to make adjustments)</p>
<p>"Starting this year, schools can't slap an AP label on just any course."</p>
<p>That is so great!</p>
<p>At our high school, AP classes are REALLY HARD and people do great jobs on the AP tests. At another local high school whose name I will not mention, the kids say that the AP classes are easy and everyone gets A's on them and not many of the kids take the AP tests at all. I always thought it was annoying that, for example, a B in AP World History looked the same on a transcript from either school. Although the colleges admissions departments "know" many high schools, don't they?</p>
<p>paying3-your post reminded me of something my son experienced. He took AP statistics and AP computer science with the same math teacher. He(the teacher) was quite odd and a bit OCD. He would arrange all the desks in his classroom by color and as a joke(?) students would occasionally mix them up.</p>
<p>Anyway, our son received a very well written note that summer from the teacher congratulating him on his two 5's. As a result of that note he(son) asked him for a recommendation. All letters of rec go to the guidance office and are only read by the GC who makes the decision which ones to include with each application. Our son's GC told our son that he would be sending Mr B's LofR with every single application. I guess it was a really good one.</p>
<p>At my son's school, this kind of thing is left up to the teacher. A couple of teachers use the AP test grade as a final exam grade, or as sort of a bonus section to the final exam. For those students whose grades go up when the AP test results are released, a new updated report card is issued. Most of the teachers in his school do not factor the AP score in to the final grade. I believe that it is a good thing to have the teacher make the decision on how to use these scores, rather than having a school-wide policy that applies to all subjects.</p>
<p>Our AP Art History/ English Language/ English Literature teacher (same teacher for all 3 courses) will change your grade to an A if you get a 5 on the exam. Her classes are ridiculously hard, with only 1 or 2 A's a year in the English classes. Art History is a bit of an "easier" A, but is an intimidating class nonetheless. Obviously, for a senior it doesn't really matter for your grade, but as a junior it can be a big deal for valedictorian. Many students take honors instead of AP because it's SO much easier to get an A (and val is unweighted GPA at my school). For me, it was a relief that even if I couldn't get an A in the class during the year, due to her extreme grading style, I still had hope. In the end, she knows what grade you deserve and will make sure that is the grade you get, I was extremely close to an A (.2 or something) and she changed it, since 1 or 2 points on the final made the difference (I didn't find out until I got a copy of my transcript when I was applying to college in the summer). </p>
<p>None of the other teachers at my school do it, though. Probably since so many students take APs and don't care about the class, then get higher scores. For instance, we have an amazing AP Calcuklus teacher (AB and BC), and it is very easy to get a 4 or 5 after his class, but the class requires more than most students want to put in for homework and quizzes and such, so they slack off. Overall, they do learn the material well, he just doesn't feel that one test should mean you wipe away a year's worth of effort (or lack thereof). I think most AP teachers at my school have similar mentalities. </p>
<p>At my son's school, some teachers do retroactively change grades. They are clear about how this works at the beginning of the year. Some teachers will change a grade one grade up for one semester, etc. I think it's reasonable to do because the AP exam is what these kids work towards all year. For both the teacher and the students, the true measure of how well the material was taught and learned is the AP exam because the test comprehensively covers the curriculum of that course. The fact that the grades don't come out until July is a logistical challenge, but it isn't unreasonable to correlate performance on that exam to performance in the class or to include it as part of the class. It reflects how much the kid studied and how well the kid learned. At my son's school, the kids are expected to take the exam. And it's not just the kids who are being evaluated. The school looks at pass rates of various teachers and considers that when assigning courses. A good pass rate is a point of pride for the teachers as well as the students. Offering a high AP score as "extra credit" or a change in grade is a powerful incentive for students who care about their grades. The kids at our school take the test very seriously and stay after school to study and even spend a weekend at "Bio Camp" or "Calculus Camp" where they study and prepare for the exam. The fact is, that out of my three kids, I don't think one of them ever used a score to change a grade -- a high test score seems to correlate to a high grade in the class in the first place.</p>
<p>at my school, we're graded on percentages rather than gpa. with an ap class, you get an extra 5% added to your quarter/semester grade. the ap at the end of the year is optional. starting next year, if you opt not to take the ap then you don't get the extra 5% at the end of the year.</p>
<p>also, one of our senior privileges is exemption from exams in classes we have an A in. finals only count for a max. 10% of our second semester grade (which is essentially the same as a test and a half or so), so i guess they just dont see the point.</p>
<p>thank god, in my opinion. senioritis is kicking in hard core right now! once i was into uva, i suddenly didn't really mind if i couldn't devote 2 or 3 hours to studying for a test and i decided my health (and therefore taking a day off every once in a while) was more important than a few english lectures. i guess i figure, might as well...i won't be able to next year by any means.</p>