<p>today's Chronicle of Higher Education states that only 16% of AP test takers recieve a 3 or above.
853,314 kids took the tests last year. 70% of kids taking APcalc BC or computer science got a 3 or more.</p>
<p>Well…in our school the rate would be more like 1% (if that) get a 3 or above. I’m really surprised the AP Calc BC rate is that high. I don’t think it is for our state. Unfortunately, AP classes at my kids’ school are a joke. The school is rural tiny. There is absolutely no pressure or care about the passing rates, on the part of students, teachers, parents or administrators. Sigh…but yeah, we can say we have AP classes.</p>
<p>That makes no sense. I thought the curve was structured so that ~50% get a 3 or above. Are you sure you’re not looking at the 4/5 statistics?</p>
<p>EDIT: Nvm I read the article. Maybe it’s because the majority of kids getting 4s and 5 are the ones who take multiple APs?</p>
<p>How is this possible? For every test curve I’ve seen at least 40-50 % get a 3 or better.</p>
<p>Is this a subscription or can the link be posted? I’m very curious about this and what they are describing. I always thought it was 30-40% get a 3 or better. I know that at my kids’ school it is pretty close to half get a 3 or better. We don’t have many APs (about 7 all together) and the kids self select which ones they take and on average take 3 or 4. Sophomores can only take AP History. More than 3/4s of the kids take at least one.</p>
<p>I think the statistic is that 16% of high school graduates scored a 3 or higher on an AP test. (There were about three million graduates. Many high school graduates didn’t take any AP classes or AP tests.)</p>
<p><a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Number-of-AP-Test-Takers-Has/126313/[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/article/Number-of-AP-Test-Takers-Has/126313/</a></p>
<p>I think this is a misstatement in the article:
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<p>I think this should have said 16.9 percent of high school graduates. Check this similar article from last year:
<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Graduating-Seniors-AP-Scores/64104/[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/article/Graduating-Seniors-AP-Scores/64104/</a></p>
<p>At my high school very few people passed AP tests. Many people just slept through the tests (the district paid for all the tests so it only cost us anything if we didn’t go - though I don’t know if that was enforced). My school prided itself on offering more APs than any other, but they were a joke and not hard at all. Basically AP was where you went if you weren’t extremely dumb (and sometimes even kids who couldn’t keep up with basic work and should have been in remedial classes had to get their parents involved and had to work so hard just to get out of the AP classes) They also forced you to be in AP because it looked better to have more kids in AP and the superintendent got money for it. I’m sure my school (a struggling downtown magnet school trying to fix its image) is not unique and this might contribute to the high failure rates.</p>
<p>Also, the test difficulty varies from year to year. The AP Psych teacher at my kids’ HS keeps statistics, and it’s clear that some years the test is either (a) harder or (b) tests topics that this very competent teacher isn’t covering.</p>
<p>Well, that’s the end of the thread - a misinterpreted statistic followed by a correction. MidwestMom nailed it. Journalists drive me crazy …</p>
<p>Wow…I didn’t realize that it was that low…but still, on CB’s wesbite, most exams follow a 20-20-20-20-20 distribution among scores somewhat closely. Where did you get this statistic? I had no idea it was this low; I thought maybe half of the people passed or something. At my school, 70% pass; I never realized how good that was.</p>
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<p>Well, not really. While that particular journalist may have gotten the numbers misinterpreted, the general point of the article is valid. Many more students are taking AP courses, but increasing numbers are blowing the exam. Frankly, AP courses that do not lead students to 4s or 5s on the accompany exam are a joke and should be banned. This big push for AP courses is being fueled by ranking systems that place a significant weight on ‘how many AP courses are offered’. Just because you call something “AP” does not improve highschool education or necessarily reflect anything approximating a true college level course. </p>
<p>[More</a> Students Fail Advanced Placement Tests - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704858404576134142048372986.html]More”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704858404576134142048372986.html)</p>
<p>Yeah, AP classes were a joke at my school. I was the only student to receive higher than a 1 on the Calc AB exam in the last five or so years.</p>
<p>My D failed all four AP tests. I had to pay for them, too. Is a 3 an F? I guess it might as well be. </p>
<p>I would like to buy stock in the company that sells and administers these tests.</p>
<p>True story. </p>
<p>My S (junior year HS) wanted the challenge of taking the ‘toughest course in the school’, and that was AP Chem. The course had a ‘Tyrant-Colonel’ of an AP Chem teacher; strict, demanding, pushing the kids, not allowing for slack on constant homework or lab assignments, giving problems harder than on the actual test, going way beyond the book…she was extremely intelligent, well-read, sensible, perceptive and utterly no-nonsense. S was an A student with little effort most of the time, got creamed in her course, complained, vacilated between a B and C average (with As and Ds thrown in) and despairingly declared mid-term ‘I’m just no good at Chemistry!’ Due to not keeping his lab documentation as thoroughly as demanded, he finished with a C for the course…his only C in high school. </p>
<p>He scored a 4 on the AP Chem exam. </p>
<p>To this day, he can, off the cuff, randomly look at objects or formulae and rattle off their composition and characteristics, second nature.</p>
<p>I love that teacher.</p>
<p>The reason the BC Cal pass rates are so high is the kids are self-selected. Your run of the mill student isn’t going to just wander into an AP BC Cal class.</p>
<p>@mom4college: 3 is considered a C in an intro-level college class. </p>
<p>I’m taking six AP tests this year, because ETS, the sleazy little buggers, double-charge on Physics I/II–let me know if they go public; I want to recoup some of my exam dollars.</p>
<p>@Youdon’tsay: Some AP tests are graded against the performance of college students enrolled in similar college courses. My BC class theorized that the students taking Calc II in their second semester of college probably weren’t the same caliber (mathematically speaking) as those taking it second semester of HS.</p>
<p>History exams (and AP Bio, if I recall correctly) generally follow a bell curve distribution, save for AP World. Because AP World is supposedly an “easier” AP class, the quality of the students…drops.</p>
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<p>Not too surprising – the students who are best at math are the ones who take Calculus BC, while the students are a grade ahead in math but not great at it are more likely to take Calculus AB.</p>
<p>A similar thing can be seen in the SAT subject tests where the Math Level 2 has a higher average score than Math Level 1.</p>
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<p>3 is considered passing, but is often not accepted for as much credit or placement as a higher score.</p>
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<p>Perhaps you should let the younger students know that they should skip the calculus course at your school and take it instead at a local community college. May be less convenient, but they will more likely learn something and be able to transfer it for credit at whatever university they go to.</p>
<p>The “16%” number – at least as represented is incorrect.</p>
<p>The collegeboard publishes the grade distributions for all exams.</p>
<p>I picked (at random) European History.</p>
<p>See: <a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board;
<p>The mean score is 2.86, and 65.6% score 3 or higher. Other AP exams have similar distributions.</p>
<p>Perhaps what the article is reporting is that a relatively small number of students take the exam. I rather not guess.</p>