<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>so Im planning to take AP chem next year, but Im terribly worried about the new curriculum. For AP bio this year, they had new curriculum. and people who scored 5 has been reduced to 5.4% from 19.4%.. (What the heck?)</p>
<p>Im assuming this would be the case with AP chemistry next year.</p>
<p>For people who took AP bio, was the new test really that hard? Or did people just missed new essential concept? Or the curve was that harsh? Were new practice books helpful?</p>
<p>Im planning to self study AP chem, and I am terrified with this new curriculum. Why do they have to do this to me...</p>
<p>I don’t know about the curve, but It seemed to me that the test makers had actually taken out some minor pieces of content, if that’s any solace o.O</p>
<p>Only self-study if it’s going to help you in the future, ie college credits or intrest in the subject or so on. And don’t assume just assume the results of one exam will happen to another (fallacy). It might or might not happen, we don’t know. The important thing is for you to worry about yourself and study up. It’s better to be overprepared then underprepared for any exam.</p>
<p>The exam itself was alright. College students performed pretty well, causing the standards for an “A” to be pretty high as well, ~75-80% of the test correct for a 5. That’s basically why the cut-offs are so high. It wasn’t too hard to me, but you’d have to take the test to see for yourself. Most people were not prepared for the statistic and grid-in questions though, as most people were taught under the old curriculum (as I was).</p>
<p>I’m going to put this out there, but even though 5.4% of testers on AP Biology scored a five, assuming about 200,000 people took the test (based on trends), then nearly 11,000 people scored a 5. Percentages might be horrendous, it might be much less than before, but 11,000 people scoring a 5 is still a bunch of people. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.</p>
<p>Well technically, the AP Bio test was easier to pass than before, with more people scoring a 3 or higher, it was just much harder to score a 5. So if you just want to pass the AP test, it will actually be easier to. If you want that 5 though (I got a 5! Yay!), assuming the chem test is being modified like the bio one was, then just work on reading comprehension, and the big concepts of the courses, because that was, essentially, all that the tests tested.</p>
<p>@ramboacid, darksaber21, satman1111
THANK YOU GUYS! you guys made me so relieved!</p>
<p>So decrease in percentage of 5s in AP bio was caused not because the test was harder, but because students were not prepared for new curriculum?</p>
<p>I took AP Bio this year and the exam wasn’t necessarily “hard,” it’s just that the time restraint on the multiple choice was pretty ridiculous. There was a lot of reading (I literally spent more time reading than answering questions) and I just couldn’t get through it all, so I guessed on the last 10ish MCs and only had time for 3 of the grid-ins. The essays were easy, but looking at the statistics, it looks like they graded them a little harder this year than before. It really took very little Bio knowledge to pass this exam - as long as you could interpret data and predict outcomes, you’re pretty much set for the MC section. Not sure if it will be the same for AP Chem.</p>