WHY can I not get above a 4?!?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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<p>I go to a very, very intensive prep school. Our AP classes really, really prepare you for the AP exam–still, for whatever reason, I have not managed above a 4 on all of my past AP exams.</p>

<p>(I've only gotten 4s, mind you. No matter if I study or don't study, try or not try....I get a 4. 4. 4. 4.</p>

<p>I've gotten a 4 on AP US History, AP World History, AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, and AP English Language and Composition...and am expecting 4s on AP Environmental Science, AP Government, AP Economics, and AP English Literature.)</p>

<p>I've tried everything:</p>

<p>I buy/don't buy prep books. I get a good night's rest before/I stay up until 12 watching "The Tudors." I eat a healthy breakfast/doughnuts/no breakfast. I stress out/I go in calmly. I pace myself/I don't pace myself<em>. I don't answer all the questions/I try on every one</em>*.</p>

<p>blah, blah, blah. Summer comes, I get an envelope....open it....the number stares me SMACK DAB IN THE FACE. FOUR. FOUR. FOUR.</p>

<p>What can I do to improve my score? The university I will attend, UT, awards credit for 4s...but they give you a grade of a B! I don't want to start off with that.</p>

<p>*I've only done this once....actually, this is probably why I got a 4 on the AP English exam. I forgot an entire passage, and had to read it really quickly + answer 8 questions.</p>

<p>**Usually, my strategy is: if I can mark off one answer choice, it's worth it to guess.</p>

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<p>Almost 50 views and no replies? Thanks.</p>

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<p>Study more, 4’s not a bad score though.</p>

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<p>lim(you–>maximum studying) = 4</p>

<p>BTW: I love your guessing strategy. People don’t seem to understand that you should ALWAYS guess, since random guessing yields the same raw score as not answering, and ruling out one or more answers gives you a net gain in raw score points. But I’m glad to see that someone has some mathematical sense. You deserve a 5 just for that.</p>

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<p>Study more, 4’s not a bad score though.</p>

<p>^I’m locking myself in my room this year. Actually, my room doesn’t lock–I’ll trap myself in my bathroom to study. Me, textbooks, and no entertainment. </p>

<hr>

<p>lim(you–>maximum studying) = 4</p>

<p>BTW: I love your guessing strategy. People don’t seem to understand that you should ALWAYS guess, since random guessing yields the same raw score as not answering, and ruling out one or more answers gives you a net gain in raw score points. But I’m glad to see that someone has some mathematical sense. You deserve a 5 just for that.</p>

<hr>

<p>^correction: </p>

<p>lim(me–>glancing through textbook) = 4
lim(me–>studying until I pass out from exhaustion) = 4</p>

<p>I can’t take credit for that! My world history teacher taught me. If you can mark off one answer choice, you have a shot at getting it right. Otherwise, you should skip it. </p>

<p>However, this year there is no penalty for random guessing. Score! (AHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH I’M SO CLEVER!!! aha hahaha ah…heh)</p>

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<p>You don’t want to enter correge with a 3.0, ya’ll! Opt to get no credit, elective credit, or no grade. If possible.</p>

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<p>UT doesn’t factor credit by exam into your GPA. All my transcript says is “name of the class” and “CR” which stands for credit by exam</p>

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<p>UT doesn’t factor credit by exam into your GPA. All my transcript says is “name of the class” and “CR” which stands for credit by exam</p>

<hr>

<p><3</p>

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<p>Wait, source! Please? :)</p>

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<p>What is your problem? Be happy with 4s. Colleges don’t care if there are 4s or 5s for credit IF they accept AP credit.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Some schools base subject credit on the score.</p>

<p>Here is the [University</a> of Texas’ AP credit chart](<a href=“http://ctl.utexas.edu/programs-and-services/student-testing-services/search-for-exams-by-type/#20]University”>http://ctl.utexas.edu/programs-and-services/student-testing-services/search-for-exams-by-type/#20). Note that for Art History, Biology, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Music Theory, and several languages, they give more subject credit for a score of 5 than a score of 4.</p>

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<p>try to be nicer to other ppl… volunteer once in a while… the guy upstairs is watching…</p>

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<p>Some schools base subject credit on the score.</p>

<p>Here is the University of Texas’ AP credit chart. Note that for Art History, Biology, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Music Theory, and several languages, they give more subject credit for a score of 5 than a score of 4.</p>

<hr>

<p>I get credit for:</p>

<p>World History
US History
Psychology
and English</p>

<p>It wouldn’t make a difference if I had gotten a 5. I get the same amount of credit.</p>

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<p>Try to score higher on the AP exams by getting more answers right in the multiple choice and scoring more points in the FRQs. </p>

<p>I really don’t know what else to tell you</p>

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<p><em>laughs</em></p>

<p>Yeah, thanks for all of your feedback. I’ll just try really, really hard next time.</p>

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<p>how about do practice tests until you consistently get a 5 (and a standard deviation of 0.2)?</p>

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<p>cendrillion,you can go to AP Central and look at how the open ended questions are actually graded (I’m sure your MC approach is good if you are getting 4’s). Sometimes they are really picky about small things your teacher doesn’t mention. Pay attention to those tiny DETAILS.</p>

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<p>^That, and take more quantitative exams. For the FR, there is no such thing as “subjectivity” on stuff like Calculus and it’s either right or wrong. </p>

<p>Or if you really want that 5 really badly, just aim for a really high MC score so even if they grade the FR subjectively you’ll still get the 5.</p>

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<p>^ My calc teacher was always telling us what we had to put down if we wanted full credit on FR questions. According to him, there is a specific way the graders like to see your work and if you don’t put down a specific “piece” because you just did it in your head you might be penalized. He would have us practice real FR questions and then go through the actual rubric with us (that is on AP central) so we could see how good we were at “communicating” our answers.</p>

<p>One really good tip I learned was that if a question has several parts and you don’t know how to do one part, don’t stop! If part C wants you to use your answer from part B (that you don’t know how to do)then you should just make up an answer for part B and complete part C with it. If you do the mechanics of part C right you’ll still get credit for it.:)</p>