Why does AP Psych get such a bad rep?

<p>It seems that AP Psychology has the reputation of the "easiest AP" but I really can't conceive why. At my school, it's a a rather rigorous course, with the median grade around 76, considerably lower than any other AP course, where the median is around 88-90. There are tons of new vocabulary and concepts and theories that have to be learned, and doing well on the tests seemed to require studying intensely. The real joke APs, among the circles I run in, are the two English APs, which require absolutely no studying or prior knowledge and preparation at all. But AP Psychology has this stigma as a "cake class" or an exam which you can breeze through. Can someone explain this? It really makes no sense to me; College Board published the means for the free response questions, and the average was less than 2 on an eight or nine point scale. Clearly, not everyone is breezing through the exam. So if anyone wishes to take a stab at why Psych is seen as a light AP, or wants to share how it is taught, or who teaches it (e.g. is it an actual psychologist, or some random teacher), or how well people do on the exam, or how many people self-study it, or anything like that, I would appreciate if he shares this information. Thank you!</p>

<p>Basically it's really easy to get a 5 on the exam for Psych. Of course, classes are subjective to the teacher teaching it. A teacher could make elementary algebra the most rigorous class you've ever taken. It depends.</p>

<p>Psych has very little material in comparison to a class like Biology or Chemistry. That's why it's an easy class. (ap exam)</p>

<p>^^^
I agree.</p>

<p>The major concepts in AP Psychology are rather simple. However, in AP Chemistry, it may take a while for one to grasp something.</p>

<p>It depends on what the teacher teaches. They can teach the bare minimum for passing or acing the AP test, or they can go very in depth.</p>

<p>In my class, the tests were very hard, but the homework was very light.</p>

<p>English isn't easy if you don't have the mind for it. You get it or you don't.</p>

<p>the class may be difficult but the AP exam is not. Also the AP exam average can't be really trusted b/c u need data on what kind of group of students take AP psych. For AP Physics C, it's a much smaller, intenser group than AP psych</p>

<p>at our school, AP psych is offered for the first time ever this year. I took it thinking it would be a blowoff class, and it kind of is --during class that is. Worksheets, videos, random experiments and eating...but the test questions can be so random (or maybe it's just my teacher?) that i was doing better in AP physics than in psych. weird.</p>

<p>We don't offer it at my school, but it's known as an easy AP- which doesn't always correlate into an easy class. :)</p>

<p>Taking Ap Psych this semester it was sooooo boring at first with the history part of it but now it seems easy (the teacher is very good)</p>

<p>I took it last year and got a 5 rather easily, but that might be due to my teacher having given extremely hard tests. Also, much of the material in AP psych is either common sense and all you do is memorize the tehnical names, or the ideas are so inundated in our culture that you can pick up on it pretty quickly. The same could be said of US history, yet that seems to be harder for most people...</p>

<p>I heard AP Psych was a BS class on this site, but it's different story for me. We are on genetics right now, and I am SO not a biology person. Some of the stuff we learn is kind common sense, but other stuff goes over my head. There are too many notes and her tests and quizzes are really hard. </p>

<p>Other than that, it's pretty interesting:)</p>

<p>ap psych is so much work at my school, especially since we cram everything into a semester (no block scheduling either), after taking a year of intro. the whole class is made up of lectures and tests. the reading is done outside of class, and we get to use notes on the tests, but my grade isn't going up and i'm getting so frustrated. i love the teacher though. she's so funny :)</p>

<p>AP Psych at my school is like a science class (it IS a science after all). We do LOTS of work, but I don't mind because I think that psychology is fascinating =)</p>

<p>Sweet. I'm going to take the AP Psych test then.</p>