I want to just start this thread out by stating that I do not understand why the AP only sends out the final score result (1,2,3,4,5) to students that have taken the test. This system offers no kind of transparency into what te student got wrong or how they performed in a certain aspevt of the test whether it be the DBQ, FRQ, short answer or multiple choice (im using ush as my example). This archaic system is then contrasted by the excellent and in depth approach to score reporting that collegeboard takes with a different kind of test that they administer. That test is the SAT. Ultimately, I am confused why the college-board has two drastically different policies for two essential tests for high school students that they administer.
Thank you for reading this rant.
What is your opinion?
Side note: i am only posting this after receiving a 4 on ush and being angry by not knowing where i messed up.
SAT Subject Tests and ACT (without TIR) do the same thing. I can’t think of any logical reason why more detailed reports are not released to students.
However, teachers are given a report that includes the average MC and FRQ scores of their students. This report also includes average scores according to content area. Clearly, in-depth score reports could easily be made available for each student.
I was just about to come and rant about the same thing! I study a whole year for this test and pay 80 bucks for it and all I get is a 12345? Are you kidding me? I thought it was going to be a more detailed report like the PSAT one (this was my first ap). Why cant they just tell you your numerical score out of 70 for mc and 9 for the essays! I mean they need to input these numbers to find out the score out of 5 anyways so why not just make the information available to students?! I wouldn’t mind paying 10 bucks for this (though I would consider that unfair). I wonder, do IB tests have more detailed score reports?
@1golfer1 do you know how detailed the teachers report is? Is it enough so i could discern what my breakdown was from it or at least estimate where i was?
@ibananamonkey really the thing that angers me the most is the fact that there are so many components with ap tests that it would be helpful to know where I messed up (frq,dbq specifically) so if I take a similar AP test the next year I will jave adequately prepared myself.
Also, i know that the AP competes with the IB, so is there anyone who has taken IB who could give us some info on how their score reports work?
Do you think that maybe the reason why they don’t release score reports is because they don’t want to anyone to accuse them of screwing up? Without more detailed score reports, no one would ever be able to find out if collegeboard made a mistake. But if they released FRQ scores and someone ordered an frq booklet to see their responses and if there is a huge disparity in what most people think the FRQ score should be and the actual score (for example a 6 essay receiving a 1), people can try to do something about it.
I take IB. And there is kinda a detailed report. It tells you how many points needed for each score 1-7, so it’ll tell you how many marks you get. Then it tells you the bottom tier number for your score and the upper tier number for your score, and then it tells you how many points you were from the next score.
@ibananamonkey I don’t think that they don’t release in depth score reports in order to prevent further scrutiny. Like I said in my original post, they issue a more detailed report for another test that they offer (the sat) and that has subjective grading on it as well with the essay component of the writing section. I honestly think that they have just made it a matter of habit and it is a bad habit that needs changing and they definitely have the capability to change it.
@2016seniorga thanks.
And adding on to what 2016 seniorga said, if a competing testing agency gives out more detailed reports for a similar test what is stopping the college board from doing so as well. Is there anyone (from the collegeboard or with some connection) who can offer some insight to why they have a kind of double standard when it comes to the AP in comparison to the sat?
Because then colleges might pull **** like “you need x score on the FRQ section” for credit
I think my AP teachers get percent breakdowns of their class i.e. 30% of students got 20-25 multiple choice questions right, 40% scored 0 points on SAQ. ( I definitely know they get full breakdowns of essay scores, but idk about SAQs)
@bassguitar the simple solution to that issue is to only make the final score 1,2,3,4,5 accessible to the college (on the score report) and allow the student to see the breakdown.
@2016senior that’s what I dont understand, the teachers get a more indepth breakdown than the students who actually took the test. That’s like letting the sat tutor have a more in-depth breakdown than the test taker.
Multiple choice: the most likely answer is that ETS re-uses questions from year to year, so they don’t want to release any additional information for fear of giving answers away.
FRQs: the most likely answer is that ETS doesn’t want to deal with tens of thousands of students complaining that their grader should have given them one more point on question 2b and one more point on question 4a.
I’d recommend tweeting at Trevor Packer (AP_Trevor) to see if you can get an authoritative answer. I know it’s annoying not to get a full breakdown, but the reasons I’ve listed seem understandable.
@“Keasbey Nights” Thanks for the reply. I would fully understand and agree with everything that you said if the college board did not release something different with the sat score report. Honestly, my biggest issue is not knowing what my multiple choice subscore was because if it was something so low ~30% I would know that there was an error in the grading and subsequently ask for a manual re-score. Also, thanks for the recommendation to tweet at the trevor guy.
SAT questions aren’t re-used, and they don’t give feedback on the essay outside of your score (from what I remember).
I understand where you’re coming from.