Grade Inflation Sends AP Test Scores Soaring

[Anonymous]

People should demand the college board release raw scores. An enormous amount of information is thrown away needlessly by converting raw scores to 1/2/3/4/5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why college is so hard to get into and why students are so unprepared once they get there. They all get As and top scores. It means nothing.

I simply disagree with this. My kids worked hard and earned their AP scores; they are also doing very well in college — 100% prepared (more so than I ever was). It’s like kids can’t ever win today. If they earn straight A’s, everyone screams “grade inflation” without having any knowledge of how hard they worked. If a kid gets a 5 on an AP test, it’s grade inflation again. If they earn A’s in college, it’s also grade inflation. But I know my kids and they are hard-working and better prepared than people of my generation. The conversations I have with my kids are more well-informed, and they are excellent writers and critical thinkers. I just don’t get all this talk about kids being stupid, because they are not.

Good for you but it isn’t doing your kids any favors when they are all lumped together with students who have the same gpa but it’s from lax policies like retakes and no late penalties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why college is so hard to get into and why students are so unprepared once they get there. They all get As and top scores. It means nothing.

I simply disagree with this. My kids worked hard and earned their AP scores; they are also doing very well in college — 100% prepared (more so than I ever was). It’s like kids can’t ever win today. If they earn straight A’s, everyone screams “grade inflation” without having any knowledge of how hard they worked. If a kid gets a 5 on an AP test, it’s grade inflation again. If they earn A’s in college, it’s also grade inflation. But I know my kids and they are hard-working and better prepared than people of my generation. The conversations I have with my kids are more well-informed, and they are excellent writers and critical thinkers. I just don’t get all this talk about kids being stupid, because they are not.

Not sure why this applies to your kids since they took the APs before this recent recalibration since they are already in college. The data are clear about grade inflation over the years and it looks like these data are pretty clear about the most recent APs. It is exactly the high achieving kids like yours that this kind of inflationary policy hurts in college admissions as it is harder and harder to distinguish them from the rest of the pack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why college is so hard to get into and why students are so unprepared once they get there. They all get As and top scores. It means nothing.

The “underprepared” trope needs to be permanently retired. My kid is at a top 10 and sees just as many kids from elite privates struggling academically as public school kids.

It’s usually kids selecting the wrong major (often due to parental pressure) that leads to kids struggling. Kids majoring in CS that actually aren’t interested in CS, scoring horribly in tests. These kids had very high SAT scores…but if you aren’t interested in what you study and can no longer grind it out at advanced levels…it shows.

[Anonymous]

Maybe that’s true at top schools but look at the students at non flagship state schools. Many of these students are just not prepared for college period. They end up in remedial classes and end up dropping out. I can think of a few of them myself. Inflated grades in high school made them (and their parents) think they were ready for college. They were not and now they owe thousands in loans and work minimum wage jobs after dropping out of college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe that’s true at top schools but look at the students at non flagship state schools. Many of these students are just not prepared for college period. They end up in remedial classes and end up dropping out. I can think of a few of them myself. Inflated grades in high school made them (and their parents) think they were ready for college. They were not and now they owe thousands in loans and work minimum wage jobs after dropping out of college.

I was responding to “college is so hard to get into” and “kids are unprepared”.

The colleges you mention above aren’t hard to get into. They accept almost everyone.

[Anonymous]

Exactly and therein lies the problem but nobody on DCUMs cares about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, the only one that should matter right now is the PSAT/NMSQT test. One test. One score. The end.

But, according to other threads, DCUM thinks National Merit Semifinalist isn't an important award to list in the application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually, the only one that should matter right now is the PSAT/NMSQT test. One test. One score. The end.

But, according to other threads, DCUM thinks National Merit Semifinalist isn't an important award to list in the application.

Only because your SAT trumps your PSAT score. If you tank your SAT, then your NMSF award isn’t worth anything (admittedly, highly unusual).

What PP really means is that the SAT should be offered only once to all rising seniors on one day and that’s your score…no super scoring or retakes (hence the PSAT reference).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People should demand the college board release raw scores. An enormous amount of information is thrown away needlessly by converting raw scores to 1/2/3/4/5.

Testing. How does it work? Why didn't all those smart people think of that simple thing? sheesh....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why college is so hard to get into and why students are so unprepared once they get there. They all get As and top scores. It means nothing.

I simply disagree with this. My kids worked hard and earned their AP scores; they are also doing very well in college — 100% prepared (more so than I ever was). It’s like kids can’t ever win today. If they earn straight A’s, everyone screams “grade inflation” without having any knowledge of how hard they worked. If a kid gets a 5 on an AP test, it’s grade inflation again. If they earn A’s in college, it’s also grade inflation. But I know my kids and they are hard-working and better prepared than people of my generation. The conversations I have with my kids are more well-informed, and they are excellent writers and critical thinkers. I just don’t get all this talk about kids being stupid, because they are not.

You miss the point. If your kids are hard workers and are doing well, good for them. The problem is that the majority of the grades are inflated and as a whole, students are definitely not as prepared for college as they used to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why college is so hard to get into and why students are so unprepared once they get there. They all get As and top scores. It means nothing.

I simply disagree with this. My kids worked hard and earned their AP scores; they are also doing very well in college — 100% prepared (more so than I ever was). It’s like kids can’t ever win today. If they earn straight A’s, everyone screams “grade inflation” without having any knowledge of how hard they worked. If a kid gets a 5 on an AP test, it’s grade inflation again. If they earn A’s in college, it’s also grade inflation. But I know my kids and they are hard-working and better prepared than people of my generation. The conversations I have with my kids are more well-informed, and they are excellent writers and critical thinkers. I just don’t get all this talk about kids being stupid, because they are not.

You miss the point. If your kids are hard workers and are doing well, good for them. The problem is that the majority of the grades are inflated and as a whole, students are definitely not as prepared for college as they used to.

I don’t get that students aren’t as prepared for college as they used to. What’s your evidence? Are flunk rates higher? Graduation rates lower? Sorry, we can’t just live on DCUM anecdotes.

I recall having many useless teachers back in HS that phoned it in. I think people forget their own Hs years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why college is so hard to get into and why students are so unprepared once they get there. They all get As and top scores. It means nothing.

I simply disagree with this. My kids worked hard and earned their AP scores; they are also doing very well in college — 100% prepared (more so than I ever was). It’s like kids can’t ever win today. If they earn straight A’s, everyone screams “grade inflation” without having any knowledge of how hard they worked. If a kid gets a 5 on an AP test, it’s grade inflation again. If they earn A’s in college, it’s also grade inflation. But I know my kids and they are hard-working and better prepared than people of my generation. The conversations I have with my kids are more well-informed, and they are excellent writers and critical thinkers. I just don’t get all this talk about kids being stupid, because they are not.

You miss the point. If your kids are hard workers and are doing well, good for them. The problem is that the majority of the grades are inflated and as a whole, students are definitely not as prepared for college as they used to.

I don’t get that students aren’t as prepared for college as they used to. What’s your evidence? Are flunk rates higher? Graduation rates lower? Sorry, we can’t just live on DCUM anecdotes.

I recall having many useless teachers back in HS that phoned it in. I think people forget their own Hs years.

I am not familiar with research at the college level, but so much of the education news locally is about how our schools have been nosediving with respect to national benchmarks in math and reading. And yet the GT enrollment continues to soar and grades are not suffering at all because teachers are under pressure to give high marks to show the illusion of success. Teachers and principals have gotten into hot water for altering student grades to pass more of them. Not sure what's going on in DCPS, but I know my area can't be the only one with this problem. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/21/1183445544/u-s-reading-and-math-scores-drop-to-lowest-level-in-decades

So yeah, I think it's safe to say that kids as a whole are not as well prepared for college as they used to be, which is very sad! Part of it was accelerated by the pandemic but I believe these trends started before the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

^^ p.s. I suspect most posters here have kids in the best public or private schools in the country, so maybe this doesn't apply to your kid, but I'm still surprised people aren't aware there is an overall problem for college preparedness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ p.s. I suspect most posters here have kids in the best public or private schools in the country, so maybe this doesn't apply to your kid, but I'm still surprised people aren't aware there is an overall problem for college preparedness.

Show me the stats on college performance that prove this.

You may be correct.