AP Tests this week, how are we feeling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was APUSH ridiculously easy for your kid? My son said it felt like a joke. His only worry now is that it will take close to a perfect score for a 5 and he's not sure he got everything correct.

My kid thought the same and got a 5 last year.

The score distribution for APUSH exam last year were rough-over 50% failure rate (1 or 2 on exam). Wouldn’t be so cocky!

5-10.6%
4-14.8%
3-22.1%
2-22.7%
1-29.8%

This is insane. My kid took the test yesterday from a DC private that doesn't even offer APUSH (just one level of US history) and he said that there was nothing on the test that he didn't know backwards and forwards. He is not a cocky kid (and readily admits when something is hard) so I believe him when he says this.

It's crazy how little many students learn in class.

It’s not a “gotcha” test…you think you are making some strange flex. Any well taught history class prepares kids and they will do well on the test.

[Anonymous]

there is huge cheating done internationally--that is the main reason the SAT has gone digital and the APs are following. You can google it.

It is not fair for my kid who studied their behind off in ap comp sci A that a. the teacher taught zero b, the curve will include all the cheating scores internationally with NO consequences.

[Anonymous]

Do you have to list all the AP scores on the Common app or can you select which ones to include?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any good AP Comp A teachers?
My kid told me 3/4 of their class left the FRQ papers totally empty.

Interesting. My son cancelled his score last year for that reason. He goes to a strong school but he just didn’t know how to solve the FRQ.

[Anonymous]

My kid thought AP psychology was hard. He said the FRQ was easy but the MCQ was much more lengthy. He only got through 66 of 100 questions when they called 10 minute warning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid thought AP psychology was hard. He said the FRQ was easy but the MCQ was much more lengthy. He only got through 66 of 100 questions when they called 10 minute warning.

My DD thought it was a breeze compared to how she expected it to be. Its not a challenging AP because it's mostly about memorization rather than analysis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was APUSH ridiculously easy for your kid? My son said it felt like a joke. His only worry now is that it will take close to a perfect score for a 5 and he's not sure he got everything correct.

My kid thought the same and got a 5 last year.

The score distribution for APUSH exam last year were rough-over 50% failure rate (1 or 2 on exam). Wouldn’t be so cocky!

5-10.6%
4-14.8%
3-22.1%
2-22.7%
1-29.8%

This is insane. My kid took the test yesterday from a DC private that doesn't even offer APUSH (just one level of US history) and he said that there was nothing on the test that he didn't know backwards and forwards. He is not a cocky kid (and readily admits when something is hard) so I believe him when he says this.

It's crazy how little many students learn in class.

It’s not a “gotcha” test…you think you are making some strange flex. Any well taught history class prepares kids and they will do well on the test.

I agree. It’s one of the easier AP exams. She earned a 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was APUSH ridiculously easy for your kid? My son said it felt like a joke. His only worry now is that it will take close to a perfect score for a 5 and he's not sure he got everything correct.

My kid thought the same and got a 5 last year.

The score distribution for APUSH exam last year were rough-over 50% failure rate (1 or 2 on exam). Wouldn’t be so cocky!

5-10.6%
4-14.8%
3-22.1%
2-22.7%
1-29.8%

This is insane. My kid took the test yesterday from a DC private that doesn't even offer APUSH (just one level of US history) and he said that there was nothing on the test that he didn't know backwards and forwards. He is not a cocky kid (and readily admits when something is hard) so I believe him when he says this.

It's crazy how little many students learn in class.

Come back and tell us his result in July.

I will but again, this is a kid who historically never overestimates his performance. If anything he is anxious/self critical and it's the reverse. Most recently he thought he bombed the ACT and got a 35.

If he tells me a test is "a joke" I tend to believe him. I think it was the APUSH multiple choice that were stupidly easy.

Maybe he did really well. But I think it's graded on a curve, no? And the MC is only one part

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The college board site says they start releasing results on July 8th.

Given past experience, that doesn't mean ALL results will be available first thing on July 8th.

I have kids taking a few starting this week. One kid is really ill with Flu B so has anti-virals and anything else we can pump him with, to be well enough to take them.

There are make-up days at the end of the exam period. Don’t take it sick

Agree!

The make ups are not the same test and my kid heard they can have harder FRQs so be careful.

That would be deemed discrimination and not ethical.

One possibility is that they are telling your kid the FRQs are harder so he's motivated to do them on time. It's also obv true that the FRQs MAY be harder (for him) or easier.

But I have heard the AP exams are much harder for international students taking an alternative exam. I don't know if it's true or not, but it seems to be lore within the foreign service and my kids' school. They use the "basic" questions for the "real" test, alternative questions for the international exams, and the logic is that the alternative ones are a lot harder even though they are graded using US curves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any good AP Comp A teachers?
My kid told me 3/4 of their class left the FRQ papers totally empty.

My kid liked the format of the actual class this year. Students did everything on their own, worked at their own pace and teacher was there if you had a question. This suited my kid just fine and he thought it was a nice break from his other classes which were more structured. But the teacher didn't teach - pretty sure some parents have complained.

My kid also said that the teacher didn't do a lot of prep for the exam either. He kept telling them "don't worry about this or that" so kid practiced questions on his own and somehow was able to tell what score he got on each one. Not sure how this works.

In any event, I'm the pp with the one kid who thought frq was a bit easier than the mcq but he said he focused more on practicing free response than multiple choice so that was probably a factor.

Agree with a pp - I've decided to encourage kid not to stress about the scores at all anymore. He gets what he gets and we'll decide what to do with the scores when that issue rolls around.

Wait, what? for real?

You can only cancel or remove them until June 15 of the year in which the test was taken. Aka - before you get the scores. Once you have the scores they are on the record and not removable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any good AP Comp A teachers?
My kid told me 3/4 of their class left the FRQ papers totally empty.

My kid liked the format of the actual class this year. Students did everything on their own, worked at their own pace and teacher was there if you had a question. This suited my kid just fine and he thought it was a nice break from his other classes which were more structured. But the teacher didn't teach - pretty sure some parents have complained.

My kid also said that the teacher didn't do a lot of prep for the exam either. He kept telling them "don't worry about this or that" so kid practiced questions on his own and somehow was able to tell what score he got on each one. Not sure how this works.

In any event, I'm the pp with the one kid who thought frq was a bit easier than the mcq but he said he focused more on practicing free response than multiple choice so that was probably a factor.

Agree with a pp - I've decided to encourage kid not to stress about the scores at all anymore. He gets what he gets and we'll decide what to do with the scores when that issue rolls around.

Wait, what? for real?

You can only cancel or remove them until June 15 of the year in which the test was taken. Aka - before you get the scores. Once you have the scores they are on the record and not removable.

that is not true at all. you can cancel anytime for a fee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any good AP Comp A teachers?
My kid told me 3/4 of their class left the FRQ papers totally empty.

My kid liked the format of the actual class this year. Students did everything on their own, worked at their own pace and teacher was there if you had a question. This suited my kid just fine and he thought it was a nice break from his other classes which were more structured. But the teacher didn't teach - pretty sure some parents have complained.

My kid also said that the teacher didn't do a lot of prep for the exam either. He kept telling them "don't worry about this or that" so kid practiced questions on his own and somehow was able to tell what score he got on each one. Not sure how this works.

In any event, I'm the pp with the one kid who thought frq was a bit easier than the mcq but he said he focused more on practicing free response than multiple choice so that was probably a factor.

Agree with a pp - I've decided to encourage kid not to stress about the scores at all anymore. He gets what he gets and we'll decide what to do with the scores when that issue rolls around.

Wait, what? for real?

You can only cancel or remove them until June 15 of the year in which the test was taken. Aka - before you get the scores. Once you have the scores they are on the record and not removable.

that is not true at all. you can cancel anytime for a fee

Can you provide a link within the College Board that supports your claim? because I've looked and not found it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any good AP Comp A teachers?
My kid told me 3/4 of their class left the FRQ papers totally empty.

My kid liked the format of the actual class this year. Students did everything on their own, worked at their own pace and teacher was there if you had a question. This suited my kid just fine and he thought it was a nice break from his other classes which were more structured. But the teacher didn't teach - pretty sure some parents have complained.

My kid also said that the teacher didn't do a lot of prep for the exam either. He kept telling them "don't worry about this or that" so kid practiced questions on his own and somehow was able to tell what score he got on each one. Not sure how this works.

In any event, I'm the pp with the one kid who thought frq was a bit easier than the mcq but he said he focused more on practicing free response than multiple choice so that was probably a factor.

Agree with a pp - I've decided to encourage kid not to stress about the scores at all anymore. He gets what he gets and we'll decide what to do with the scores when that issue rolls around.

Wait, what? for real?

You can only cancel or remove them until June 15 of the year in which the test was taken. Aka - before you get the scores. Once you have the scores they are on the record and not removable.

that is not true at all. you can cancel anytime for a fee

Can you provide a link within the College Board that supports your claim? because I've looked and not found it.

DP, what you want to Google is how to withhold a score.
https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/score-reporting-services/withhold-scores
Note that the points about deadlines for removing scores from the free report is only if you opted to have your scores sent with the free report (I’d recommend not ever doing that), because you have to cancel them before knowing how you did. Once a test is scored, as long as you did not choose to have the free report sent, you can selectively request to have scores withheld at any time for a fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was APUSH ridiculously easy for your kid? My son said it felt like a joke. His only worry now is that it will take close to a perfect score for a 5 and he's not sure he got everything correct.

My kid thought the same and got a 5 last year.

The score distribution for APUSH exam last year were rough-over 50% failure rate (1 or 2 on exam). Wouldn’t be so cocky!

5-10.6%
4-14.8%
3-22.1%
2-22.7%
1-29.8%

This is insane. My kid took the test yesterday from a DC private that doesn't even offer APUSH (just one level of US history) and he said that there was nothing on the test that he didn't know backwards and forwards. He is not a cocky kid (and readily admits when something is hard) so I believe him when he says this.

It's crazy how little many students learn in class.

It’s not a “gotcha” test…you think you are making some strange flex. Any well taught history class prepares kids and they will do well on the test.

I agree. It’s one of the easier AP exams. She earned a 5.

DP

APUSH is actually considered one of the hardest AP tests. Where did you read otherwise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was APUSH ridiculously easy for your kid? My son said it felt like a joke. His only worry now is that it will take close to a perfect score for a 5 and he's not sure he got everything correct.

My kid thought the same and got a 5 last year.

The score distribution for APUSH exam last year were rough-over 50% failure rate (1 or 2 on exam). Wouldn’t be so cocky!

5-10.6%
4-14.8%
3-22.1%
2-22.7%
1-29.8%

This is insane. My kid took the test yesterday from a DC private that doesn't even offer APUSH (just one level of US history) and he said that there was nothing on the test that he didn't know backwards and forwards. He is not a cocky kid (and readily admits when something is hard) so I believe him when he says this.

It's crazy how little many students learn in class.

It’s not a “gotcha” test…you think you are making some strange flex. Any well taught history class prepares kids and they will do well on the test.

I agree. It’s one of the easier AP exams. She earned a 5.

DP

APUSH is actually considered one of the hardest AP tests. Where did you read otherwise?

She didn’t. Because her genius daughter got a 5 it’s an easy exam. Anyone who doesn’t get a 5 is a complete moron.