How did your HS Freshman perform on AP exams?

[Anonymous]

The percentages don’t really help because it’s incredibly self-selecting. Mandarin, Japanese, Physics C, and Calc BC are not actually the easiest exams.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:All 5 since 9th
9th CS Principles-5; USHist-5
10th CS A-5, USG-5;
11th Calc BC-5, Spanish-5

My kid just got all 5s on 5 APs. Not sure it’s that unusual. Public school.

Smart kid. I’m surprised he didn’t take more APs in 11th grade

He is smart but not very motivated, his peers are taking more

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did any 9th graders take the AP Physics 1 exam?
My kid got a 2 and was a bit crushed by it.
Said the 3 h exam was the worst experience of his life. It is a hard class.
I’m not sure why they have some 9th graders take it.

A friend’s kid scored a 1 on the test as a freshman and ended up at UMD in the Honors program.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My DS who was straight A grades all year in APUSH and he studied like a demon for the exam, only got a 3

It's called grade inflation.

No it isn't. He is kind of a social studies genius. That's his thing.

The AP examiners clearly did not agree.

This. He isn’t a social studies genius with a 3. I have no idea if grades were inflated or not but there are right and wrong things on the ap exams. Your kid was missing a large section of them.

The exam is only 40% multiple choice. Writing skills and legibility can tank a student on 60% of the test.

I didn't know this. His handwriting is awful. I thought the essays were typed. Thank you. So we know where to go from here.

I believe starting this year, they will all be on line. I guess the readers have had enough with chicken scratch from our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any 9th graders take the AP Physics 1 exam?
My kid got a 2 and was a bit crushed by it.
Said the 3 h exam was the worst experience of his life. It is a hard class.
I’m not sure why they have some 9th graders take it.

A friend’s kid scored a 1 on the test as a freshman and ended up at UMD in the Honors program.

AP Physics 1 is conceptually a very difficult course. I’m not sure why it is sometimes offered to 9th graders.
It has less math but the questions are quite convoluted and complex. It is not an easy course to teach

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My DS who was straight A grades all year in APUSH and he studied like a demon for the exam, only got a 3

It's called grade inflation.

No it isn't. He is kind of a social studies genius. That's his thing.

The AP examiners clearly did not agree.

This. He isn’t a social studies genius with a 3. I have no idea if grades were inflated or not but there are right and wrong things on the ap exams. Your kid was missing a large section of them.

The exam is only 40% multiple choice. Writing skills and legibility can tank a student on 60% of the test.

I didn't know this. His handwriting is awful. I thought the essays were typed. Thank you. So we know where to go from here.

I believe starting this year, they will all be on line. I guess the readers have had enough with chicken scratch from our kids.

Not sure about that: they were online at the start of the pandemic, then some migrated back to pen and paper in school. So not sure about next year.
My son has dysgraphia, and the physical toll of writing legibly distracts completely from his focus on the actual content of the test. Thankfully he was so well prepared he still got 5s this year, but handwriting is always a source of additional stress for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The percentages don’t really help because it’s incredibly self-selecting. Mandarin, Japanese, Physics C, and Calc BC are not actually the easiest exams.

Totally agree. Physics C was mainly only students who wanted to go into engineering and just had a knack for it. The rest of the class bowed out gracefully and opted for Physics 2.

Same with Japanese at kid's HS. Of only 4 students (only ca. 2,500 take it nationwide), 2 had Japanese heritage with a parent being Japanese and the other kid had lived in Japan for some years. Kid had none of this advantage and was thrilled to pass with a 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my kid's Big3 private had all kids score 5 in APUSH and these kids had a mix of A, A-, B+ and B in the class. public school kids getting straight As in the class and then a 3 on the exam speaks to crazy grade inflation. I also have a rising high schooler in public and a foot in both worlds.

Or it shows that they were not taught HOW to take the test. You can know the material but if you don't answer AP tests in a certain way, you don't score well.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Freshman son got a 3 on AP World. He was happy with it, and honestly I was relieved that he passed. He got an A in the course and had an excellent teacher. He said that he wished he had studied more, but his writing skills still need some work. I'm grateful for what he learned in the class, particularly around writing. AP World is the only option for 9th graders at his private, and he'll take AP Modern European next year. (Again, the only AP option for his grade.) If he could just pull 3s and 4s from here on out, I'd be fine with it. He's a great kid but not destined for a T20.

It's pretty insane to expect a 9th grader to do well on AP World History, PP. In MCPS it's usually taken in 11th grade, and believe me, those two years of extra maturity and organizational skills count for a lot. World History is the hardest humanities AP, period. Far more work than US History and US Gov& Pol/NSL. Far harder than European History (it'll be a breeze next year).

You could mention to the school that their AP order is completely messed up.

DCPS does AP World in 10th grade and APUSH in 11th. AP Gov in 12th.

Same with FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Freshmen at SAAS take AP World. DS got a 5. Of the four friends he's discussed scores with, three got 5s and one got a 4. Their teacher was excellent (and is moving to Sidwell...sigh).

That teacher is FABULOUS. SAAS's loss for sure. My DS got a 5 last year on the same exam. They were lucky to have had that teacher, who really taught them how to prepare for AP History exams in general.

Sidwell is getting a gem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the typical number of AP classes for a VA freshman as opposed to a Md (MCPS) freshman?

It's school-dependent. Some HS don't allow freshmen to take any. Other HSs allow freshmen to choose from 2 or 3. There are HSs in the same school district.

[Anonymous]

She did well - both 5s. Art History and World History

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She did well - both 5s. Art History and World History

At what school did she take World History in 9th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She did well - both 5s. Art History and World History

At what school did she take World History in 9th?

Several schools have AP World History in 9th.

[Anonymous]

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For the typically taught or required history APs, from easiest to hardest, it should be:

easiest: AP US History (less facts to memorize, less data to organize on flash cards).

hard: AP Gov (it's a lot of definitions and examples to sort out on flash cards, and most students aren't entirely familiar with them as they are for US history).

hardest: AP World History (a TON to read through and learn).

The other history APs are not usually part of the core history courses, and not as hard.

This is not at all the conventional wisdom. Most people say Gov is easiest, then World, the. APUSH. None are easy though.

My friend who teaches AP history agrees with PP. AP World os the hardest. It’s a TON of reading. I’m sure it varies by teacher though.