Reply to How did your HS Freshman perform on AP exams?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "How did your HS Freshman perform on AP exams?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does anyone else think this is a sign that something is off?  Full disclosure, I think you should have to sit for the exam to receive AP credit (I think school districts should pay for it).  To get the GPA and rigor bump of an AP but not be prepared for the test makes no sense to me.

This is a systemic problem - so understand why kids would not subject themselves to the test if it doesn’t matter - but I think it devalues the AP distinction.[/quote]

Agree.  It’s the AP arms race at its finest.  Thank you, Jay Matthews and the Challenge Index.  Combine that with grade inflation and easy standards and this is the result: kids getting As in the class but 3 or under on the exam.

Full disclosure for me is that my kids go to private schools that do not offer APs.  I feel very strongly that the CB has their hooks in our education system and is laughing all the way to the bank.  I get it, though, if your school offers AP, you basically have to take it for college purposes.[/quote]

I don’t think you understand AP courses very well. Many of them have challenging and difficult content and give you a good foundation for college.
I would say it takes a few years to figure out how to optimally teach an AP course. So if you have a teacher who has taught it for 3 years or less, they could be doing their best but will likely fall short. It is often tricky to get the pacing right. It took me until year 5 when I felt I finally nailed it and my students scores dramatically improved. I also teach an AP course that is considered very difficult and has a low pass rate [/quote]

My son just had World History taught by a very inexperienced, perhaps first-time, teacher. He was nice, but oh so bad! Most of the class lost all hope of a good grade or a good exam score. My son trudged on until the bitter end, squeaked by with a final grade of A (by the seat of his pants) and got a 5 in the exam. But it was a terrible experience compare to his other APs with experienced teachers. I only wish someone could give these new teachers more training right from the start, PP. When college admissions are on the line, it's not fair for AP students to get a dud teacher.[/quote]

If I were an admin, I would prioritize AP as well, but I think the reason I didn’t mention that (though many have) is there are new teachers at every school every year, so doesn’t seem to be an AP specific issue exactly.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics