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

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[quote=Anonymous][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]

They give an excellent foundation for college. They wee designed by teams of college professors and high school teachers and are graded by these same groups. I regularly had my students come back to tell me their freshman and sophomore years of college were significantly easier for them than for their classmates who hadn't taken AP (or IB) classes.[/quote]

Interesting because there are multiple posts here and elsewhere from college profs who feel these test do not prepare kids for college:[/quote]

College prof here. Content coverage is solid but, generally speaking, insufficient depth, critical thinking, and analytical writing to prep for a college course imo. IB courses much more effective in those respects. I consider AP courses valuable to a point but students who receive AP course credit and opt out of college intro courses do not tend to do well in intermediate and UL coursework.[/quote]

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