kids stress out as colleges look at scores for admissions

Anonymous wrote:It seems like a fair number of seniors at my DD's school aren't worried about the exams because they aren't planning to use the credits. In Tik Tok videos (where far too many kids get their info), many upperclass students are suggesting seniors skip AP exams and enroll in the course so they can get the credit & GPA bump.

So tempted to have my kid do this when he's a senior. I completely understand now why people think AP is a scam.

My kid is a first-time test taker and his school clearly says on their website that if you are enrolled in the AP class you are automatically signed up for the exam. And, you can only get the GPA bump if you take the exam.

My kid was apparently absent the day the teacher for his ap class gave students some code to sign up for the exam? Teacher didn't mention it to him when he returned the next day - and he didn't know this was something to be on the lookout for - and only found out 2 weeks ago that he wasn't on the list to take it. He then took necessary steps to sign up. We are now being billed for $45 because he signed up late. Ridiculous! After we already paid $98 for this exam. And he wasn't the only kid this happened to - another kid was absent that day and same thing happened to him.

Also, was just doing some reading and didn't realize you have to pay an additional fee to send your test scores to colleges.

Third, I looked at a college he wants to attend and for most of the exams you only get credit if you get a 5. I don't want my kid stressing over getting a 5 on multiple tests when it's likely he may want to take some of these classes again anyway in college. He'll be a STEM kid and it may be advantageous to re-take math/science etc to make sure he has a great foundation before moving on to more difficult material.

Kid took APES today. Thought it was EAZY-AS-PIE. Taking 2 tomorrow and seems stressed. Sending love and prayers in the shape of chocolate chip cookies.

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Anonymous wrote:My kid said the AP Stats was easy (but they are also in MV/Linear, so they have a lot of math knowledge). They also said that AP Lit was easier than they though it would be. They are confident about the AP Gov test too.

But they are worried about the AP Bio test next week and will likely study a lot this weekend.

My kid is worried about AP Bio too.

And mine. She has had a tutor who is a Bio professor guide her through the entire year / exam prep and she is still crapping herself.

Anonymous wrote:My kid said the AP Stats was easy (but they are also in MV/Linear, so they have a lot of math knowledge). They also said that AP Lit was easier than they though it would be. They are confident about the AP Gov test too.

But they are worried about the AP Bio test next week and will likely study a lot this weekend.

My kid is worried about AP Bio too.

Anonymous wrote:My freshman took AP stats yesterday and said it was OK. HOW DID YOUR KIDS FEEL ABOUT THE STATS EXAM?

My DD also said it was OK. Fingers crossed for a 4!

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Anonymous wrote:how was gov today?

My son thought it was not bad. He said as soon as he opened it and saw Shay's Rebellion, he felt good. The teacher spent a lot of time on that & the Commerce Clause, and both were on the test. He is more of a "4" student than a "5" student, but for his college all he needs is a 4 to get credit for this one.

Four more to go!

The teachers teach what’s going to be on the test so that makes sense.

My kid said the AP Stats was easy (but they are also in MV/Linear, so they have a lot of math knowledge). They also said that AP Lit was easier than they though it would be. They are confident about the AP Gov test too.

But they are worried about the AP Bio test next week and will likely study a lot this weekend.

Ok - I'll bite:
Kid is - not concerned at all about Micro, Calc, AP Lang. Slightly anxious about Macro and Physics, and thinks they won't do great on World History because the "teacher is bad."

It seems like a fair number of seniors at my DD's school aren't worried about the exams because they aren't planning to use the credits. In Tik Tok videos (where far too many kids get their info), many upperclass students are suggesting seniors skip AP exams and enroll in the course so they can get the credit & GPA bump.

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Anonymous wrote:My freshman took AP stats yesterday and said it was OK. HOW DID YOUR KIDS FEEL ABOUT THE STATS EXAM?

?Freshman in AP Stats?

Yes. DC came into 9th having finished pre-calc and the school where we moved said there was no room in calculus this year, so they offered AP Stats as the math class.

Anonymous wrote:My freshman took AP stats yesterday and said it was OK. HOW DID YOUR KIDS FEEL ABOUT THE STATS EXAM?

?Freshman in AP Stats?

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Anonymous wrote:My kid doesn't care at all. He got into the school he wanted already.

How do I feel? I'm spending my time looking at dorm stuff! lol.

Wow - you guys seem like you really value education!

I didn’t know a parent had to stress out over AP’s to value education. Learn something new every day!

"Your kid doesn't care at all" and neither do you. - Kind of the definition, don't you think?

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Anonymous wrote:how was comp a today?

My kid who started frantically studying last night:

Says he cooked (i think that's good) on the free response. He got cooked (i think that's not good) on some of the multiple choice. Said he started bugging out at the end and just couldn't do anymore. Answered 4 or 5 multiple choice randomly. Thinks he probably got a 4.

FWIW he says other kids were the opposite: they thought multiple choice was better than the free response.

my kid felt great about mcq but fell apart on frq, got 2 they think and the other 2 wrote frantically but thinks got them wrong, was really hoping for a 5,now in a bad mood

Hopefully, they will do better than they think they did. GL to your kid!

Oh, one other thing my kid noted: Says he thinks it feels really weird to write code using pencil/paper. All year he's sort of relied on getting "dinged" (sorry for the non-technical term!) for errors and then going back to figure them out/fix them. And it feels odd that you have to get it right the first time on paper/pencil format.

thank you! very kind of you

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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.

In 2020, the makeup exam had crazy hard questions. My kid shared them with me when she got home and despite having a graduate degree in the fields I thought they were hard questions.

And yet you didn't see the original test questions, so how can you possible judge if they were in fact harder, or equally difficult?

Not PP but there are scenarios where kids might sit for both the original and makeup exam. For example, if scores for the first exam need to be cancelled for some reason (eg a fire alarm in the middle of the test), those students would see the questions on both the original and the makeup exam.

My own child will be in that exact circumstance for an AP test they took earlier this week.

And what that shows is only what is harder for one specific student, whose knowledge and skills may lean towards one test rather than the other. They could equally consider the make up test to be easier. I think you're trying to reinforce the idea the make ups are harder when there is zero evidence to that and also it would create a pattern of discrimination against the later test takers, as has already been noted on this thread. It’s just BS, basically. The tests are "different" and that is all.

I’m not disputing that the test are equal, I’m just saying that it is possible for a student to see both the original and the makeup test. The previous poster was quibbling that it isn’t possible to see both tests and that is not correct. Make-up tests are largely for students who missed the first test, but there are clear scenarios where a student might sit for the entirety of both if the scores from the first test are invalidated/cancelled through no fault of the student.

I'm the PP that said the 2021 makeup was harder, at least for the test my kid took that year. I'm not saying the makeups are always harder, but there are fewer kids that take it, so a little harder to norm, and they are always going to have to have different questions, so it's totally possible it might be easier or harder than the primary administration. The kids absolutely share questions after the test -- they are all basically immediately posted to reddit, discord, etc. So it's easy for the kids to compare questions after-the-fact, and they generally have a gestalt opinion about which test was harder. My kid shared the questions with me when they got home, and I did think they were quite difficult, and that is a subject area that I know pretty well. Of course, that was the pandemic year, so they may have had an unusual process for writing/vetting the test questions that year, since it seemed like the whole educational system was in free-fall the year leading up to that test.

And yet, you're probably not an AP teacher or a writer / grader of the AP exams are you. You're just a parent with an opinion. Pretty worthless really.

Well, I do have a graduate degree in the subject from an Ivy League school. And I thought it was a hard question for what is supposed to be an entry level college survey course. Of course, it is just my opinion and just a sample of one makeup test in a weird year. But there is definitely chatter every year among the people who follow APs about whether a particular test was more or less difficult than average — they can’t hit it exactly every single time.

It wouldn't matter if you were a professor in the subject at an Ivy with a PhD. The AP tests are devised and written and graded by a very small number of people, of whom you are not one. So your insights again, are minimally significant.