It Is Now Easier To Pass AP Tests (msn.com) 42
More students are getting high scores on Advanced Placement tests, long seen as a gateway to elite college admissions as well as a way to earn college credit during high school. From a report: Changes by the tests' maker in recent years have shifted scores upward. That has led to hundreds of thousands of additional students getting what's considered a passing score -- 3 or above on the 1-to-5 scale -- on exams in popular courses including AP U.S. History and AP U.S. Government.
The nonprofit behind the tests, College Board, says it updated the scoring by replacing its panel of experts with a large-scale data analysis to better reflect the skills students learn in the courses. Some skeptical teachers, test-prep companies and college administrators see the recent changes as another form of grade inflation, and a way to boost the organization's business by making AP courses seem more attractive.
"It is hard to argue with the premise of AP, that students who are talented and academically accomplished can get a head start on college," said Jon Boeckenstedt, the vice provost of enrollment at Oregon State University. "But I think it's a business move." The number of students cheering their higher AP scores could rise again next year. The College Board said it is still recalibrating several other subjects, including its most popular course, AP English Language, which attracts more than half a million test takers.
The nonprofit behind the tests, College Board, says it updated the scoring by replacing its panel of experts with a large-scale data analysis to better reflect the skills students learn in the courses. Some skeptical teachers, test-prep companies and college administrators see the recent changes as another form of grade inflation, and a way to boost the organization's business by making AP courses seem more attractive.
"It is hard to argue with the premise of AP, that students who are talented and academically accomplished can get a head start on college," said Jon Boeckenstedt, the vice provost of enrollment at Oregon State University. "But I think it's a business move." The number of students cheering their higher AP scores could rise again next year. The College Board said it is still recalibrating several other subjects, including its most popular course, AP English Language, which attracts more than half a million test takers.
Test of how to test (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Take a look at any of the American Board of Medical Specialties physician board exams. They're a great example of what you're talking about. The emphasis is less on real world knowledge and more on some test taking skills with a hearty heaping of wishful thinking. This is why people with previous experience tend to do worse on the initial certification exams rather than people that just memorized the thousands of dollars in "review" materials you have to buy. Many of the "right" answers would harm patients,
Re: (Score:2)
There does seem to be a certain patterns to how teachers conjure up and write the "wrong" answers such that if one is keen to recognize these patterns, they don't need to know the subject to pass the test.
We call that inflation (Score:4)
When everybody has a college degree... nobody does.
Re: (Score:3)
It's been a while, but as I recall AP results didn't determine whether you got accepted or got a degree, it was used as a way to "test out" of certain classes.
Back in the day at my university, you could test out of the '101' physics, calculus, and chemistry courses and skip a lot of the beginning stuff and stuff you don't actually need, but the university mandates it for majors that don't need it. The interesting twist were the humanities AP. You could AP test out of some humanities courses, but if you ma
Placement, credit, or a grade? (Score:1)
Some colleges give you "placement" for these tests. You still have to make up the credit or credit-in-the-topic with something else.
Some colleges give you actual credit, but no grade. It won't affect your GPA.
Some colleges give you a grade-equivalent based on your score. A top score will help your GPA, anything less may hurt you.
Making it easier to make the top score is "grade inflation" if your school gives you a letter grade.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Education can measure aptitude, but it can't increase it. It's been studied many time and it's now conclusively known that intelligence is a physical trait that's approximately as malleable as height. No amount of playing basketball will make you taller, and no amount of education will make you smarter.
That reality is neither politically nor economically acceptable however. A demand exists for workers of specific aptitudes and when that demand exceeded the available supply then education switched from being
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, really? [wikipedia.org].
You seem to be confusing intelligence potential with intelligence achievement. As the theory goes, intelligence potential (your I.Q.) does not change with age, but intelligence achievement (what things you know, what intellectual skills you have) changes significantly with study and practice. People with a higher IQ have an easier time learning new things with less practice and study, but even people with average IQ can master many new skills and learn plenty about any subject if they choose t
well yes (Score:1)
Re: We call that inflation (Score:1)
Perhaps people with average IQ can learn most things (credentialing), but people with higher IQ can apply things without needing to learn extensively on the subject.
In IT there is a similar problem with credentialing, you can get a Linux sysadmin certificate and do fairly well in managing Linux systems, but give people a different GUI/CLI than what they learned or even a different operating system, regardless of its similarities and they will get lost. The higher IQ people will, without credentialing figure
Re: We call that inflation (Score:1)
It's more like physical fitness. Research clearly shows sustained effort raises problem solving abilities in particular areas. That's why an expert mechanic can listen to a car engine and magically know what the problem is. Of course, everyone has a "maximum potential fitness," but that maximum is only reached through sustained effort.
Grade inflation (Score:5, Insightful)
When I was in school, a 4.0 GPA was "perfect." Over time, schools made it easier and easier to get that A (4.0), until these days, schools give bonus points leading to GPAs up to 6.0 or higher.
We didn't have "advanced placement," our regular classes were the equivalent of today's AP classes, and our remedial classes were the equivalent of today's "regular placement" classes.
There seems to be a drumbeat of people more concerned about how students "feel" about themselves, than about objective standards. As long as feelings win out over objectivity, this inflation will continue.
Shush - you'll upset the little darlings (Score:3)
Grade inflation is one of the many pernicious features of a rapidly declining education system. For the inflaters it's all good news; the test sellers get more candidates, parents think their little ones are smart whilst teachers and schools can boast the number kids 'passing' is ever increasing. Change will need politicians willing to upset people. It's SO much easier not to...
Re: (Score:2)
> As long as feelings win out over objectivity, this inflation will continue.
There is no objectivity, and that's part of the problem. History is revised from new research, and added to over time, and what's emphasized in math may change over time to fit current industry. The rulers keep moving out of necessity. If somebody wants to fudge averages for personal gain, they can sneak it into the updates.
Re: (Score:2)
It's find for standards or subject matter focus to change as technology, industry, or everyday needs change. What's not so good, is when the standards change, or are de-emphasized, just to make sure that children never experience "failure." We humans learn far more from failure, than we learn from success. Teaching children to recognize and learn from their mistakes, is as critical a skill as knowing how to do math problems.
Re: (Score:2)
There seems to be a drumbeat of people more concerned about how students "feel" about themselves, than about objective standards. As long as feelings win out over objectivity, this inflation will continue.
The trend will only accelerate with the whole "equity" movement. It's ridiculous to claim that math is "culturally biased", but, the pressure is working. As someone else in the thread mentioned, when you combine the push to send everyone to college with the lowering of standards because of teh Feelz, then we'll have successfully turned the Bachelor's Degree into a piss-poor high school diploma, a new standard that will be both expensive and meaningless.
Re: (Score:2)
You're right. It's why boys should be allowed to flunk out of math and take up non-math subjects like the liberal arts and blue collar jobs, right?
Grade school education has shown that girls do better in math than boys. Generally speaking, girls do better in school than boys. This not some recent woke or DEI or inclusivity thing, it's been happening for decades.
It was the great puzzling question - why are boys bad at math? Perhaps we shouldn't have pon
Re: (Score:2)
Grade school education has shown that girls do better in math than boys. Generally speaking, girls do better in school than boys.
In grade school, yeah, but that doesn't last. In high school and especially in college, the tables flip something fierce. Higher Math classes are overwhelmingly male.
Re: (Score:2)
There seems to be a drumbeat of people more concerned about how students "feel" about themselves, than about objective standards. As long as feelings win out over objectivity, this inflation will continue.
Well, yeah. And on average, that's exactly the mindset that "techies" have been voting for, and that determines the policies of schools, universities, and adjacent businesses.
What did y'all think was going to happen? Did you think they were kidding about this stuff?
Re: (Score:2)
Tests only teach test-taking. (Score:4, Interesting)
I feel great disturbance in the force (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
On their way to irrelevance (Score:1)
The AP tests themselves were already a joke. Like look at computer programming, there used to be an A and an AB version. The AB was legitimately college level (albeit stretching one quarter/semester to an entire year as most AP tests do). A was worthless. So what did the geniuses at the College Board do? They canceled the AB test and invented a new test BENEATH the A-level. This was almost 20 years ago.
Now the scores are a joke too. Pretty much the only AP tests sustaining relevance for the entire enterpris
AP tests to be sacored AI (Score:3)
Business Move Showdown (Score:3)
And FAFSA, and student loans ... (Score:2)
FAFSA - how many other major transactions require you to reveal exactly how much you can afford to pay?
Student loans - where they will loan an 18-year old four years of tuition, with no regard for graduation prospects or income post-graduation.
AP test grade inflation is aligned with this - it makes it easier for marginal students to get accepted, take out loans, and get screwed after two years when they discover they aren't college material, despite what the test said.
The Dumbing Down... (Score:1)
Dollars (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I dunno. Both my kids took AP statistics. I remember looking at their assignments and finding them quite challenging. I don't have much academic background in statistics per se I do have a strong background in probability and discrete math, enough to understand the assignments and recognize that the concepts were challenging. When they got to college they knew a lot more statistics than other students who hadn't placed out of introductory statistics.
That says nothing about the AP *test*. And AP *courses
Removing the lofty goal to push excellence. (Score:3)
Simple fact... (Score:2)
Tests should be easy. Did you learn and understand the material? You should score 100% on the test. No trick questions, no trick answer options, no fill in the blank which requires literal memory instead of comprehension of what was said.
That said, it doesn't sound like they made the test easy by taking out the tricks, it sounds like they adjusted the test by only testing on material the average student remembered. Especially for the example courses mentioned that is a bad thing.
or americans are getting smarter (Score:2)