AP French Language Re-Take Option

Sally_Rubenstone · 05-07-2009, 11:05 AM

Via the National Associate for College Admission Counseling listserv,Carol Miller, a school counselor from Lansing, NY, asked other high school teachers and administrators if their students had had the same problems with the AP French Language exam that her own students experienced. She noted that many of her students reported that there were "almost no pauses for students to give an answer in the first four questions of the listening section."

After hearing similar complaints from other high schools and after contacting the College Board this morning, Carol reported back to the NACAC listserv:

Quote:

This morning I called AP services and was told that for EVERY student questions 2 and 3 would be thrown out because there was only 3 seconds given for response time. They are offering an opportunity for students to retake the listening section only on the late testing date if the student feels like they were "thrown off" for the rest of the section due to this flaw. If students want to retake that section, you must call the College Board and they will send your school this special exam. Please note that not every student needs to retake this section, but only those who want to. Coordinators should fill out an IR report and send it back with the returned exams. Hope this helps those that also experienced problems.

Thus, if you (or your child) noted the same problems with this exam, make sure that your school's AP coordinator is aware of this re-take option.

And thanks, Carol.

Prism · 05-09-2009, 02:10 AM

If we retake it, is our old listening section thrown out? And it's going to be a new listening section, correct?

Sally_Rubenstone · 05-09-2009, 11:06 AM

Here is the complete letter that just went out to high school AP Coordinators:

Quote:

Dear Educator:

We are writing to share with you information about the 2009 AP® French Language Exam that was administered at your school earlier this week. This message is being sent to all authorized AP French Language teachers and AP Coordinators at schools offering this exam.

Educational Testing Service has confirmed that there were two questions in the listening section of the 2009 AP French Language Exam for which the listening CD did not provide students the appropriate response time between questions; these questions were the second and third questions out of the forty questions in the listening part of the multiple-choice section.

Accordingly, these two multiple-choice questions, as well as any immediately subsequent questions for which item analysis indicates that student performance was negatively impacted, will not be factored into a student's final AP grade. Because of the way AP Exams are designed, there are more than a sufficient number of questions to ensure the reliability of the overall exam grade even when questions are eliminated from the scoring.

This mistiming issue will be fully resolved through the standard practice of not including in the student's AP grade any questions that failed to meet specifications. Because these questions will be eliminated before the exam is scored, students will not be disadvantaged by the mistiming. Accordingly, it is not required or recommended that schools order and administer make-up exams for their students. However, if you have students who were significantly distressed by this situation, and your school would like to offer those students a make-up exam during the scheduled AP French Language make-up date and time (May 20 at noon), you can order the alternate multiple-choice section at no additional cost by contacting AP Services at (877) 274-6474 or (609) 771-7300. The deadlines for ordering those exams are May 8 for international schools and May 15 for schools in the U.S. and U.S. territories. Please note that students will not be given the option to retest beyond the usual schedule for alternate testing, and grades for alternate exams may not be available in the initial release of AP grades in early July.

We are deeply sorry to have caused these concerns; such errors in the timing on an AP French Language CD are simply unacceptable, and we have launched an immediate investigation to ensure that this type of error does not recur. In addition, when the scoring is completed in June, we will send any relevant updates to the AP French community. Please contact us at (877) 274-6474 or (609) 771-7300 or email apexams@info.collegeboard.org if you have any questions or need additional assistance.

Sincerely,

Advanced Placement Program®

tinuviel · 05-09-2009, 11:45 AM

Actually, I'm really sorry that they're throwing those questions out, because I'm pretty sure that I got them! Oh well...

Prism · 05-09-2009, 08:52 PM

Hmm.. so wait, do we have to retake the reading part? That's the only part I'm confused about, since we're ordering a new "MC" test. Reading's part of it..

Sally_Rubenstone · 05-09-2009, 09:43 PM

Ask your school AP coordinator to spell out exactly what the retest will entail. Note, too, that the retest is only for those who feel that they were thrown out of kilter by the mistiming on a couple questions. Not everyone experienced this mistiming, and many who did notice it didn't think that it affected their test performance.

Prism · 05-10-2009, 01:24 AM

Yes, I understand that. I was thrown off by it a little.. I would not mind retaking the listening section again though.

DanER · 05-11-2009, 06:22 PM

Haha! me too! the people asked the question, then i wasnt even done reading the answers and it moved on! i was like 0________o okay... im not retaking it tho.

lizthemon · 05-13-2009, 12:18 AM

is anyone thinking of retaking it? i dunno if i want to. it freaked me out though... but i might just be too lazy to do anything about it... also the makeup test would be the day before my birthday!!!! D:

cnp55 · 05-13-2009, 07:13 AM

My son said the listening part was weird. I imagine this bobble was what he was referring to. He does not want to retake -- and I think he's fine without retaking.

Prism · 05-13-2009, 10:08 PM

I want to take it but I don't know if I have to retake the reading part too..

Cahier · 05-15-2009, 11:41 PM

I was completely thrown off...I know it was what two questions but I got really behind and its a vicious cycle...in fact I was so upset that I randomly guessed on reading because i thought I did so bad on the listening that i wasnt getting a 4 or 5.

I'm not going to be able to take the retest because I have to take the Comp gov makeup because that was a conflict with french language in the first place