Ptranium

I have to take the make-up Biology exam because I took Music Theory today. Do they grade these exams using the scores from Form-B students only, or do they take ALL students into consideration? Thanks.

laststopforme

The rumor is that the curve is "harder" for Form B students...

Indianjatt

What I've heard and tried on my own is that FORM B is RIDICULOUSLY harder. I was fairly confident after doing 2003-2008 FRQ questions, but as soon as a I tried 2008 B, my doubts significantly rose. I strongly believe form B is harder and I am really not sure about the curve. They may curve it differently sine it is a lot harder and difficult to answer.

seadog.overseas

I don't think the curve is different. they set the curve based off of the regular tests, then ascribe the form-b scores according to that curve. however, to be fair to the students who took the tests normally, the questions are generally harder. Think about it. They would not want the normal test to be more difficult than the make-up test. I can guess that much for sure. Scoring off of one curve though is my opinion.

TheMathProf

Form B is not the make-up test. (Really. Why would the Form B FRQ's be posted before folks took the make-up test?) It's the test for outside the United States (for the most part).

I don't know for sure about the curve itself, but I would imagine it would have to be different for Form A (the one folks took in the U.S.), Form B, and the make-up test. How much different, I don't know. The thing is that you're testing on different information in a different way, and that affects the difficulty level of the test.

GuiltyBystander

For form B (not the make-up test!), I think the curve would be harsher, since international are less likely to take random tests and bomb them completely, because a lot of the internationals self-study, since most schools don't offer AP courses. The self-studiers mainly aim for elite education, consequently scoring higher than a lot of the students who don't really care.. Thus, when more internationals score relatively high, the curve is harsher.

Just my stupid theory, I wouldn't know.

Shizzle

That is a silly rumor... It's just a rumor. (hopefully lmao) Maybe it'll be harder cuz we get more time to study, but really that would be unfair to people who were physically unable to take the test.

Horace

The curve is not harder for one test or another. The way they do it is they have a few MC questions that they re-use to compare from year to year and test to test, so that the right proportions are getting the grades they deserve. Theoretically, if the late testing students scored on average better on these MC questions then they would have a higher percentage of 5s. Similarly, if a group of studetns one year performed on average much worse than the year before, there would be many less 5s. That's how they standardize things.

oceanangel

I don't even think Form B is the make-up test. I'm an international student and everyone in our school gets Form B for every AP FRQ. I actually think Form B FRQs are generally easier. Whenever I finish an exam, I wait 2 days and then go online to see the published FRQs for that year. I ALWAYS feel EXTREMELY LUCKY that we got Form B haha

Nazzy

i think its the same curve as Form A because there arent many students who take form B and the tests are supposed to be compatible...shud be standardized that way

trickysocksman

so the question beckons, has anyone taken a late test? what is it like? (i got 3 next week so haha).

_wishonacupcake

^ i have that same question! i have one next week ):

haxor

late tests arent special or specifically harder than the regular ones. its just another version of the ap, and it can be easier or harder (in my case it was easier). the curve is rumored to be harder, if only because theres a correlation between taking late tests and being a high achieving student (ie. taking too many aps, missing aps for academic competitions, etc), but i wouldn't worry too much about that.