<p>Is getting a 3 on an AP Euro Test bad? I had an A in the class both semesters and an outstanding acheivement award from my teacher…</p>
<p>not necessarily bad, just not good. it’s…average :/</p>
<p>anyone else? plzz</p>
<p>Colleges might attribute something like this to grade inflation. It’s probably not great for HYPS, but it shouldn’t really have a significant effect on your application. </p>
<p>Maybe you just aren’t a history person. I know I had a horrible teacher and hated/didn’t study Euro back in 10th grade and got a 3 on the exam despite an A minus. Then, my junior year I had a good U.S history teacher, still goofed around/hated the subject, and again got a 3 despite an A plus in the class. </p>
<p>But I had other test scores that were more consistent with my grades, and in the end I don’t think my two 3s in history made a considerable difference. All it showed was that my school’s history department can sometimes be a joke, and that I really don’t like history.</p>
<p>Actually, it has nothing to do with grade inflation. I could make a European History class that was SOOOO hard that nobody could even get a B. But, if I didn’t teach the exact material covered on the AP test, most people would not be able to get a 5. So there. I really don’t think AP scores matter that much.</p>
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<p>I do not contest that “teaching to the test” helps students earn fives more readily.</p>
<p>Yet, even “teaching to the test” does not guarantee that most students in the class will earn fives. My AP Calculus AB teacher not only “taught the test” but also taught us many tricks and gave us many tips on how to handle the questions (e.g. what “justify” meant.) Even with such an amazing teacher, 50% of the students did not make a 5.</p>
<p>In this example, if you actually taught from any decent European History book and covered the entire text, I wager that most of your students would at least earn 4s.</p>
<p>Of course, by “SOOOO hard,” you could just ask them to color maps all day and penalize them for coloring outside of the lines.</p>
<p>Still, a 3 on an AP test and an A in the class does not mean Grade inflation, it could, but a college COULD NOT assume that.</p>
<p>For what colleges? I know the UCs won’t mind if you received a 3.</p>
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<p>I’ll agree with you.</p>
<p>How about a 1 or 2 on the AP test and an A in the class?</p>
<p>what is grade inflation? is it gettin a grade u don’t deserve?</p>
<p>thanks so much for the responses!</p>
<p>At some schools, it is very easy to get an A and at others, few get As. It isn’t really inflation, it’s just that some schools have a different definition about what an A is. However, there are some schools who are way over the top. I know of a school where if you receive all As and 1 A-, you get bumped out of the top 10%.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and taking a class is a lot different than taking a test. Getting good grades has a lot more to do with completing assignments on time than actually knowing things like on the AP test. So grades and AP scores are not comparable at all.</p>
<p>To the OP:
- Your AP scores have no affect on your admission to a school. They don’t know your ap scores; you’re suppsoed to send them in after you get accepted and enroll so they can decide what you get credit for.
- The grade you got in the class is awesome, but how much weight it holds is not based on how well you do on an AP test but really how highly ranked your school is. If you come from a very weak school (maybe because you’re in a poor neighborhood, lack of resources, too few teachers) and your schools over all ranking is very low, then how they see ALL your grades will be different. To balance that out, you would need to do well on your SATs. If you come from a very good school, grades are thus more important and SATs not AS much.
- Regardless, schools know AP tests are simply tests. You could have had a bad day, been sick/not feeling well, or simply really nervous. </p>
<p>You got your A’s and really just relax. Spend this summer studying for your SAT/hanging out with friends/TAKING A BREATHER/doing extracurricualr activies. The best advice I can give you is too really jsut let yourself relax once in a while. If you’re stressing right now, you will seriously burn out and break down when college app due dates zone into a deadline and you dont like your college essays nor do you feel ocnfident about your GPA and SAT scores.</p>
<p>Your AP score has almost no effect on admissions but a 3 on Euro and A in the class means there is grade inflation.</p>
<p>I’m sure this question has been probably asked a million times (I’m too lazy to search), but is it true when applying for college, they will know all your AP scores regardless whether or not you specifically sent your score to them?</p>
<p>^ They only know your score if you send it to them, or you tell them through self-reporting. </p>
<p>I, myself, sent my scores every year because the AP test let you send your scores to one college. You can opt out of that by not filling in that section. But, if you did, the college will know. </p>
<p>And why is everybody freaking out about a 3?? A 3 is passing…and on AP tests, a 3 doesn’t mean a C, it means that you know the material. Maybe you haven’t mastered it perfectly, but you know it, which is great.</p>
<p>fhqw:
“Actually, it has nothing to do with grade inflation. I could make a European History class that was SOOOO hard that nobody could even get a B. But, if I didn’t teach the exact material covered on the AP test, most people would not be able to get a 5. So there. I really don’t think AP scores matter that much.”</p>
<p>I’d like to point out that I never made an attempt to explain the OP’s conflicting grade and score but instead said what colleges might think, and that just because it does not necessarily point to grade inflation, you can’t make the logical jump of saying that it has nothing to do with it, either. </p>
<p>Because the OP has taken an AP class, it is expected that the course material conforms to the curriculum set by the College Board. Because it is assumed that the course is geared towards the AP exam, colleges might conclude that a discrepancy, like a high grade but a 3 on the exam, is evidence of grade inflation.</p>
<p>Many schools will only give you credit if you got 4 or 5 on APs.</p>