<p>Our S/D attend a private prep school and have been told by several of their AP teachers that they will have to take a teacher-constructed final exam ( may be a combination of prior released AP exams and teacher’s own questions). If students do not make a “3” on the TEACHER’s FINAL ( not the CB AP exams), then the school will remove the AP designation from a student’s transcript and notfiy a college where student has been accepted.</p>
<p>I have never heard of anything like this, and while I know some schools link a student’s final grade to the AP exam score, this truly stuns me. I have poured over the College Board’s AP Central website this weekend and can find nothing about the CB allowing a school to do this.</p>
<p>Have any of the parents ( or students) on this board known of such a practice? Ideas? Thanks a million.</p>
<p>I teach an AP course. In my school system, students who do not take the May AP exam (fees paid by school for all students in AP courses) will have the AP designation removed from their transcripts. Their performance on the official exam is not a factor in course grades or AP designation. I have not heard of a practice such as you describe.</p>
<p>I don’t know why a school couldn’t set its own policies about whether a student gets AP designation if s/he fails to get a Pass (using the teacher’s own criteria for a pass) on the class final exam.</p>
<p>And I don’t see what standing College Board would have to differ with the school’s own policy.</p>
<p>However, students can and do self-study for the College Board AP exams, having never taken an AP course in the subject at all. So your student could still get a 3/4/5 on the CB AP exam and report the scores to the schools. And get credit/advanced standing/prereq waiver at the college according to the college’s policy.</p>
<p>GAtwins, Do the students also take the real AP exam? Or just this peculiar “teacher-constructed” exam? </p>
<p>Quite frankly, I can’t see why the college would care what the HS tells them. The only thing that will matter to the college is the official AP score report sent directly from the College Board.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of anything like this. Have seen kids do poorly in an AP course, but do well on the AP exam. </p>
<p>So, if they remove the “AP” designation from the kids transcript, would it just say “Biology” etc? Seems like that would look very odd, as there would likely be an earlier basic Biology course on the transcript. </p>
<p>Do they discourage kids who do poorly on the test to not take the AP exam?</p>
<p>Seems like this would make a high school’s ‘Profile’ look stellar, it would look like all kids taking AP classes did extremely well.</p>
<p>Most students take the AP exams ( D/S know of only 2 kids who did not take all eligbile exams last year). This new “rule” apparently began this year-here is example in our home:
S takes AP Bio, AP English Language, AP Psychology. D takes AP English Language, AP Euro and AP Psychology. If either child in any of the “school-administered, teacher-developed final exams” does not make the equivalent of a 3, then the school will notify colleges that AP designation has been removed and transcript will say “College Level English Language” for example. From what I can read-this would take place EVEN if student had earned an A or B in the course.</p>
<p>Besides the fact I cannot see how CB would condone such a practice-remember their push for equity and availabilty of AP courses to kids who might not normally “reach” for that level-having a transcript altered after student has put forth that level of effort and achieved an A or B in the course seems disingenuious. I think one or both kids might consider transferring at some point in their undergraduate years-so pulling an AP designation from a transcript is really troubling.</p>
<p>Karen Colleges, to me, removing AP designation after a student is admitted seems to shed doubt on rigor of school. In this case- rigor is everything. Kids take 8 classes in an academic year-classical languages ( Greek or Latin) are mandatory each year a student is enrolled and usually one of two electives.</p>
<p>Our local high school they take the AP designation away if the students do not take the AP exam. I guess schools can make their own rules that way.</p>
<p>Sounds like a scare tactic aimed at the seniors. “Keep on working really hard and don’t get senioritis, cuz there’s my big final exam that you need to pass or we tell your college!” Since schools don’t receive AP score reports until late July/early August, they are using the class final as leverage.</p>
<p>Removing the AP designation will lower the weighted GPA. I don’t know if any college would change their admissions decision because of this; I imagine the GPA couldn’t possibly drop all that much. How about scholarships based on GPA? If they’re awarded well in advance of final senior grades, then it likely won’t matter. Seems as if this policy really impacts underclassmen & not seniors.</p>
<p>Here is an update: Just received an email from the college counselor at our school with inclusion of the “school policy”. The school WILL notify colleges if student’s do not pass the teacher’s exam and WILL remove AP designation. Here is an excerpt from the school policy:
SENIORS:
Midyear reports were mailed to all colleges and universities to which you have applied – the AP designation was included on the midyear reports for any CL/AP course that you are currently enrolled. If you decide not to take the final examination or the CLEP option in any AP course – or if you receive below a 3 on the final school exam or a failing grade on the CLEP, your AP status will change to CL Honors – indicating that you were not able to meet the strict requirements of the AP course. There is a possibility that this change will affect your GPA (since you will not be awarded the 25% bump) and your college(s) will be notified of this change. Please understand that this may influence college decisions.</p>
<p>I have spoken with three people in the AP section of the College Board today and each of them have told me schools can do whatever they want with AP designations-I must be losing it, but I think this is unbelievable. To me, the students ( including the ones in our home) are stressed enough trying to maintain grades and prepare for AP exams. This policy will revoke AP designation before CB scores are even in.</p>
<p>Georgia, I happen to agree with the high school. A 25% bump is a HUGE weighting for the AP designation & the policy will keep kids on track. At schools where the kids aren’t required to sit for the exam, many kids are just grabbing an undeserved GPA bump. I can’t imagine the school would make its exam tougher than the CB exam. It seems like a way to keep kids focused for the month after the CB AP exam, rather than have them sit in the classroom watching movies or wasting time.</p>
<p>Do kids who get the AP designation removed still get to take the AP test? </p>
<p>If yes - I don’t understand this policy at all…
If not - I’d guess that it is the school’s way to ensure good AP scores record for its recruitment/ranking/whatever purposes. Since it’s a private school, there is probably nothing you can do about it.</p>
<p>I might not be following, but why would the bump necessarily be undeserved? Presumably, it’ll only help the student if he receives an equivalent or higher grade than he would’ve gotten in a non-AP, and if he’s interested enough to take the AP, and dedicated enough to get a high grade, I don’t see the problem. My HS didn’t require us to take the exams, and I’m just having trouble imagining a situation in which a student could really have abused the policy and still benefited.</p>
<p>If the school weights the AP course, a kid can boost his GPA but not put in the study time or serious effort needed to sit for the CB AP exam. Often in schools where this is the case, the class is slowed down by less serious students. In my town, the number of kids sitting for exams was tiny & necessary curriculum wasn’t being covered. This is the first year where the exam is required (town will pay) and the AP kids are pleased that the classes can now move at the speed expected of a true college course while the level of discussion is also raised.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that AP GPA bumps are given in deference to the rigor of the course.
A struggling student who earns a C gets the same GPA bump as a slacking student who earns a C. Neither student will likely reap the benefit of college credits awarded on the basis of the AP exam, nor will they boost the school’s AP success rate, so I fail to see why either should be required to take the exam.</p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like a problem of specific schools (and/or students/teachers/classes), not necessarily a problem with AP students opting not to sit for CB AP exams.</p>
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<p>The kid still has to put in the study time and serious effort to get his class grade, though. My trouble is with “undeserved.” If the course is taught to an unacceptably low level, well, that’s a problem that needs to be addressed, but the kid still signed up for what was supposed to be a challenging course, and he did the work required to receive his A, B, C, whatever…probably more work than would have been required to achieve the same grade in a non-AP course, hence the bump. </p>
<p>AP’s work so differently at every school. They never make generalization easy. Personally, I think of the tests as being pretty independent of the classes, which is why I’m somewhat uncomfortable with policies that let AP test grades replace class grades, or that require kids to sit for the tests. Regardless, I think I understand your main point, and I’m glad that the school you describe was able to work out the problem in a way that’s helping the students :)</p>
<p>In our school and all those I have heard of in our area-a student must take the AP exam to recieve AP credit and the additional weighting, but their grade on the exam does not affect the weighting. If they fail the class or teachers exam and fail the class no AP credit is given. I know of students who have done fairly well -B or B- on the teachers exam and the class but not gotten a 3 or better on the AP exam. Without the minimum 3 on the AP exam they are not elgible for college credit.</p>
<p>My daughter did fine in he AP US history class but as the teacher did not make it to the 20th century did not do well in the AP exam. (I think she said 2-3 of the essays were on 20th century (this was a couple of years ago) and she had no clue). So there is definitely a big variance in class and quality. Now she has to do US history again in college to meet her gen ed requirements but is hoping to do a late US history to cover the part she has not learned about.</p>