<p>My AP Biology teacher explained at the beginning of the year that our class would be structured as two semesters of college biology for SCIENCE MAJORS. I will be attending the University of Texas at Austin next year, where credit for two semesters of biology for majors is given for a score of 5 on the AP Biology exam. NO CREDIT is given for a 4. I do not understand how people can say that this is NOT a big deal. Yes. AP Exams are hard and are designed to be that way. However, if “grade compatibility studies” are going to be conducted, it is essential that they are conducted CORRECTLY, especially since a student’s entire knowledge of college introductory biology is consolidated into the AP 1-5 score format. Unlike other some tests with much larger scales, a loss of one point from the top score (in the case of UT AUSTIN) loses credit for two semesters of biology and at least six hours of credit. Since I will be attending UT-Austin, I will put this into my perspective; I’m sure it is a different case for everyone. 6 hours of biology credit is granted for a 5. The cost for 6 hours of credit is $3,040. Obviously, it would be economically beneficial to earn credit through the AP Exam. This means that a lot also rides on the exam. For the College Board to base scores on tests given to college students under different conditions seems completely ridiculous to me. In my eyes, they had two major advantages. The first is that they were tested over about HALF the information tested on the AP Biology exam. It takes a lot to study for an exam covering so much material. The second is that their tests were MUCH shorter. I personally found the AP exam to be grueling. The AP exam is 4 times longer than the test given to the college students, in both the multiple choice and free-response sections. Part of the test taking is having endurance and keeping up stamina. Given that the scientific method makes up a large part of the AP Biology curriculum, I find it ironic that the College Board could use control variables that are so completely different. It may have changed the results of their study significantly and thus AP Scores, which can and do make a big difference to students. Standardized examinations should not be so subjective.</p>