Explaining the significance of a 5

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>Many of my family members are very supportive of my academic endeavors and take every opportunity they can to commend my accomplishments and achievements. But for the life of me, I have not been able to explain or stress the level of difficulty of an AP exam compared to regular honors courses, final exams, etc. I don’t know what words to use to explain to people that AP exams are not cakewalks (well, most of them aren’t, anyways) and that making a 5 is truly something to be proud of.</p>

<p>How do you guys explain to your parents and such that making a 5 is a big deal? It’s not motivating enough when after you tell them you got a 5, they respond, “Is that good?”, and I say, “yeah, a 5 is the highest”, and they say “oh, cool. That’s good.” I want them to say, “wow, great job! That’s fantastic!”.</p>

<p>Any stories to share?</p>

2

<p>Tell them it is the equivalent to getting an A in a college level course. That might be something they can understand.</p>

3

<p>honestly, it’s not THAT big of a deal. 18% of people who take the AP chem exam get a 5, making it 82nd percentile. by comparison, a 26 ACT is 84th percentile. I realize that AP exams are self-selecting pools, but still.</p>

4

<p>What you want your parents to say is what mine already do :). I guess mine have a good sense of the magnitude of a 5.</p>

5

<p>idk… i personally think a 5 is merely a justification of your A in the class. and like Leaping lizard says, the percentiles aren’t that great, getting 800s on SAT subject test is relatively more difficult. (both statistically and from experience on 800s in bio and chem vs 5 in bio and chem ap tests)</p>

<p>But not to downplay your success, Its still a worthy achievement regardless and it does signify an A at an average (mid/lower tier by CC standards) college introductory course in the corresponding subject.</p>

6

<p>AP exams are cakewalks though. I mean, maybe not right now while you’re a sophomore, but AP tests will become significantly easier as you gain more experience studying for them.</p>

7

<p>college credit…really the only importance. the whole point of AP exams.</p>

8

<p>Well a 5 on an AP exam isn’t special, but it does help a lot more with college credit and with verifying your grades in the class to college admissions. Even so though, my family has always treated it as a big deal even though I secretly know that its not. I think that if you want them to ooo and aah, you just act like you’re really anticipating your scores and “hoping for” a 5 as you would hope for a 2400 SAT. Parent’s can’t usually be told the significance of a score, but will understand it from how you treat it yourself.</p>

9

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<p>Am I the only one that caught this horrible comparison?</p>

10

<p>^I caught it too. Damn.</p>

11

<p>I really wish they told us our percentages. Then we could really be proud of our achievement, knowing we placed in the 98th percentile or something.</p>

12

<p>I don’t think you’ll get this answer here from a bunch of CCers that get fives on every test. The easiest way to explain this, is by explaining that it will save you money/time in college.</p>

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This would cause AP Tests to not be much different than SAT Subject Tests.</p>

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<p>My parents became ecstatic at the fact that they don’t have to pay for those courses/units later. </p>

<p>Good enough for me.</p>

15

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<p>Think about what is wrong with that statement. I don’t feel like explaining.</p>

16

<p>The problem with all the people on college confidential is that they are really caught up in the numbers and the percentiles and being better than others.</p>

<p>The fact that you scored the best that can be scored is not any less significant because others did too. You did the best that can be done. Its as simple as that.</p>

17

<p>^^If they told us our “percentages” (whatever you mean by this), AP Scores would most likely progress to being further defined than the 1-5 score range, similar to the score range of a SAT Subject Test.</p>

18

<p>AP Maths and Sciences are definitely a set of funny jokes when these subjects boil down to exams; the material tested is extremely condensed. Therefore, 5’s on Maths/Sciences do not necessarily relate to A’s in college.</p>

19

<p>You seem a bit conceited. Why do you want people to say “oh my god you are so smart, you got a five!!!” You did as well as you could, be happy for yourself. They are happy for you too, it’s not like they said “you suuck for getting a five.” it’s not an earth-shattering accomplishment, but you don’t need others to go on and on about how great you are to be proud of yourself</p>

20

<p>Maybe if you talk year-round about how much work you’re having to put in, and how you’re worried if you’ll get a 5. I dunno, that’s sort of what I did when I took World History my sophomore year. That wasn’t a plea for their approval though, it was my genuine nervousness. Also though, at my school, the AP teachers have to give out a course description on the first day of class which we’re supposed to give to our parents, and it usually highlights the importance of it (i.e., college credit, difficulty, etc).</p>

<p>On the other hand, I’d rather be in your boat… my mom praises me for every little thing I do, which is incredibly annoying. Its the reason I haven’t yet told her I’m the president of NHS at my school, or that I just got 5’s on my AP tests T.T</p>