Frustrated at Lackluster Public School, Need Advice

[ucbalumnus]

@jumpingolive6

@ucbalumnus A students mostly get 3s, which is technically passing and also gets credit at our state flagship. Admin is happy, students are happy, parents are happy. However, I personally believe a 3 in multiple AP subjects (like DS1 received his sophomore and junior years) is indicative of a rather weak grasp on the material. Passing an AP test doesn’t mean you mastered its content

Although not as bad as A students typically scoring 1 or 2 on AP tests, A students typically scoring 3 suggests that the school’s AP courses are deficient by AP test standards.

The five point AP score scale fairly obviously corresponds to the usual letter grade system (ABCDF = 54321). Normally, A students in high school become A and B students in college, so one would expect A students in AP courses to score A and B equivalents on the AP tests (i.e. 5 and 4 scores).

@mathmom

Our school board has very little to do with curriculum choices which are largely determined by NYS. The problem with OP’s school is they are teaching to the AP test, not for skills one will actually need in college.

This could be more of a problem where the actual college courses that AP courses cover similar material to are commonly evaluated on larger projects and papers (particularly English composition and literature courses) rather than in class tests.