Thanks, @mamaedefamilia!
@inthegarden - I donāt have a recommendation for APUSH tutorials, but at this stage I would have her look very closely at the 2020 rubric. It shows exactly what it takes to earn points on the exam. It doesnāt have to be the greatest essay ever written as long as it hits the criteria to earn various points. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-history-rubric-2020-dbq.pdf
Thank you, @3kids2dogs !
@inthegarden yes to the exact rubric for this year, and also your D can watch the youtube official collegeboard channel for APUSH for either Tue or Thur last week (it should be called something like āReview of Timed AP Exam Practice #1ā or āReview of Timed AP Exam Practice #2ā), where they are reviewing how to use the documents to get the points on the rubric. Iād have her read the rubric and understand it first and then watch one of those two videos. Given that the entire exam is one question and a DBQ at that, I feel as if my S21 could score anywhere from a 2 to a 5ā¦haha.
@NJWrestlingmom so teachers upload the letters but then they donāt go out until right before each school needs the rec? I know that, with S19, on the day the recs were loaded, they were sent to all schools on his common app. I remember looking through each of his apps and seeing they were uploaded to all schools on the same day.
AP Lang, AP Euro, APUSHā¦all about the rubric. Kids practice it all year long. I know it did change just a bit when the tests changed to 45 min online.
I pretty much hate it because not sure practicing writing an essay to a rubric is a skill thatās needed out in the world. I do think the classes at our high school are good and the kids learn a lot but I do not love the tests themselves that have kids writing essays with a rubric. No joke that the essay could just be pretty average and,as long as the kids hit the marks on the rubric, they will get a high score.
@homerdog I honestly donāt remember that much about how it worked - 2017 seems like forever ago! I seem to remember they did things in waves - so guidance would send out an email saying āreminder if your school deadline is Nov 15, you have XX days to get this doneā. Iām going to have to reach out to guidance and see how they do things.
On the gap year topicā¦a full pay friendās son is going to BC in the fall. She called and asked about if classes go online and he wanted to wait to enroll until 2021 would that be ok. She was given a hard no and was told he would need to re-apply next year.
@inthegarden Tom Richey has a whole APUSH Corona Classroom- lots of good information.
My D did a total of 2 DBQs this year- everyone did horrible on them. The Apush teacher has had one meeting since weāve been out and it was full of misinformation about the Exam- Period 1 and 2 would be on it, they would have an hourā¦ the teacher has been completely unhelpful. Her communication this week- a Remind saying good luck on the exam- if my D does well, it will have nothing to do with this teacher.
@jeneric Do kids typically do well on APs at your school? Or after having class with this teacher? I would think thereās pressure on teachers to make sure their students do well on the tests. I donāt know why teachers wouldnāt be teaching how to take the AP when itās all about the rubric. DBQs, LEQs and SEQs need be something kids are learning in the class!
Well, AP Calc BC went fine but the second question of AP Chem glitched so my son couldnāt upload his answer. Heās pretty frustrated, he thought he did really well. We filed for a retest - hopefully there wonāt be an issue.
@homerdog The teacher literally told them they have to write a conclusion paragraph- um there is no point for that on the rubric. The school has an abysmal pass rate on APs - I think 48%. We have full IB, most, but not all, of the really good teachers get pulled into that, basically making the AP kids second class citizens. D18 was IB- majority of her teachers were amazing. D21 watched her sister have no life for 2 years and has watched D18 be burned out through college because of IB. D21 chose not to do it and I supported it- I guess this is the downside.
Obviously having Full IB adversely affects AP- donāt even get me started on class rankā¦
For the kids having problems submitting- how are you trying to submit- picture of work, document file or cut a paste into their submit box?
Well, Iāll be disappointed (for her sake) if my D doesnāt do well on the test because her teacher did not have students sufficiently practicing the rubric. BUT Iām telling myself it is enough that she learned a ton about American History this year, and learned more than she would have, had she taken one of the easier USH options at her school. I have no way to compare it to the quality of other schools, but I HAVE seen the reams of copious notes, and the essays and the answers to study guide questions she has written in her tiny, tiny handwriting all year long. And sometimes she brings up a topic to discuss at the dinner table, so I know sheās thinking outside of the box. I know also that sheās a great reader and retains a lot of what she reads. That will have to be enough. I hope she gets into a college of her dreams but I want to be done with the idea that she should dance circles around selective schools to take her, despite what her high school does or does not offer, to the point that she feels sick. Rubrics are made to create as much cookie-cutter uniformity as possible for ease and fairness of scoring huge numbers with the least possible amount of subjectivity coming into play. I get that there are legitimate reasons for this. But Iām starting to feel in my gut that Iāll love the college that will love her back, wherever she falls on any given scoring system, and I HOPE fervently she can do this too. Sure, she can apply to a few competitive schools but I donāt want her self-esteem invested in it. She (and every other kid) is so much more than a score.
I think Iām going to go give her a hug and maybe a mug of hot cocoaā¦
Argh. I have huge issues with AP classes/tests, even in the best of times. Such a flawed system anyway, and this year is just such a crap shoot! Technology issues, poor preparation, questionable promptsā¦ I feel so badly for all the students who have to deal with these issues on top of everything else!
On an other topic I saw on the Udel thread that it was reported that their expected yield was off by 700 students or about 16-17% of what first year students matriculated last year.
Maybe they will throw OOS merit money around next year to help with those numbersā¦
This was definitely our experience with D19. From visits, there was one school where it was clear it was the right fitāshe just looked more relaxed there, more herself.
Iām just hoping the chaos settles so that we can all get onto campuses. Otherwise, D21 might be making choices based on college visits with big sister.
This is definitely an odd testing experience for everyone. Weāre telling D21 that weāre proud of her hard work regardless of the outcome. I really think sheās been stepping up her game because she hasnāt had her usual sport commitments. But, nobody knows how this will all play out given that itās all based on one or two questions, albeit sometimes with tons of parts.
Iām becoming very aware of my desire for control in this time. Ugh.
@inthegarden, yes - Iāve been telling myself all week that no matter what S21 scores on APUSH exam, he has learned so much history and thought and talked about connections between the history and all kinds of other topics (philosophy, modern politics, media, etc.) Thatās a win no matter the score.
Per the numbers shared a few posts up about yield numbers at Udelā¦my H got an email from Brown last night sharing that their yield is the highest itās been in several years (I believe it is 66%). Will be interesting to see if that holds true for a shortlist of similar schools despite COVID.
@jeneric ugh that is frustrating. As for the rubric and no conclusion - just weird, right? Kids who have not practiced the rubric wonāt even know what is needed for a 5 and a 4, etc.
Itās so specific. Hereās the whole APUSH rubric below. It includes using two documents to āaddress the topic of the promptā and then āsupport an argument in response to the prompt using those documentsā. Then another point is to āsupport an argument in response to the prompt using four documentsā. And on and on. Itās very specific.
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-history-rubric-2020-dbq.pdf
@jeneric my D was fortunate enough to take Physics C-Mech, Physics C-Elec, and Calculus BC this week. All required 2 uploads. She used our (old) home laptop that is next to our printer/scanner and scanned documents to upload and it worked well. I think it was JPEG form? I was concerned about spotty internet connection so it could have just as easily gone the other way. I stayed off all devices and I think S did too for the most part, but H was using a laptop/maybe phone for work.
D thinks that the AP teachers receive the studentsā test answers, but she did not know when they see them-same day as/soon after the test or not until the results are in. Does anyone know?
@nichols51 I think all Ivies, Stanford, MIT, etc. all had record yields this year. Iām guessing that families are banking on the fact that schools like these will weather this Covid storm better than state schools and some small LACs.