It's Official: I Got a 4 on my AP World Exam

[LMP]

Time to rejoice and watch Lebowski, dudes.

 

[Lila64]

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Good for you! I will teach that class.

You should have taken AP Euro. the test is easier.

 

[No spoken words]

Congrats, Smacky.
.

 

[RedRocksU2]

 

[VertigoGal]

I got a 5. mothafuckas.


but nice job limpy dear.

 

[redhotswami]

w00t LeMacPhi!

i just wanna say that a lot of you are much younger than i had presumed you to be.

 

[phillyfan26]

I'm not taking AP history till senior year.

I wanted to junior year but just missed the grade cut off (you needed an A by mid-third quarter, I was a high B). I finished the year with an A, though.

I hope to do well in American history (the only type I like) in junior year.

 

[love_u2_adam]

i'm taking it!!!!!

AP world history!!! yummy

 

[redkat]

blue crack smartypants

history

 

[LMP]

Good for you! I will teach that class.

You should have taken AP Euro. the test is easier.

Thank you, and thanks to everyone else.

I would've taken AP Euro this year, but my school only allows a certain AP classes until Junior year, when I'm taking American and Lang and Comp already. Maybe senior year...

My AP World teacher had pregancy leave the last 9 weeks and review period, so most of my friends stopped caring about the class and took advantage of the sub, now most of them ended up getting 2s, maybe some 3s. It really is a true college prep class.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Nicely done! Goodbye first year university-level historeh I suppose.

 

[anitram]

Nicely done! Goodbye first year university-level historeh I suppose.

That's what I thought too, until my university told me they don't believe AP classes are college-level equivalents. While it's "nice" to do them, they wouldn't give credit.

 

[Canadiens1131]

To be fair, they probably aren't up to the standards of first-year college courses. In Quebec, all the university kids do their first year requirements for basic Economics and Math at CEGEP (junior college)

I seem to remember my US high school AP Chem class being fairly easy, too.

 

[VertigoGal]

yeah. just look at the free response questions for this year's AP world exam. not exactly the most difficult shit ever. I wonder what the grade distribution will be like this year. having taken the full exam from 2002 (I think) as practice, I've got to say it was 10x easier.

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_do...g/ap/history_world/ap07_frq_World_History.pdf

 

[VertigoGal]

I would've taken AP Euro this year, but my school only allows a certain AP classes until Junior year, when I'm taking American and Lang and Comp already. Maybe senior year...

the nerd in me is excited for AP Lang/Comp seeing as language and composition are pretty much completely neglected in your average American language arts class. not that I want to be memorizing grammar terms all day, but it's a little bit pathetic considering how effective communication is supposedly important or something.

I'm also taking AP bio and calc...BC because I'm a fucking masochist of some sort. I'm not even that great at math.

ahh nerdhood.

 

[LMP]

yeah. just look at the free response questions for this year's AP world exam. not exactly the most difficult shit ever. I wonder what the grade distribution will be like this year. having taken the full exam from 2002 (I think) as practice, I've got to say it was 10x easier.

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_do...g/ap/history_world/ap07_frq_World_History.pdf

I took that and the 2003 test as practice, and I preferred those free response questions, but these weren't exactly that hard.

DBQs could be the easiest essays to write ever.

Isn't this class supposed to take the place of Humanities 101 or something?

 

[LikeNoOneBefore]

YAY AP KIDS!

My APUSH teacher saw this shirt that said "Chicks did APness." I want it.

Congrats on the test scores! I took two this year. I got a 5 in English (Language/Composition) and a 3 in US history. I wish that was a 4 instead, but it's passing!

 

[randhail]

AP classes are a complete scam - they have almost no impact on your college classes and are just a moneymaker for the College Board and a means to inflate GPAs.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Nicely done! Goodbye first year university-level historeh I suppose.

AP World won't get you any credit for a gen ed. AP Euro will get you out of a second semester Western Civ class though. My AP Euro teacher in high school inspired me ( as well as a few other classmates) to become a teacher.

 

[AtomicBono]

I would've taken AP Euro this year, but my school only allows a certain AP classes until Junior year, when I'm taking American and Lang and Comp already. Maybe senior year...

good grief, they let you take AP classes as sophomores and juniors? Lucky bastards. I didn't get to take any AP classes til senior year and I don't think they offer any sort of AP World History exam? If they do I think I would have known about it considering I was in the Humanities magnet...ah well (which, also, they didn't let magnet kids take AP Government - wtf? We would have been best at it!). Congrats on your score I got a 5 on AP English (Lang & Comp), but the class was a fuckin joke. So I hope you have a real class when you take it, not just a bullshit class that is nothing but prep for the exam.

I only got a 2 on my AP Studio Art portfolio... and a 1 on Calc AB i wasnt exactly on top of my game when i took that test...despite getting an A in the class I'm straight up retaking Calculus in college. Math is not my strongest subject.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

AP classes are a complete scam - they have almost no impact on your college classes and are just a moneymaker for the College Board and a means to inflate GPAs.

Um yeah, no.

My friend Beth started at the University of Illinois as a sophomore b/c of all her AP credit. she was able to study abroad and not have to worry about credits b/c of it. There are lots of students who benefit from AP.

I also take issue with any AP teacher who allows their class to become an artificial way for students to inflate their grades. I certainly don't run my classes that way. Any teacher that is about anything doesn't do that.

 

[randhail]

I also take issue with any AP teacher who allows their class to become an artificial way for students to inflate their grades. I certainly don't run my classes that way. Any teacher that is about anything doesn't do that.

It's not so much the teacher deciding to inflate the grades, it's how much extra weight the school gives the course. It makes no sense that a student can attain a higher GPA than 4.0 if they're on the 4.0 scale. I'd be curious to know how many student actually want to take AP classes for the sake of learning the material vs. inflating the GPA for the college applications.


Perhaps I was a little strong in saying that the classes are a complete scam, but they're definitely not as great as they are made out to be. In my experience, AP credit was not accepted for classes towards my major. A couple of courses did get me out of a requirement or two, I still had to take other classes in order to maintain my status as a full time student. I believe the intention was good in creating AP courses, but things have gotten out of hand with them - it seems like everyone and they're mother are taking the courses so there's nothing special about them.

 

[Utoo]

I loved AP Euro & AP Lang/Comp.

 

[Utoo]

I believe the intention was good in creating AP courses, but things have gotten out of hand with them - it seems like everyone and they're mother are taking the courses so there's nothing special about them.

Agreed. When I was in high school (94-98), it was a big deal if you'd taken three or four by time you graduated, and you could only take them as a junior or senior. Nowadays it seems like people are taking 10 or 12 before they graduate and can take them as a sophomore. My AP Euro course was treated like a college course--as AP classes are supposed to be. We followed the local college syllabus and even came in to have class when the high school was closed but the local colleges weren't.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

There are actually a couple reasons why more kids are taking AP classes.

1. The more AP classes a school offers the better chance it has to be listed in the Top 500 schools in the nation. As a result of this many school boards demanded more AP classes be part of the curriculum. Some schools abused this and called classed AP that were not actually AP. To address this situation college board has developed an audit system. Every teacher across the country who is teaching an AP class must submit paper work including a syllabus, rational, course explanation for review. If the submission does not pass the audit, the class will not be considered AP.

2. Statistically speaking, most kids taking AP classes are white, middle to upper class students. College board wants to do something about this. (as they should) Currently CB is focusing on getting underprivileged and minority students interested in AP. CB believes that every student should have the opportunity to :

participate in rigorous and academically challenging courses and programs. All students who are willing to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses. The Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access for AP courses to students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program.

I applaud them for their efforts. I think it's absolutely ridiculous to deny a student the right to take an AP class based on 1 o 2 grades. (or race, class, etc) The classes are not going to change just b/c a "c" student wants to enroll. AP teachers I know still run their classes like a college class. ( with the exception of some skill introduction and building of course and some test specific preparation. For example, the DBQ's for Euro, US and World are pretty different.)

I don't see the problem with "everyone and their mother" taking the classes. When it comes down to it, it doesn't really matter what you get in the class, it matters what you get on the test. There's always that kid who barely passes a class only to get a 4 or 5 on the test.

 

[tiny dancer]

 

[LikeNoOneBefore]

AP classes are a complete scam - they have almost no impact on your college classes and are just a moneymaker for the College Board and a means to inflate GPAs.

If it weren't for AP classes, I just wouldn't try in any of my classes because I'd be bored to death. AP US History also GREATLY improved my writing.

 

[anitram]

I don't see the problem with "everyone and their mother" taking the classes.

Because it dilutes the experience and is not indicative of the college experience (if you go to a top school). I was enrolled in the most difficult life sciences specialization at the #1 university in the country. It was a small program of about 45 students (so you can imagine how competitive it was). We still had a range of grades, but we did not have people failing and those who were getting lower grades did so because they were disinterested, not because they lacked the aptitude. So yes, at least at the top colleges, you are not surrounded by "everyone and their mother" and in that way AP classes do not reflect reality. It is also a question of competition - how hard is it to get a top score if an argument can be made that 80% of the class doesn't really belong there?

I think the idea of AP classes is good. But I'd restrict them to the top 10% of students. You can always use some affirmative action means to bring in a certain number of students who have faced systemic disadvantage. But I don't understand why we are now a society who thinks everyone should have an equal shot to be Einstein. I stink at tennis...I never expected to be given a free ride into Bolletieri's academy and then be allowed to fail there.

 

[Diemen]

I had an awesome AP Euro teacher in HS (I forget if I got a 4 or 5...), but my favorite AP teacher was the physics teacher. That was, including college, the most challenging class I ever had (the only HS course I had to actually had to really study for), but I loved it because of the teacher. I just barely managed a 3 on the test, but still remember conversations with the teacher during lunch break, and all the cool experiments he made from scratch.