College Board Score Summary for First New AP Bio Exam

[AFwife Claire]

If you had a child who took the new, redesigned AP biology exam this May, or if your child is going to take it next year, or even if your child is going to take the new, redesigned AP chemistry exam this coming May, then you may be interested in the score summary that the College Board released for this year's test. (They won't release the actual individual scores until July, however.) I had 4 students, including my son, who took it. They didn't think it was as bad as they had expected. I figured the CB would probably have an easy curve, since it was the first year of a brand new test, and no one knew really what to expect. Ha! I was quite wrong! Here is the break down of scores, and how they compare to last year's results.

 

AP Grade 2012 2013

5 19.7% 5.4%

4 16.9% 21.4%

3 14.3% 36.3%

2 14.6% 29.5%

1 35.4% 7.4%

 

 

Here are a few of their other comments:

 

Educators and students had reported perceptions that the multiple-choice section was easy, that it did not require content knowledge, or that it was a test of reading comprehension. None of these perceptions proved accurate. The panelists who took the exam themselves felt that the questions effectively balanced required content knowledge with fundamental quantitative, analysis, experimental design, and data interpretation skills. Student performance does not indicate that the section was easy. In fact, the results show that AP Biology students on average are not yet performing as well as college students on such tasks.

 

On the multiple-choice and grid-in questions, AP Biology students scored, on average, 61% correct.

 

By way of comparison, the mean score on the “old†AP Biology Exam (2012) multiple-choice section was 63% correct.

 

 

Five questions in a new grid-in question type required students to meet college biology’s standards for use of mathematics to solve biological problems and understand biological concepts.

 

The performance of AP Biology students on these questions was very low, with an average correct score of just 36%.

 

 

The low student performance, in general, on most of the free-response questions had a significant impact on this year’s AP scores.

 

 

AP Biology teachers are doing tremendous work to help their students develop the knowledge and skills essential to success in biology majors and careers, and measured by the multiple-choice, grid-in, and free-response questions on the redesigned AP Biology Exam. In many instances, AP Biology teachers are receiving students who have spent years in science classrooms that never moved beyond rapid coverage of textbook content, with very little understanding or retention of such information. The work needed to improve student learning of biology is made visible by very low scores on most of the AP Biology grid-in and free-response questions – the questions that require students to perform mathematics and describe, explain, and predict fundamental biological principles and outcomes. Many incoming AP Biology students have never been taught or required to demonstrate the quantitative, analytic, and interpretive skills now required, so struggled on the redesigned AP Biology exam.

 

College faculty who participated in the AP Biology standard setting agree that their own students are similarly challenged, and that the redesigned AP Biology program is the new gold standard, one that gives them confidence that AP students earning qualifying exam scores deserve placement and will be much better prepared for science majors than students who take their own colleges’ introductory biology courses. The college faculty participating on the panel sang the praises of AP teachers for teaching a course that is now an exemplar for college-level introductory biology.

 

The small percentage of students demonstrating performance needed for a score of 5 signals a need in particular to help students improve their performance on the grid-in and free-response questions. To earn a 5, students must learn the course content well enough to be able to perform the skills required in the grid-ins and the free-response section: when confronted with scientific data or evidence illustrative of the required course content, students must be able to “calculate,†“predict,†“justify,†“propose,†“explain,†“perform,†“specify,†“identify,†“describe,†“pose a scientific question,†and “state a hypothesis.†True understanding requires that students develop the depth of understanding required to perform such tasks with accuracy and precision.

 

We encourage AP Biology teachers to take heart and recognize that shifting years of students’ prior ways of learning science can take time. But what the AP teaching community has shown, year after year, is that they can meet and exceed the standards required of colleges for credit and placement. More importantly, AP Biology teachers are transforming the depth of science understanding and skills when in classrooms worldwide they shift the focus of classroom instruction away from rapid content coverage to help students learn to explain and describe their understanding of science content, and to design and conduct laboratory and mathematical tasks essential to understanding natural phenomena. If a student cannot perform such tasks, the research consistently shows that they will not retain or use the knowledge they have learned in AP Biology, and will be insufficiently prepared for much of what they will be required to do in science majors. Hats off to the AP Biology teaching community for the tremendous change you are seeking to effect in your students’ understanding of biology.

 

 

There was such a low percentage of 5's, so you may want to lower expectations, especially if they thought it was "not too hard", like my boys, LOL. Evidently, it was! So it looks like it was not a good time to be a guinea pig, and that reinforces my decision to not attempt AP chemistry next year, since it is also changing. We will prep for the chemistry SAT 2 test though. Three of my students also took the biology SAT 2 in June, and they did very well--780, 770, and 730--so they did complete a challenging course, even if they don't end up getting very high AP scores. It was hard to perpare for the new AP test, though, without really knowing what it was going to look like. We shall see! It was definitely a year of learning and stretching for all of us, LOL.

[In The Great White North]

In fact, the results show that AP Biology students on average are not yet performing as well as college students on such tasks.

 

Did they give the tests to college students at the end of their bio course? I'd be interested in seeing that comparison.

 

 

On the multiple-choice and grid-in questions, AP Biology students scored, on average, 61% correct.

 

By way of comparison, the mean score on the “old†AP Biology Exam (2012) multiple-choice section was 63% correct.

 

 

Five questions in a new grid-in question type required students to meet college biology’s standards for use of mathematics to solve biological problems and understand biological concepts.

 

The performance of AP Biology students on these questions was very low, with an average correct score of just 36%.

 

 

 

The low student performance, in general, on most of the free-response questions had a significant impact on this year’s AP scores.

 

Do they "norm" AP tests? Using what population? This doesn't strike me as a normal curve.

[Brenda in MA]

Claire,

 

Where did you find this information? My son took the new AP Latin exam, and I'm wondering if there are any stats out for that.

 

Brenda

[Matryoshka]

Wow, very interesting info! I'm glad my kids have another couple of years before AP Bio for the teachers to adjust their coursework!

 

One of mine may take AP Chem in a few years, hope that one isn't as rough a transition!

[jhschool]

AFwifeClaire,

 

Your students did very well on the SAT Subject Test in Bio.

What text did you use to prepare them? What other materials?

 

Thank you!

[Twigs]

:bigear: What are "grid in" type questions?

[AFwife Claire]

Claire,

 

Where did you find this information? My son took the new AP Latin exam, and I'm wondering if there are any stats out for that.

 

Brenda

 

Brenda, it was posted by the moderator of the AP Biology teacher forum on the College Board website. I only have access to the biology forum, or else I'd check the Latin one for you! I did see students on a thread on college confidential post the percentages I quoted, so somehow the word is getting out. The moderator did not say it was privileged information or anything. Maybe check college confidential and see if any industrious students have found out the curve?

 

AFwifeClaire,

 

Your students did very well on the SAT Subject Test in Bio.

What text did you use to prepare them? What other materials?

 

Thank you!

 

We used Campbell and Reece Biology, 8th edition, which probably over-prepared them, LOL. We all also had BJU Biology, because our original plan had been to do biology using BJU and DIVE, so for some subjects (esp. ones that were not emphasized on the new AP exam like taxonomy and most body systems), I had the boys read those chapters instead of the ones in Campbell, which had SO much information.

 

The boys all worked through a test prep book as well. Two used Barrons, and one used Princeton Review. They used those esp. to review concepts that weren't emphasized on the AP one, and just to get a feel for the question types.

[AFwife Claire]

:bigear: What are "grid in" type questions?

 

They are questions where the student has to solve some sort of problem that yields a numerical answer, which they then "grid in" the answer in a special grid. So if the answer was "3.14", then he would write that in the boxes on top of the grid, and then bubble in the digits and special signs (like a decimal or minus sign or whatever). Here is a link to what the grid-in answer grid looks like.

 

Here is an example of a grid in question:

 

The data below demonstrates the frequency of tasters and non-testers in an isolated population in Hardy-Weinburg equilibrium. The allele for non-testers is recessive.

 

Tasters--8,235

Non-tasters--4,328

 

How many of the tasters in the population are heterozygous for testing?

[Jen in NY]

Oh, Claire! Thanks for posting this.... I think. : ) My dd and her friend scored comparably to your crew on the SATII... but 5%??????? 5% get a 5? That's rough. Really Rough. Especially when you look at the percentiles for the SAT II test... on the BioM a 790=94%ile.... so right there you know that 6% of the kids scored higher than 790. :001_rolleyes: (Please disabuse me of this notion if I am wrong...) Not that those tests are interchangeable.... but if they were it would mean that only those in the 800 club could get a 5. Ah well.... time will tell.

[Matryoshka]

Oh, Claire! Thanks for posting this.... I think. : ) My dd and her friend scored comparably to your crew on the SATII... but 5%??????? 5% get a 5? That's rough. Really Rough. Especially when you look at the percentiles for the SAT II test... on the BioM a 790=94%ile.... so right there you know that 6% of the kids scored higher than 790. :001_rolleyes: (Please disabuse me of this notion if I am wrong...) Not that those tests are interchangeable.... but if they were it would mean that only those in the 800 club could get a 5. Ah well.... time will tell.

 

 

But I thought the SAT2 is testing at a different level than the AP? I thought the SAT2 demonstrates a high school level of mastery, whereas a 5 on an AP demonstrates a college level of mastery? I shouldn't think the scores should correlate - I mean, someone who scores a 5 on the AP should knock the SAT2 out of the park, but it doesn't follow that mastery of the SAT2 means a high score on the AP, as there's much more material covered and depth of analysis required on the AP test.

[Jen in NY]

But I thought the SAT2 is testing at a different level than the AP? I thought the SAT2 demonstrates a high school level of mastery, whereas a 5 on an AP demonstrates a college level of mastery? I shouldn't think the scores should correlate - I mean, someone who scores a 5 on the AP should knock the SAT2 out of the park, but it doesn't follow that mastery of the SAT2 means a high score on the AP, as there's much more material covered and depth of analysis required on the AP test.

Yes, all true. I just think it will be shocking for many kids who prepped for both and *did* pretty much knock the SATII out of the park to then end up with a 4 or even a 3 on the AP, which seems probable in this case. In the past about 20% would get a 5.... for instance, dd#1 scored a little lower on the SATII than dd#2 and still got a 5. Now that doesn't look likely. (I would love to format my post, but I can't.) The new curve is a much nicer bell curve shape. : ) It was just a tough year to take the test, is all. (Not a lot of practice exams, teachers not knowing fully what to expect, etc.) I, like Claire, thought the curve would be gentler the first time out on the new exam. No worries though... it's just a test. : ) I just happen to have a daughter that would dearly love to have a 5 on this exam. She learned A LOT just working toward it, so I am pleased no matter what the number is next week. I will say that it is nice to have the percentages now so I can show them to her ahead of time and she can wrap her head around it. Thanks again, Claire! (And this all goes into the not-a-bad-problem-to-have-file, to be honest... right? I realize..... just getting caught up in the 'friendly' little competition my girls have going on here... don't mind me.....)

[mumto2]

Out of curiosity do most students prep for both of these exams? This is all new to me.

[Jen in NY]

Mumto2.... I don't know what % of the kids who take AP Exams take the SATIIs, but I usually have my kids take associated SATIIs because some colleges require a certain # of SATII's to apply... and won't accept the APs in lieu of the Subject tests.

[Luckymama]

Oh geez. Dd was hoping for a 4. Ah well.

[Supertechmom]

OH no! Mine took the Ap BIo this year and thought it was easy too! And he did well on the SAT 2 test for biology, a 760. I was hoping that would translate to a 4 or 5 as he did a lot of prep work on the Ap part. He used Barron AP and 5 steps to a 5 - 500 questions you need to know books. Oh gosh, I hope his score isn't too bad. He credits all the studying he did for Biology and Chemistry as the reason his critical reading score on the SAT was so high. So at least we get some benefit from it! LOL!

[Matryoshka]

I forwarded all this info to my brother, who is an AP Bio teacher. I know he did a lot of prep to try to adjust his syllabus and prepare his students for the new test - now I'm going to be curious how his students' scores come out!

[annabanana1992]

oh well.... DS took the AP Bio and Latin this year.... I think we just wasted some money!

[Muttichen]

Don't despair! MANY more kids take the APs than subject tests, and the vast majority of them are woefully unprepared. For the most part, kids taking subject tests are those applying to selective schools. Most of them are going to be the ones getting fours and fives on the AP.

[Joan in GE]

Are there any updates on how people did on this?

 

Thanks!

Joan

[Jen in NY]

Some updates in this thread, Joan. HTH...

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/479257-2013-ap-scores-available/

[Joan in GE]

Some updates in this thread, Joan. HTH...

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/479257-2013-ap-scores-available/

 

Thanks Jen!

 

Ok - I just searched those and found two 4's....Any idea what didn't work? This is probably too difficult to answer but perhaps people have looked at released questions now?

 

Joan

[nelewaf]

Thanks Jen!

 

Ok - I just searched those and found two 4's....Any idea what didn't work? This is probably too difficult to answer but perhaps people have looked at released questions now?

 

Joan

 

 

To followup  with what Joan was asking, anyone have an idea of the above?   Thanks!

 

Leaf