2013 AP scores available

[posybuddy]

Okay, I have what feels like a really dumb question, but I'm hoping there's some Hive wisdom out there. DS took AP Economics this year with PA Homeschoolers. It wasn't his favorite class ever, but he liked the games and ended the class with an A-. He prepped with the Barron's book and aced the practice test. He took both Macro and Micro tests, and came out feeling like he had been well prepared and was confident about his scores. He's taken AP's before, and gotten 5's, so he's familiar with what it takes to score well on these tests. This morning he got his scores - both 2's. He is kind of shocked because he was not expecting those scores at ALL.

 

Has anyone ever had this situation? I keep wanting to think that perhaps there was some scoring mistake, although I realize it's unlikely. But it's just so bizarre - he really felt like he had probably gotten 4's on both tests, and now he's discouraged and disappointed. Should I investigate this with CB, or will that just make both of us look foolish? If this has happened to your kids, what did you do (besides pick up the pieces and encourage them that it wasn't the end of the world)?

[plansrme]

I believe you can request a copy of his free response answers. Perhaps his teacher could take a look and figure out either where he went wrong or that it was an error. Also, could he have gotten off on the numbering of his MC responses? I know someone to whom this happened.

 

Sorry this happened and hope you can find an explanation.

[nancy in nj]

Hmmmm....I would think that Dr. Richman's final exam should have been indicative of his real exam score for Macro providing he refreshed his memory in the week or two before the exam retaking the mc tests that Dr. Richman had given previously, reviewing the FRQ that Dr. Richman assigned throughout the year and those on the final and reviewing/working more real prior FRQ's from the Colege board site. Also, for Micro, did he work a lot of real prior FRQ's not just whatever was in the Barron's guide. We have found (based on the 8 AP's my daughter has taken) that no review book substitutes for the real prior FRQ's in AP prep. As I recall, the Macro and Micro exams do require a much higher % correct on the MC to get in the 5 range (i.e., it is not a test where 2/3 of the kids getting only 2/3 correct on the MC end up scoring a 5), but while that may explain a 4 rather than a 5, it doesn't account for a 2 when a 4/5 is expected. You could pay to have them rescore the mc, but the chance of them misscoring both the micro and macro exam for the same student seems almost impossible. It doesn't seem likely that your son would have mis-bubbled both exams so the problem was probably with the FRQ. Assuming he has another year of AP's, I would be tempted to pay to get his FRQ responses so that you can compare them to the scoring guidelines that have been/will be published on the college board website and their sample high-scoring responses. It won't change the scores, but understanding what went wrong could help fine-tune his exam prep in the future.

[nancy in nj]

Also, assuming your son has another year of high school, I would be tempted to have him retake both exams next year if and only if he will be attending a college and will have a major where he will get meaningful credit for these 2 exams --it actually helps reduce his college required courses rather than random elective credit.

[posybuddy]

He's a senior this year, and needed a 4 or higher on both exams to place out of the core economics requirement - which was why he was taking both exams.

 

I tend to agree that if it were only one test with a poor score it would be more likely to have been a scoring error - but the scores are worse than he did on Dr. Richman's final exam, after which he started doing test prep in order to improve. I would chalk it up to unsuccessful prep except for the fact that he felt very confident coming out of the tests. I suppose it's just a life lesson for him. I do wish the class continued further into the spring, however - I think test review within the class would have been a helpful thing.

 

At the very least, he's got a solid economics foundation that will hopefully help him with his core requirement next year. The mom with the checkbook just wishes she weren't paying tuition for this all over again, heh.

 

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

"I always assumed that Virginia law only applied to Virginia residents in terms of offering exams to homeschoolers, and we are from Michigan."

 

We live i VA, and we have had no luck getting out-of-district schools to give our kids AP's, even when our home district didn't offer the exam and the out-of-district school did. So I'm not sure how VA schools would handle an out-of-state students.

 

However, the private schools in VA are fantastic about letting homeschoolers take AP exams. The year when I couldn't get our district to give my son an exam because they weren't offering it, I found many private schools that were happy to give him the exam!

 

Best wishes!

 

Interesting.  Our district has either AP or IP high schools.  So AP tests are given not at the closest school but at one a little farther away (we have two options that are not far).  I've not gotten the impression that they really care where the student is from if they aren't enrolled in the in-house AP class.  Local area private school, homeschool or next district over seem to be considered on the same basis.

[TiaTia]

maybe some school would take pity on me.

 

I recommend WT Woodson, in Fairfax (suburb of DC).  The person who arranges the exams for homeschoolers and other non-students is organized and welcoming.  I'll PM contact information.

[Brenda in MA]

Update: I finally got through to CB on the phone this afternoon, and they gave me my son's scores, and they were excellent!!!!! What a relief... Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.

 

Brenda

[Storm Bay]

YES, a great surprise. DD failed her first test ever in AP Calc BC, and failed 2 or 3 of them. She got quarterly grades of B+, then a B, then a C+ & then a final grade of a B, but scored a 5!!!! We're very pleased. The teacher wasn't very good, but the ps high school has an excellent honours & AP Math program, so she was well prepared relatively; they'd also done a lot of practice tests. She was very confident of the AB subscore, but missed 3 questions on the exam, so wasn't sure if she'd get a 5 or not. I do want to add that she self-taught herself math from grades 4 through Algebra 1, and I learned of some great math programs & got help from time to time from members of the hive.

 

I'm also happy that she has chosen not to skip the entire first year of college Calculus & is going to do the second class as she visited & saw that they covered some things she didn't. I wanted her to do the entire first year, but am happy that she at least met me in the middle gladly (another plus to her having visited a math class there.)

 

Now I'm going to read all the replies here :) (did it backwards this time.)

 

ETA CONGRATS to all who've done so well!!!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I recommend WT Woodson, in Fairfax (suburb of DC).  The person who arranges the exams for homeschoolers and other non-students is organized and welcoming.  I'll PM contact information.

 

That's great to hear. 

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

What phone number are you using to call CB? Each time I call, I get told "we've reached our maximum capacity"

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

What phone number are you using to call CB? Each time I call, I get told "we've reached our maximum capacity"

[Brenda in MA]

What phone number are you using to call CB? Each time I call, I get told "we've reached our maximum capacity"

Cleo,

 

I tried both of the numbers I found on their site: 888-225-5427 and 212-632-1780

 

I'm not sure which one I eventually got through on. I tried 4 or 5 times this morning, and then I finally got through this afternoon. They are open 8am - 9pm EDT. I hope you can get through soon.

 

Brenda

[asta]

Okay, I have what feels like a really dumb question, but I'm hoping there's some Hive wisdom out there. DS took AP Economics this year with PA Homeschoolers. It wasn't his favorite class ever, but he liked the games and ended the class with an A-. He prepped with the Barron's book and aced the practice test. He took both Macro and Micro tests, and came out feeling like he had been well prepared and was confident about his scores. He's taken AP's before, and gotten 5's, so he's familiar with what it takes to score well on these tests. This morning he got his scores - both 2's. He is kind of shocked because he was not expecting those scores at ALL.

 

Has anyone ever had this situation? I keep wanting to think that perhaps there was some scoring mistake, although I realize it's unlikely. But it's just so bizarre - he really felt like he had probably gotten 4's on both tests, and now he's discouraged and disappointed. Should I investigate this with CB, or will that just make both of us look foolish? If this has happened to your kids, what did you do (besides pick up the pieces and encourage them that it wasn't the end of the world)?

 

I have "rant of the ages" about College Board (won't repeat it here - it really requires its own thread, LOL), but suffice to say, in one portion of the rant, CB literally lost one of his SAT2 tests.  LOST. THE. TEST.  Not only that, they lost HIM.  They had no idea who he was when I called.

 

And then they had the gall to hem, haw, lie, and then give him a score that was the exact mean for the scores that test day - as if nothing had ever happened.  Oh - like no one is going to notice something fishy about a kid who has completed college biology with an A only managing to score in the low 600s!

 

Call them on it.  Sure, some kids simply bomb their tests.  But CB are also @ssholes.

 

 

asta

[FaithManor]

I have "rant of the ages" about College Board (won't repeat it here - it really requires its own thread, LOL), but suffice to say, in one portion of the rant, CB literally lost one of his SAT2 tests.  LOST. THE. TEST.  Not only that, they lost HIM.  They had no idea who he was when I called.

 

And then they had the gall to hem, haw, lie, and then give him a score that was the exact mean for the scores that test day - as if nothing had ever happened.  Oh - like no one is going to notice something fishy about a kid who has completed college biology with an A only managing to score in the low 600s!

 

Call them on it.  Sure, some kids simply bomb their tests.  But CB are also @ssholes.

 

 

asta

 

 

This is all VERY true. The college board screwed up, in a very massive way, high school exit testing for the state of Minnesota a few years ago. 8000 kids took the SAT and had to score a certain minimum in the math portion in order to graduate high school. They either lost the kids tests and lied about it, or scored them incorrectly due to computer glitch. They refused to own up to it until a class action lawsuit was brought against them. All of those 8000 kids were prevented from graduating high school and many lost college scholarships over it. Some lost FULL RIDES!!! One young man, whose father was a specialty welder, had taught the trade to his son and the kid had landed a job after graduation with his dad's firm for the same work at a starting wage of over $20.00 per hr. which is just HUGE for a new high school graduate. He couldn't start until he had his diploma since this was the policy of the company. He lost the job when he was told he would not be getting his diploma.

 

After being kicked in the butt by the state, they finally issued "oops, we made a mistake" sheepish grins and $1500.00 in damages per student. That's it....college scholarships lost, jobs lost, and that was the piddly pay out for these losses and it took them several months to do it. On top of which, the unanswered questions were, "How many students were told they passed the minimum on the math portion, didn't, and shouldn't have graduated?" and the equally perplexing problem of, "How many kids were given scores that were crazily inaccurate therefore causing them to receive college scholarships they weren't entitled to or LOSE scholarships they should have had competitive scores for?"

 

There were a couple of other states that had massive grading error issues and then they were exposed one year for hiring highly Unqualified individuals to score the writing portion.

 

Off and on, the collegeboard has set in the hotseat numerous times for issues like these and their attitude stinks. So, I would be inclined to seriously question huge, glaring, anomalies.

 

It's so bad that some Midwestern colleges considered not accepting SAT scores. Most backed down from that, yet some still even say in their admission's packets that they prefer the ACT.

 

Faith

[posybuddy]

I have "rant of the ages" about College Board (won't repeat it here - it really requires its own thread, LOL), but suffice to say, in one portion of the rant, CB literally lost one of his SAT2 tests.  LOST. THE. TEST.  Not only that, they lost HIM.  They had no idea who he was when I called.

 

And then they had the gall to hem, haw, lie, and then give him a score that was the exact mean for the scores that test day - as if nothing had ever happened.  Oh - like no one is going to notice something fishy about a kid who has completed college biology with an A only managing to score in the low 600s!

 

Call them on it.  Sure, some kids simply bomb their tests.  But CB are also @ssholes.

 

 

asta

 

We've discussed and considered, and have decided to pay to have them rescore the tests (and probably to get the frq booklets as well). There are just enough things that don't add up that it's worth it for the peace of mind if nothing else. I am just hoping that I don't have to get into it with CB over this. If it comes to that, asta, I want to hire you to be my Confrontation Consultant, lol. I'm way too lily-livered when it comes to this kind of stuff.

[Murphy101]

What phone number are you using to call CB? Each time I call, I get told "we've reached our maximum capacity"

My son's account is saying he has no exam score. :( I've called and called and called both numbers and am getting the same stupid auto message.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

on the phone with CB right now. His computer science exam is nowhere to be found... ARGH!

 

 

ETA: being escalated to upper management. Score may be delayed. 7 to 10 days before we get any news. Sigh

[Murphy101]

I still am unable to access CB to find my son's scores.

 

Not happy. :glare:

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

So they had till yesterday to find my son's exam. No news.

Today I get an email (I did ask that communications be done via email).

 

"As you requested, we can look into locating your missing file and updating your school information. However, in order to assist you we need more information. Please send your request again and include the following information."

 

And then they ask for the exact same information that they already have on file!!!!  Talk about a cheap way of buying themselves some time. ARGH! I want that exam found!

[Murphy101]

They "lost" my son's too. Same tale here.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Martha > Did you ever get an update from CollegeBoard? 

I talked to them this week, and supposedly they sent me snail mail about our options. I think they gave up on finding the exam. My son does not feel like sitting the exam again. Sigh..

[Brenda in MA]

Martha > Did you ever get an update from CollegeBoard? 

I talked to them this week, and supposedly they sent me snail mail about our options. I think they gave up on finding the exam. My son does not feel like sitting the exam again. Sigh..

Cleo,

 

I am so sorry. What a total bummer. I don't blame your son for not wanting to retake the exam.

 

Brenda

[swimmermom3]

I missed this thread the first time around. I had no idea that exams and students could simply be erased.

 

Aren't these the same folks that are now tied into the Common Core? :tongue_smilie:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Martha > Did you ever get an update from CollegeBoard? 

I talked to them this week, and supposedly they sent me snail mail about our options. I think they gave up on finding the exam. My son does not feel like sitting the exam again. Sigh..

 

How disappointing.  I wonder what happened.

 

Puts a ding in my impression of test security if they can completely lose tests.

[Murphy101]

Nope. :/

 

He sure isn't eager to resit it either so he is "enjoying" the likely unneeded comp classes at CC.

 

And his younger brother is none too enthusiastic to risk the same happening to him, so I might not be able to set him up for it either. :/

[snowbeltmom]

How disappointing.  I wonder what happened.

 

Puts a ding in my impression of test security if they can completely lose tests.

:iagree:

 

I feel so bad for the kids whose tests were lost.  

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I'm at least hoping we'll get our money back, at the very least. 

[Dana]

How disappointing.  I wonder what happened.

 

Puts a ding in my impression of test security if they can completely lose tests.

 

We had a local high school "misplace" a set of tests. I'm not remembering if they were APs or SATs, but they were found about 3 months later in a teacher's room. But it wasn't just one student's test. I also don't know how it was overlooked until students were wondering where their grades were.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

We had a local high school "misplace" a set of tests. I'm not remembering if they were APs or SATs, but they were found about 3 months later in a teacher's room. But it wasn't just one student's test. I also don't know how it was overlooked until students were wondering where their grades were.

 

I was searching on "lost AP exams" and it seems that there was quite a furor in 2006 over hundreds or more being lost.  It must be so frustrating to be on the student/parent end of this.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

We received a letter today offering us the chance of money back or do the exam again for free. Yeah, what nice choices...

 

Oh, and I was told on the phone the letter was mailed beginning of September, but it was dated Sept 20th. They've been lying to us ever since this thing started, avoiding issues, evading questions..  ARGH!

[Brenda in MA]

We received a letter today offering us the chance of money back or do the exam again for free. Yeah, what nice choices...

 

Oh, and I was told on the phone the letter was mailed beginning of September, but it was dated Sept 20th. They've been lying to us ever since this thing started, avoiding issues, evading questions..  ARGH!

Cleo,

 

So sorry this happened to your son. At least you can keep the letter as proof that he actually did sit the exam.... I don't blame him if he doesn't want to take it again.

 

Brenda

[Sebastian (a lady)]

We received a letter today offering us the chance of money back or do the exam again for free. Yeah, what nice choices...

 

Oh, and I was told on the phone the letter was mailed beginning of September, but it was dated Sept 20th. They've been lying to us ever since this thing started, avoiding issues, evading questions.. ARGH!

There is an education columnist at the Washington Post who writes a lot about AP and similar topics. I wonder if he'd be interested in your experience. He's generally a big advocate of the higher level studies tha AP represents.

 

Two points of possible interest: equity-- if a student doesn't have access to AP through the school but self studies how much is at risk when the testing goes awry? Test security--how often are tests just lost and what does this say about the security of the test documents.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

That journalist wouldn't have to look far. I know so far of two other students, and possibly a third (I'm wondering if the third one could by chance already be in the two I'm counting) whose exams were lost. And all expected a 5.

Somehow I think that if too many 5's are scored, CollegeBoard conveniently loses a few so its average would be safe.  Just an intuition