As I look at the graphs in the link that Mike directed us to I note that indeed about 65% of students have more or less consistently passed since 2002. Yes, it was a bit higher back then.
As a reader I think that this is an extraordinarily high pass rate. Certainly it has to be the multiple choice items that drive that rate because if it depended just on the essays my memory of seeing percentages of different scores over the years would suggest that the pass rate would be lower. The exam is very difficult and that is because it is intended to assure college and universities that the students have mastered the material to a sufficient degree to be equivalent to a full college semester-long course. In fact, I believe that most of my students could not pass the essay part of the exam on a comprehensive final exam at even the rate that the AP website lists. The questions are freely available to all to see. Having said that, as a reader I also know that there are very many school districts in some states in which they will offer the class. Having offered the class they need to fill the class, so that they fill the class with students who might otherwise not have qualified to take the class. And in very many school districts all of the students must take the test--the district pays for it. So then you have a rather sizable component nationwide of mostly public school students who are taking the test but who cannot pass it because they never should have been in the class that leads up to the test to begin with. Many of those student primarily lack the motivation to do the hard work. Also, in some of those districts they do not have qualified teachers. The students do not learn the material as well as they should for this reason. So taken together, you have a component of students who are not qualified to be in the course and who probably do not have the pre-existing cognitive skills or motivation to pass the test and/or who may not have teachers qualified to teach the course. This contributes to the lower pass rate. I believe that AP has worked very hard in the last several years to reduce the latter (unqualified teachers). On the other hand, I am impressed with the rigor and thought that goes into both the construction of the items and the construction of the scoring rubrics. These are not easy items to pass in the sense that the rubric requires a clear demonstration of explicit statements of knowing the answer. Sometimes, as an instructor, I say to myself, "Wow, this student really does get it but just expressed it poorly." Well, that's too bad because it just doesn't score any points. My subjective decision doesn't matter. Again, the items and the scoring rubrics are freely available. There are some here: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/exam/exam_information/2088.html you need to go down and click on each year's exam for about the past 10 years. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: The New Phone Book Is HERE!!!! From: "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:17:50 -0500 X-Message-Number: 2 Er, I mean the report for the results for the 2012 AP Exams is here! Given that some Tipsters are involved with the Psychology AP, I thought that there might be some interest in getting the complete report; see: http://apreport.collegeboard.org/download-press-center And here are the result for the psychology AP test; see: http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/rtn/9th-annual/9th-annual-ap-report-subject-supplement-psychology.pdf For those involved with the AP test I have a couple of questions: (1) For the psychology AP test results, the figure makes it appear that the number of students getting a score of 3 or better on the 1-5 grade score is increasing over time. But this assumes that the total for each time point is the same. If one adds up the percent getting 3+ for the four time points, one gets the following: 2002__70.5% scored 3 or higher 2007__65.4% 2011__65.8% 2012__65.7% Am I correct in claiming that the figure is misleading and that instead of "Number of Graduates Taking AP Exams" the "Percentage of Graduates" should be used? Students are doing worse on the Psychology AP exam relative to 2002? (2) I was alerted to the AP report by a news article from the Associated Press (the other AP); see: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hw9tE-c3HvZUjgAkC_w4MzoD17MQ?docId=3e3280e16bd94a608b2bee4fecd04070 The article claims that overall only 1 in 5 or only 20% of the students taking AP courses pass them. Isn't this a terrible pass rate? On page 17 of the report (Figure 2) the state with the highest number of passing scores (i.e., 3 or higher) was Maryland with 29.6% (New York is 2nd with 28%; at the bottom is Mississippi with 4.6 passing rate). I don't understand what the point of an AP class is if 70% will fail it or, in the case of Mississippi, 95% will fail. Are the tests that hard or are out students really that, well, y'know? -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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