AP Calc is kinda trivial, anyone taking it should pass ...
Last year, 42% didn't: http://www.totalregistration.net/AP-Exam-Registration-Servic...
A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
81–90 of 122 posts
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#82Is this that unusual? I'm sure there are many teachers out there whose entire classes passed. I'm pretty sure in high school, my entire class passed. It was unusual for people to fail APs. (My high school only admitted the top 2% scorers on an admission test, so it was biased towards high exam scorers.)
Yeah, I'll second that. I know at my high school (a private one) the AP Chem class had all 5s for 10+ years.
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#83In the 1987, I took the afternoons of my senior year and went to the local community college since we got 3 credits a semester free and paid only $15/credit after that. Students are still doing that here (now its considered dual HS / College credit). AP classes just don't make sense in that context, and I would imagine if a student in a podunk high school on the reservation in the 80's could do that, it must be more…
I went to a Catholic all-boys high school and many of us walked to the Catholic college a few blocks away to earn college credits. I'd say the top quarter of my graduating class started college as Sophomores or better.
From the other end, the Catholic grade school across the street sent some of their 7th and 8th graders to take classes with us at the high school.
This was in the mid-90s.
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#84Is this that unusual? I'm sure there are many teachers out there whose entire classes passed. I'm pretty sure in high school, my entire class passed. It was unusual for people to fail APs. (My high school only admitted the top 2% scorers on an admission test, so it was biased towards high exam scorers.)
It's unusual to the point of being unbelievable for Lincoln High.
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most colleges give credits for 3 and above on AP exams so many people think of a 3 as "passing".
Source? All the schools I looked at required a 4 or 5.
All depends on the school.
My 5 in US History yielded 6 credits, 3 in Calc zero credits and 3 in English 3 credits.
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#86https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/02/1... > Nearly 2.5 million students took a total of almost 4.5 million AP tests overall last year. Of the test-takers, just 322 obtained every point possible on an AP test, and perfect scores were logged on 21 of the 36 AP exams. Here’s the breakdown of those perfect scores: 67 in Computer Science A 55 in Spanish Language and Culture 54 in Microeconomics 36 in…
Surprisingly low numbers, considering how many hundreds of students ace their calculus tests in college. It's not surprising if you realise that AP tests can't be gamed as easily as tests designed (and possibly graded) by those who taught the students taking the tests.
Not for perfect scores, but for a 4, sure.
It was pretty easy to game the written portions of the test if your teacher had grading experience.
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Common Core, in theory, isn't a problem - unifying standards across schools has a lot of benefits (easier to design reusable curriculums, perform scientific inquiries, develop software). The problem is when it gets conflated with high-stakes testing, which is a terrible thing.
High-stakes testing need not be terrible. You just have to be careful: 1. High-stakes testing requires exam security. One must assume that the teachers and administrators, if rated on student performance, will assist cheating. 2. High-stakes testing should be spread out across the year, with the result being a running average that discards the low values. (sickness and other bad luck should not be punished) Instead o…
Testing is designed to fail schools and break the unions by introducing charter schools.
Charter Schools enjoy the benefits of government bonding along with the benefits of making the owners wealthy.
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That was one of the hardest classes I've ever had to take because the grammar is so complex Did you study Latin for several years before? I think that class is typically intended for people who have already studied Latin at the high school level for three years (most likely reading Caesar or other authors first). That would give a lot more opportunity to become familiar with Latin grammar rules.
Yeah, I took it from 8th grade to 12th grade. In my class of 10 or so students, only one of us got a passing score. Perhaps our teacher didn't adequately challenge us. We had read Cicero and other Latin literature yet Latin grammar always seemed so challenging for me to parse. I could make out enough meaning but never do a literal translation well enough. I took it because I couldn't speak any of the Romance language…
I agree with everything up until the reading part. I took Latin 8-12th grade and reading it, but with the assistance of our professor, was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had. We topped off the last year studying Virgil, book 2 of the Aeneid, and Juvenal. Hard, but so great
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#89https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/02/1... > Nearly 2.5 million students took a total of almost 4.5 million AP tests overall last year. Of the test-takers, just 322 obtained every point possible on an AP test, and perfect scores were logged on 21 of the 36 AP exams. Here’s the breakdown of those perfect scores: 67 in Computer Science A 55 in Spanish Language and Culture 54 in Microeconomics 36 in…
> Surprisingly low numbers, considering how many hundreds of students ace their calculus tests in college.
A meter that is always pegged tells you nothing.
Re: A Lincoln High teacher gets all his students to pass the AP Calculus exam
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Source? All the schools I looked at required a 4 or 5.
Yes, I teach Math at a college, and am a former dept chair. We require 4 or 5, as do the folks I talk to at other schools.
I had a conversation with a prof from Harvey Mudd and another prof from somewhere else who was an AP calc grader. The HMC prof said they quit giving credit for 5's because not all recipients of 5's could do the work. The grader commented that he could understand how, as the range of 5's is quite broad. My take-away was that there is insufficient granularity at the high end.