Aug
17
2010
Article By Mike | No comments yet

College Board will stop deducting points for missed multiple choice questions on AP exams

The College Board recently announced that they will stop deducting points on AP exams for missed multiple choice questions, read about the policy change here.  Beginning in May 2011, students will receive 1 point for each correct answer and 0 points for incorrect answer.  Here’s the new policy from the College Board’s website:

Beginning with the May 2011 AP Exam administration, there will be a change to the way AP Exams are scored. Total scores on the multiple-choice section will be based on the number of questions answered correctly. Points will no longer be deducted for incorrect answers and, as always, no points will be awarded for unanswered questions.

This is a change from past scoring systems where  a part of a point was deducted for incorrect answers.  In the past, if a student missed multiple choice question with 5 possible answers, a 1/4 of a point was deducted.  The justification behind this was to remove the effect of guessing.  With 5 answer choices a student had a 1 in 5 chance of getting a correct answer if they truly guessed.  The idea behind the 1/4 deduction is that if a student guessed on 5 questions, they statistically would get one right, earning a point and 4 wrong at -1/4 point.  This translates into 1 + 4(-1/4) = 0 points.

Personally I do not understand the change, as the past scoring system had been used for so long.  It seems that the College Board will now have a harder time comparing new scores to past scores, but perhaps that is the goal :-) . The multiple choice score will now be larger on average.  This of course can be accounted for when normalizing the scores, but throws one more wrench in the spokes.

The biggest problem I have with this change is that it  will benefit the students who struggle on the exams more than the students who have mastery over the content.  Think about it, exceptional students are not guessing much, and will therefore not be affected much, while less proficient students guess more and will now have a higher multiple choice score.  This change in scoring will result in reducing the range of the multiple choice scores by increasing the low end while not affecting the high end.  Perhaps this is the desired affect as many schools and districts have been criticized for “over expanding” their AP Programs, by encouraging students who are ill-prepared to take AP courses.

Only time will tell how theses changes will be received by the colleges that accept AP credits.  Let’s hope for the sake of the students that this does not cause more colleges and universities to deny college credit for AP exams.

You can read other opinions/comments regarding  the policy change here:

Jun
5
2010
Article By Mike | No comments yet

iPads as an educational tool?

I read of a couple of private schools evaluating using iPads as a possible textbook replacement tool, Reading, writing, and iPads and Lafayette’s Alexander Dawson School swapping books for iPads.  Both articles mention some benefits:

  • Text books are much cheaper in electronic format,  about a third the cost of a traditional text book.iPad
  • They are more engaging to students
  • They can display additional content like videos, browse the web, etc
  • Can be used for quizzes
  • Can access current information from newspapers and magazines
  • Textbook revisions are cheaper to update

There are also several disadvantages to iPads or any other e-book  reader:

  • The initial cost is expensive
  • They are more likely to break than a text book
  • They need to be plugged in to recharge
  • Transporting materials to and from school is hard on them (have you checked out your kid’s back pack?)
  • Students may get distracted by some of the other abilities of these tools and lose sight of the task at hand

It will be interesting to see how these experiments work out.  The possibilities are very exciting and interesting.

What are your thoughts on iPads replacing textbooks?

Will you be attending the 2010 AP Annual conference in Washington D.C. in July?  Stop by the Total Registration booth to register to win an iPad and a free year of  our AP exam registration service.

Mar
2
2010
Blog Post, Resource, Website By Mike | No comments yet

Preparation is Key for High Stakes AP Exams

Students have a lot riding on the AP exams.  Most students see the Advanced Placement exams as a way to impress colleges, when in reality they can end up saving the student/family  thousands in tuition.  If a student scores well on their exam they may qualify for credit in college.  With the rising cost of tuition, this credit translates in to large financial savings.  With all of this hinging on the score on the exam, the pressure can be intense.  The best way for a student to reduce this stress is to prepare for the exams.  There are plenty of quality resources that will help students prepare for the exam so that they may arrive confident on test day.

Purchase an AP Review Book

In order to help students find the review books that are best suited for them and their exams, Total Registration, LLC has a collection of the best AP review books for each exam at  www.APReviewBooks.com.  Since the study guides are organized by exam, students can easily find the prep materials for the exams they will be taking.  Each review book has a description and reviews from past users.  In addition to the review books, each exam has information about the format of the exams and links to released questions from past exams. 

Practice Makes Perfect

Most of the study guides at www.APRevieBooks.com contain review of the material, sample exams with answers and exam taking techniques.  The best way for a student to prepare for the exams is to work all the way through one of these review books, taking special care to do every sample exam with the same time constraints that the exam will have.  It is crucial that students then score their sample exam and take the time to figure out what the right answer is for any question they get incorrect.  Understanding the correct answer to each question will help students learn the nuances of test taking and increase confidence on exam day.

Start Reviewing Early

Most students, unfortunately, put off reviewing for the exams until a couple of weeks before the exams.  Doing well on the exam delivers such high rewards that it is in every student’s best interest to begin reviewing for the exams earlier.  Beginning early, allows students time to figure out what content they struggle with and need to polish up on.  It is very important to have the time necessary to learn any information that the student is struggling with.  Students who wait to review until the last minute are short changing themselves as all they do is learn what they don’t know for the exam, not having time to learn it.  This typically translates into a loss of confidence and thus a lower score.

For most exams there are several good review books by various publishers.  Purchase your AP study guides today and start the review process.

Feb
26
2010
Article, Blog Post, Random Thoughts By Mike | 2 comments

Paying for the AP Exams, Who Should Carry the Burden?

At approximately $86.00 per exam (fees vary by state, district and school),  the AP exams are not cheap and with some students taking several exams the bill for the exams quickly adds up.  States and school’s handle these fees in various ways, with most requiring the student to pay a large portion if not all of this exam fee.  I was reminded of this, as Total Registration, LLC is in the middle of helping ~200 schools register students for the AP exams.  I also just read an article at SDDN.com, San Diego Unified spends $800,000 annually to satisfy an Advanced Placement equity issue,  questioning San Diego Unified School District’s policy to pay for all of their student’s AP exams.  People are questioning the logic in spending approx $800,000 to pay for exams that directly benefit individuals, especially during a time when California’s economy is in dire straits and all services are being back, including schools.

I guess the main question is: Who should carry the burden of  the Advanced Placement exam fees?

Schools encourage students to pursue these challenging courses and take the year end exam.  Students’ AP participation is a feather in their cap, something that brings the school great recognition.  With Newsweek and US News and Reports using AP participation in their calculation of the Nation’s “Best High Schools”, schools covet their students’ participation.  Some schools even go so far as to require all students enrolled in AP courses to sit for the national exam in May.  Policies such as this often lead to the necessity of the district or school covering the cost of the exams. 

Different Fee Structures

During my three years of helping schools simplify the AP exam reigstration process I have come across a myriad of systems to cover the cost of the exams.  Here are some of the various fee structures:

  • The student pays the entire $86.00/exam
  • The student pays more than the $86.00/exam helping to cover some the school’s costs of proctoring the exams
  • In Minnesota, the state pays for $56.00, leaving $30.00 for the students to pay
  • In Georgia,  the state covers the first exam and  the other exams cost the full $86.00
  • In Texas, the state covers $30.00 of each exam
  • In Indiana, the state covers the cost of all math and science exams
  • In Oklahoma, the state covers $25.00 an exam if the student takes two or more
  • In Florida, the state covers the entire exam fee
  • In some schools, AVID students’ exam fees are covered.
  • And many more

Then there is the variation in how much students who participate in the Federal Free or Reduced Lunch Program pay.  This varies from the College Board’s standard reduction of $30.00 (the College Board reduces their fee $22.00 and the school does not receive their $8.00 of the exam fee) to the state/district/school covering the entire exam fee.  Add to this, that many schools have scholarship programs for students with financial needs and the fee structure for the AP exams is anything but standardized.

So, who should pay? 

Obviously there is a wide range of opinions,  but my view is that the students/parents should carry the bulk of cost of the AP exams, with students having financial hardship being able to receive a reduction.  Here’s my reasoning for this:

  • Doing well on an exam greatly benefits the student and parent.  Receiving college credit for a good exam score can save the family thousands in tuition for each AP exam.  This makes $86.00.exam a great value.
  • Student’s who pay a portion of the exam fee are more invested in the outcome and therefore work harder at doing well on the exam.  Florida, who covers the cost of the exam fee, has one of the worst pass rates.
  • Money used to pay for exam fees could be better used on improving instruction and curriculum, increasing students abilities and knowledge.  If students knew they were receiving great instruction and would do well on the exam, they would have no problem paying for the exams.  It is a simple risk vs reward issue.

Clearly there is no consensus on who should cover the costs of the AP exams.  I have a feeling that the poor economy facing most states is going to bring the various policies into the spotlight.  States and districts are tightening there belts and reducing the exam subsidy will be one of the first places they look.  The schools that require students to take the exams and students have not needed to pay have had an easy time managing the registration process and ordering exams as they just order exams for every student in a course.  Schools who have allow students to choose whether they take the exam or not  and/or need to collect fees from students have a much more difficult job of managing all the data necessary to place an accurate exam order with the college with the College Board. Errors in these orders quickly turn into financial penalties for the school.  Schools who need to collect fees and keep track of who is taking the exam and who is not have found Total Registration’s AP Exam Registration Service to be a great time saver.

Feb
17
2010
Article By Mike | No comments yet

Revision of the AP Program, Good or Bad?

I recently read an article in the Washington Post by Jay Matthews, New, deeper AP Program, that discusses the College Board’s plan to revise several AP curriculum.  Here’s a quote from the article.

The revised AP courses, beginning with biology, will put more emphasis on conceptual understanding and cut back on memorizing content, the designers say. AP will become more like the International Baccalaureate program, which is also popular in this area. Teachers may go deep into some topics and rush quickly past others. Essay questions will focus on concepts, so students will be able to use facts from the topics their teachers choose without having to master every detail in every subject category. Multiple-choice questions will test analytical skill, not memory.

In my mind, this is a move in the right direction.  It is certainly going to make waves as change always does, but has the potential to create courses that are more relevant to today’s learner.  Unfortunately,  the fact based approach of the past is not as relevant in the information age.  When you need facts what do you do?  I use Google or other tools to quickly find the info I need.  Information is much easier to acquire than it was in the past, making the need to memorize facts less important.  Skills and critical thinking are more important than ever, as consumers of knowledge need to separate the wheat from the chaff.

When I was teaching physical science there was a constant struggle to balance the need to teach facts and my desire to teach critical thinking and problem solving.  My gut feeling is that the problem solving and critical thinking will carry a student farther then the facts.  The trick was that our state standards focused so much on facts that we some times did not have the time to fully explore some concepts.  If you wanted, or needed, to teach to all of the standards there was less time to do some experiential learning that created a much better understanding of the concepts.  Don’t get me wrong, I still think that there needs to be a framework of facts in order to learn critical thinking and explore topics in depth.  In fact, most of my students were very knowledgeable about the facts in the topics that we explored in depth.  The only problem is that the time it takes to go in depth and allow kids to problem solve needs to come from somewhere, meaning some of the standards were perhaps neglected a little.  This was a price I was willing to pay as I knew that in a couple of years the students wouldn’t remember the facts anymore anyways.  But there problem solving and analytical skills would still be there and could be used on a daily basis.  Heck, since I stopped teaching a few year’s ago I don’t remember the latent heat of fusion of water but I do know how to look it up in Bing or better yet I know how to design an experiment to find it out.

I have read several articles of schools deciding not to offer AP classes in a move to go back to “Honors” classes.  Their reasoning, to have more control over the curriculum so that they can move slower through some material  and go deeper into some concepts.  They felt they were not able to do this within AP as students need to be filled with facts in order to score well on the influential exams.  Perhaps, the College Board hopes to address some of these concerns with these revisions

I hope the College Board’s revision is successful. Our students need to be taught to think and be problem solvers, not repositories of knowledge.  In this day an age, critical thinking  skills trump memorization.  My BlackBerry has the facts, but is not so good at the thinking part.