What AP classes/tests have you taken?

[Vosem]

What did everyone think of the tests this year.

The new Biology test is absolutely horrible.

I took Biology last year (the first year after they changed it), and I didn't think the test was particularly difficult, though it seemed to emphasize weird things (there were multiple questions about famous biologists themselves) and of course it basically cut out taxonomy. I came out feeling quite confident, but I only got a 4; the new standard they set for getting a 5 being very high (prior to 2013, ~20% of test-takers got 5s; that declined to ~5%). The course I took (the teacher being one of my all-time favorites, and someone who I still regularly speak to more than a year later) was tailored to the old test, and I like to think I would've gotten a 5 under the old system.

Chemistry was just not a class I was good at. I took the class largely because all the other "nerds" did (peer pressure); it was consistently my worst grade all four quarters (low-to-mid 80s, iirc), and I thought the test was very difficult, but the 2 I got still took me by surprise; I expected a 3. The other tests I didn't find difficult, though I feel a bit self-conscious after reading this thread where people consider a 4 to be a bad result. AP Euro is taught by a well-meaning but awful teacher at our school, so my 4 (having not taken the class) was actually the best result of anyone taking it, even though I self-studied; all other scores were 3s or failures. When my testing room opened the DBQ on Euro, multiple people laughed because it was a topic (the rise of Solidarity in communist Poland) that was in a century they hadn't gotten to. The guy sitting to my right and behind me -- who got a 4 on Chemistry this year, so not an idiot -- had no clue to the extent that he didn't answer the question and just doodled. (He still pulled out a 3, I suppose from the multiple choice).

Senior Year:
Intend to take, with the school, Calculus AB, English Literature, Environmental Science, Physics 1, Spanish Language. Intend to take, online, Macroeconomics & Microeconomics. Intend to self-study Comparative Government, Human Geography, and U.S. History. Not sure how I intend to survive taking 10 AP tests in a year.

Only voted for the ones I've taken, since the senior year itinerary is still kind of flexible.

This sounds extremely unhealthy

Yeah, May 2015 isn't going to be a fun month.

[Vosem]

What did everyone think of the tests this year.

The new Biology test is absolutely horrible.

I took Biology last year (the first year after they changed it), and I didn't think the test was particularly difficult, though it seemed to emphasize weird things (there were multiple questions about famous biologists themselves) and of course it basically cut out taxonomy. I came out feeling quite confident, but I only got a 4; the new standard they set for getting a 5 being very high (prior to 2013, ~20% of test-takers got 5s; that declined to ~5%). The course I took (the teacher being one of my all-time favorites, and someone who I still regularly speak to more than a year later) was tailored to the old test, and I like to think I would've gotten a 5 under the old system.

Chemistry was just not a class I was good at. I took the class largely because all the other "nerds" did (peer pressure); it was consistently my worst grade all four quarters (low-to-mid 80s, iirc), and I thought the test was very difficult, but the 2 I got still took me by surprise; I expected a 3. The other tests I didn't find difficult, though I feel a bit self-conscious after reading this thread where people consider a 4 to be a bad result. AP Euro is taught by a well-meaning but awful teacher at our school, so my 4 (having not taken the class) was actually the best result of anyone taking it, even though I self-studied; all other scores were 3s or failures. When my testing room opened the DBQ on Euro, multiple people laughed because it was a topic (the rise of Solidarity in communist Poland) that was in a century they hadn't gotten to. The guy sitting to my right and behind me -- who got a 4 on Chemistry this year, so not an idiot -- had no clue to the extent that he didn't answer the question and just doodled. (He still pulled out a 3, I suppose from the multiple choice).

Senior Year:
Intend to take, with the school, Calculus AB, English Literature, Environmental Science, Physics 1, Spanish Language. Intend to take, online, Macroeconomics & Microeconomics. Intend to self-study Comparative Government, Human Geography, and U.S. History. Not sure how I intend to survive taking 10 AP tests in a year.

Only voted for the ones I've taken, since the senior year itinerary is still kind of flexible.

This sounds extremely unhealthy

Yeah, May 2015 isn't going to be a fun month.

In my opinion, the main way the exam falls short is that there just isn't enough actual knowledge tested. Critical thinking and all is important, however if I remember correctly, there were no specific anatomy questions, virtually no respiration/photosynthesis questions, and so on. They would mostly just give a scenario, and do a simple analysis of it. The FRQs were a little better than the multiple choice, but honestly I would like to see some more flat out "what is the function of RuBisCo" or "Where along the Loop of Henle is the osmotic pressure greatest".

I took it about a year ago, so my memory is flawed but I remember a fair number of multiple choice questions were basically like that (there were a ton of questions on respiration), except phrased so the question included 1-3 paragraphs of fluff. There were no anatomy questions and no taxonomy questions -- the former was expected, but we spent a good amount of time studying the latter, so finding it wasn't there at all was annoying. The new Bio curriculum is trying to put more critical thinking into a course that used to be basically 'memorize a textbook', but because of the nature of biology, a lot of the latter still has to be done.

I personally thought AP Chemistry was one of the easiest tests I took- not that I'm good at chemistry or anything; I got B's both semesters. I just had a really good teacher and felt the test was extremely straightforward. I believe more than 90% of our AP chem class got 5's that year. Is the new AP test much different from the old one?

Difficult to say since I have less of an idea of what the 'old' AP Chem was like, but there were far fewer 4s and 5s this year, and my school's average went from a 4.7 last year to just above a 3 this year. I thought the AP Chemistry exam was, far and away, the most difficult standardized test I've ever taken.

Oh and good luck with the 10 tests next year. About 50 people at my school take both IB and AP tests, so they generally have to take 5 of each, which means they'll be in a similar position to you. Though knowing senioritis, something tells me you (and they) won't be studying for any of them.

IB is getting introduced at my school this coming year, but the first students that are eligible are those a year below me (Class of 2016). The prevailing attitude has been that it's unnecessary since you can just sign up for AP courses, but there are certain people who are doing it.

I like to think I'll still be studying for APs even at the end of senior year -- after all, the scores go on to whatever college I go to. I can understand giving up on helping your high school grades after you've been accepted and made your college decision, but APs are a different beast altogether. Maybe I'll be signing a different tune a year from now, though.

[Vosem]

I'm a bit weirded out by you kids taking 10+ AP tests. At that point it feels like you're cheapening college.

With costs for college rising as precipitously as they are, that is exactly what we are trying to do