By Abby Watkins
News Editor
College Board has planned several changes to Advanced Placement tests, some of which will take effect as early as this year.
College Board plans to revise the content of the exams so that they focus more on analytical thinking rather than memorization of facts. These changes will be implemented gradually over the next several years and across subject areas.
“I do not see how they have removed any of the content,” AP U.S. history teacher Bill Fauver said. “What they’ve done is complicated the subject by asking too much of students who have zero experience with what they’re learning. These classes are introductory courses.”
College Board has always provided a list of subjects that need to be covered for each test, but it will now begin to provide a more in-depth curriculum in conjunction with the new exams. This signifies a shift in College Board’s involvement in the structure of the course. These new outlines would allow AP teachers across the country to unify their standards and better prepare students.
“It’s good to give teachers a better idea of which direction to go in,” AP biology teacher Catherine Barden said. “It will make it easier to get through all of the academic material if we know what to expect.”
The AP French language exam is among the first to be revised, with changes taking effect in 2012. The new exam will focus on real-life interaction and organize material around six themes considered essential to the subject, such as “contemporary life” and “global issues.”
“I think it will be hard learning a whole new AP test, but I’m excited to learn about French culture rather than just grammar,” junior Joelle Boxer said.
In 2013, new versions of the U.S. history and biology exams will be implemented. Though College Board will not release the specific revisions until next month, the overall intent of these changes is to reduce the amount of material covered and increase the depth of questions.
“They are organizing history around themes, which is a very mature way of looking at history,” Fauver said. “AP students still don’t have a firm grasp of chronology. They are making history teachers’ jobs harder by asking students to do more than they are able to.”
The biology exam will also gain a greater focus on laboratory work and math. Though the multiple choice section will be cut to 55 questions, there will be nine free-response questions, five more than in past years. In addition, students will be allowed to use a calculator on the exam to help them complete five additional math questions.
“I think that if they go to more essays we’re going to need smaller classes so we can actually grade all the tests,” Barden said. “It will change how we teach the class.”
Physics, chemistry, European history, and art history will be the last exams to be revised. College Board has yet to release any specifics regarding these changes, which will take effect in 2014 or 2015. The English and calculus exams are not set to be changed in the near future.
In addition, College Board announced in August that starting with the 2011 tests, students will no longer be penalized for incorrect answers on the multiple choice sections of exams. In the past, a quarter of a point was deducted for every wrong response.
“Since the tests are graded on a bell curve, it won’t make that much of a difference to the scores,” senior Levi Schoenfeld said. “But it will be nice to not have to worry about whether to leave an answer blank or not.”
These changes to these AP exams are geared to help further College Board’s ultimate goal of creating college classes in a high school setting.
“Until I see the exact changes that will be made, it’s hard to know whether they will be good or bad,” Fauver said. “I’ll be interested to see what College Board comes up with.”
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