AP Scores being inflated on some of the exams

 It appears that the College Board has changed the way some of the AP subject exams are scored. For example, the percentage of students getting scores of 4 or 5 on the US History, US Government, and European History nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024. Others, like Chemistry and Biology, have seen dramatic recalibrations a couple years ago. 

Grade inflation is something that has dramatically risen since the Covid shutdowns, mostly done to help alleviate the severe and oftentimes traumatic stresses that were present for everyone, both students and adults. But as we have come out of the shutdowns, perhaps a key question should be "is getting a B or C the end of the world?" It doesn't make any sense if everyone gets an A in classes if they clearly have not mastered much of the material...'average' is a concept that has seemingly been dismissed. On an AP exam, a score of 4 or 5 is supposed to represent high levels of mastery of the subject. Perhaps we all have done ourselves a disservice by boosting up the acceptance of mediocrity and confusing it with mastery and excellence. Where this tends NOT to happen, though, is when trying to get jobs ultimately. 

So let's work on the excellence part of all this throughout the school year, and have some fun learning all about how our world and universe work fundamentally, and become excellent problem solvers who will have the ability to truly fix some of the problems in the world and discover new bits of knowledge that can be useful in our understanding of life and nature! The scores on tests will come along for the ride, and if we are successful building up our knowledge and skills, they will be representative of our excellence. BUT, it is also true that it is likely NOT EVERYONE WILL GET THERE! AND THAT'S OK! We all learn at different rates and have different strengths and weaknesses, so sometimes it takes many of us longer than others to master topics and courses. If some of us need to take some classes over when in college, THAT IS OK, TOO! You will be well-prepared for that scenario because of the background from the high school course, and AP classes are called 'Advanced' for a reason - they are challenging! 

Let's have fun learning, together, and see where it leads!