As AP testing is draws near, each of the AP tests taken at FVHS comes with a cost. To many students, this cost means time lost; for others, it’s their empty wallets.
AP students have different reasons behind signing up for the classes they take. Some choose to take an AP class simply because they love a certain subject; others crave an intellectual challenge. There are even the mercenary AP students – the ones who sign up for that AP class just for the GPA boost. Then there are the students hoping to save thousands of dollars in college tuition money by passing the AP exam.
Generally, no AP student falls neatly into just one of these categories.
Therefore, when teachers pressure students into taking and paying for an AP exam they don’t want to take, there is a problem. Recently, it has become common for teachers to stipulate that their students must either take the AP exam or or take a final exam that counts toward their grade.
At first glance, this policy may seem simple enough; it’s unfair to students who choose to take the AP exam when the ones who aren’t taking the exam will have an easy day, right? So it’s only fair that all students are tested on the material they have been studying for the entire year.
However, once reality is taken into consideration, this policy doesn’t seem so “fair” after all.
Let’s face it; most AP students are overachievers, or else they wouldn’t be in the class to begin with. The AP world is filled with peer pressure and competition. Since an AP test is another chance for a student to demonstrate their intellectual proficiency, the typical AP student does not skip out on taking an AP test simply because the student is lazy. Laziness isn’t the reason why some AP students decide not to take an AP test. There are far more valid explanations.
Contrary to popular opinion, a student does not always take an AP class to take the AP exam. Some register for AP classes because they want to learn. They sign up for an AP class out of passion, out of the desire for academic stimulation, or for the challenge. Once May approaches, they choose to take the AP exam to test out of the college course.
However, some colleges don’t take certain AP credits. For that reason, some students opt out of taking an AP exam because it would be futile. It’d be a waste of time, effort, and money. For some students, especially rising college freshmen, time and money are everything.
Therefore, when teachers threaten to administer a final if students choose to opt out of an AP test, they’re essentially asking students to throw 89 dollars and weeks of students’ time down the drain. It’s understandable that teachers would want all of their students to be taking a test on the day of the AP exam, but the policy’s little nuances seem a tad ridiculous.
For example, discrepancies between assigned points for finals seem to heavily favor the students taking the AP exam. A teacher may reward students taking the AP exam full points on their final, while students choosing to opt out of the AP exam are graded solely based on their performance. In some cases, the points may even be weighted differently. Students taking the AP exam would be given the full 100 points, while students taking the final would be graded out of 85 points. Students who choose to take the AP exam would essentially be paying for their grade in the class, because they can fail the test or cancel their score without consequence.
Finally, some students choose to opt out of an AP exam because they don’t have the means to pay for it. After all, fee waivers can only cover so much; partial fee waivers only lower the costs to $53 a test, while other fee waivers only cover a certain number of tests. As a result, these students are forced to take the final in their class, which they may view as an unjust punishment for their economic status rather than teachers’ attempts to even the playing field for both sets of students. Often, these students’ grades will be negatively affected as a result.
When it comes down to it, “fair” isn’t really “fair” after all. The students who choose to take an AP test have the means and the incentive to do so–be it for college credit or for bragging rights. The students who choose not to, have the lack of means and the incentive to have an easy day. In the scale of life, it balances out. To add an extra weight would be to demand more than the latter can give.
Great article!
Honestly, I’ve read this article three times through, and I still have trouble getting the author’s point. The article does a poor job of explaining why students are unsatisfied and made little sense, IMO.
I love you
If taking the final is such a big problem, why not study hard to make sure you ace the final? You’re in AP, you should be able to do it.
If your teacher says you have to take a final instead of the AP test, then just study for it and pass it. You’re already in an AP class in the first place. What’s the problem?
At first I thought this article was a good idea, but then I thought more about the “issue” at hand.
If your teacher says you have to take a final instead of the AP test, then study for it and pass it. You have a chance to raise your grade; if you view it as just the opposite, that it’ll lower your grade drastically, you probably shouldn’t be in that AP class in the first place.
Teachers often make the final exam like an AP test. Alot of the passing scores are the equivalent of getting around 60% correct of the total possible questions/points you can get on the actual AP test. So basically, you’re passing the AP test with a D. Getting a D on a final, especially if it’s weighted would definitely bring your grade down, lol.
My apologies, the comment section didn’t seem to be working so it posted several times. Whoops.