Advanced Placement or Advanced Guessing?

DALLA WONG
Staff Writer
The room is quiet and all you hear is the ticking of the clock. Your palm gets sweaty as you grip your No. 2 pencil. Anxiety fills your mind and your breathing speeds up. One will never forget the feeling right before an Advanced Placement (AP) exam.
However, beginning in May 2011, the stress on students will be lessened because the College Board has decided to make a change in the way these tests are scored.
Taking effect this spring, the total scores on the multiple choice portion will be calculated based on the number of questions answered correctly; instead of taking a quarter of a point off for every incorrect answer, the wrong answer simply earns no points.
However, it is not right to just guess if students do not know the answer just to create less pressure. The way they are making the exams is too simple compared to the previous years.
This is basically saying that there will no longer be consequences for simply guessing an answer. The new change is like lowering the test-taking standards to help the students that score poorly to perform better while bringing other pupils in the school down as well. The grading system is curved and since the test is easier, there will be higher expectations for the students to score well. Making the AP exams less difficult is unnecessary because there will not be a huge difference in the end. The individuals who score a one will most likely still score in that range even under the “improved” grading system. It is true that some scores might be raised to a small degree, but the average will stay about the same.
AP classes are designed to be at a college level. The students taking it should be mentally prepared for a challenging year. These tests are supposed to prove what the pupil has learned throughout the school year and it should not be acceptable if they do not know the information. By doing this, it is like giving credit to an individual who just gives the answer with no work to prove it.
The College Board might be making these tests for their own benefit. Since it costs a large sum of money to make these tests, perhaps more students will take the test thinking that it is easier.
The future is actually closer than it seems. It may seem like college is a billion years away but in reality, it is only months. If students can get by in high school and on their AP tests by resorting to guessing, they will not be prepared for college. Students need to learn strong study habits now to prepare.
Decades from now, a doctor could be “guessing” that you have cancer and only have a few weeks to live. A greater amount of people would prefer one who is experienced and knows what he or she is doing. Only time can determine the consequences of this scoring change.