AP classes are regarded as some of the hardest coursework that students take in high school. They are rigorous in their workload and at the end of the year, students have the opportunity to show their knowledge of a topic through the AP Exam. Many times, students’ AP exam scores do not reflect their year-long grades. For example, a student could receive a C+ in their AP class over the year but receive a five on their AP test. This begs the question: If an AP class’ goal is to prepare students for the AP exam and college-level classes, why should their performance on the AP exam not be reflected in their grades?
While some teachers do boost their students’ grades after their students’ AP scores come in, it is important that there is a standardized policy that makes all teachers boost grades based on AP exam scores. Although AP scores are released during the summer, making it so that the grade boost wouldn’t apply to seniors, a policy that would boost students’ grades based on their scores would benefit a large number of AP test takers. The AP exam is a standardized test that is the same for all students who decide to take the AP exam that year, while year-long grades are a reflection of your performance in a unique teacher’s class. This means that across the nation, there will be students who will struggle in their teacher’s classes but do well on their AP exam. This is due to the fact that the way a teacher’s grading policies are up to their own discretion, which could cause students who might eventually perform well on the AP exam to struggle with their year long grades.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are also students who perform well in their class over the year but will eventually not do well on their AP test. Since the AP test is standardized, their AP score will show a more accurate understanding since their grade in their class is ultimately up to the teacher and the teacher’s grading methods. However, I do not believe that a student’s grade should be lowered as the result of one exam should not break a student’s grade. Instead, I believe that the AP test score should ultimately only improve a student’s grade and if they do not perform well, it should not have an effect on their year-long grade. Performing well on this exam however, should be something to reward students for as the AP exam is what the students prepare for all year.
A policy that I believe would be fair is that if a student scores a five on their AP exam and they are within 3% of the next letter grade, their grade should be rounded up to the next letter grade. If a student receives a four on their exam and they are within 2% of the next letter grade, their grade should be rounded up and the same pattern if the student receives a three on their AP exam. This policy will make it so that if a student performs well, they will be rewarded if they were on the brink of the next letter grade and were unable to pull it up. This also ensures that the AP exam score does not dominate the gradebook and still leaves room for the student’s performance in the class to still have a majority of the weight of the grade.