AP credits tightening??

Here is a heads-up on a policy change coming down the pipeline....

Recently, in a post entitled AP Preparation Adequate?, I posted on a concern we have with the way we award credits for exam scores under the AP system. The questions is: How well is the AP system prepping our students for college-level math?

There has always been a concern that many HS programs tend to teach for the exam, devoting much time on problem types and techniques and sacrificing some of the deeper theoretical material development in the process. Here at the university level, where we do not sacrifice the theoretical material, we find the transition for some students to be quite difficult. Anecdotal and personal evidence abounds (my interactions with individual students, for example). Systemic evidence (searching for evidence throughout our service courses) is more difficult to uncover.

The previous post presented an attack to uncover some systemic evidence. This evidence is now leading to a decision by the department to change the policy regarding credit awards.

Namely,

• instead of offering Calculus I credits for a 4 or a 5 on the AB exam, we will restrict the credit awards to those receiving full marks, or a 5 on the AB exam.
• Instead of offering Calculus II credits for a 4 or a 5 on the BC exam, we will restrict the credit awards to those receiving full marks, or a 5 on the BC exam.
• The award of credits for Calculus I by receiving a 3 or a 4 on teh BC exam will remain in place.

Putting this new policy in place will take some time, but the wheels are now turning. Comments?

The German Abitur

With the ever increasing number of students coming in to JHU with advanced placement credits in calculus under their arms, we are now getting a larger and larger number of students who have studied abroad prior to attending Hopkins. Many of these students also have some sort of advanced training.

As a means to recognize this international form of advanced placement, we look at the exam curricula, both in content and level, and compare it to what we offer as coursework here. The Advanced Placement AB and BC exams correspond roughly to what we offer as Calculus I and II, respectively.

We have been looking at the German Abitur lately, and have come to the conclusion that the Mathematics Department will accept a score of 10 or above (out of 15) for 4 credits of either 110.106 or 110.108 Calculus I. This is fairly consistent with that of MIT, and Duke as well as others.

So far, other international exams will have to be examined on a case by case basis.

Come talk to me if this conclusion is of interest to you. Also, as I learn more I will append this post or add others under the Advanced Placement tag.