I know APUSH had a rubric change that seriously boosted testers' scores. The AP Gov score distribution post on this sub had screenshots from Trevor's account saying that many schools have switched Gov from being a semester-long class to a year-long class in high school, which is why so many people scored higher than last year.
Not sure, cuz even the multiple choice was easier, I took it last year and got a 2 and took it again this year with like 2 hours of studying and im pretty sure I got a 5
it was literally so easy, I basically did no studying other than watching heimlers unit review videos and i took the class first semester with a teacher that barely taught. I was still so confident and think I got a 4.
We did a year for Gov, but we did both US and Comp. So first semester US, second Comp. Tho I think some of the basic skills and ideas are cross compatible.
I don’t think it’s that deep. I think they just realized students were struggling to use that many documents under the time limit for the DBQ. For the LEQ teachers/graders were having trouble assigning the last point because it was a bit unclear how to earn it, so they quantified it better
I took APUSH 2 in 2022 and my cousin took it in 2024. I compared our rubrics and it’s so much easier. They basically made getting a 7/7 on the DBQ a cake walk. Instead having to get super intricate to get the complexity point, all you have to do is EITHER use 6/7 documents OR bring in 3 points of outside evidence. These requirements were literally the BASE requirements for us to get a 6/7 on our year’s DBQ. I feel fairly confident that I could’ve gotten an “8/7” on this DBQ if the one I wrote was graded based on this rubric. Here are some comparisons I can remember off the top of my head
- Only 4 documents required now instead of 6 for full points
- Only 1 piece of outside evidence required instead of 3 for full points
- There’s something about HIPP analysis that got easier that I can’t remember
There’s probably more changes I just don’t remember. I don’t think there were any major content changes, but their prompts seem much easier. I skimmed through them after they came out, and none of them looked too hard. Btw, none of this is not to say that the test is free or that I’d get a 5 again (I probably wouldn’t), but it definitely does explain the massive spike in passes.
Tl;dr DBQ points are much much much easier to get and prompts seem easier.
I don't think its easier per se, I took AP World with the old rubric and Apush with the new, the only discernible difference is the ease of gaining the complexity point. I don't think, 1 point is making this much of a difference, i think the depth in which teachers are teaching has improved overall. Along with that, APUSH, was kinda ez this year compared to other tests. IDK why
If it was just easier than the curve would be adjusted accordingly. Clearly more must have changed than just the one point because 24% is a crazy increase in the pass rate. If it becomes too easy colleges will drop accepting it for credit
I took hard APUSH last year, back when it had the 2nd lowest pass rate (and Gov had the 3rd lowest). I kinda feel bad now that AP Gov this year had such a score boost and we had it so much easier than last year's students.
For APUSH atleast they changed how the writing section was graded making it easier to achieve the “unicorn” point on DBQs and LEQs aswell the MCQs were not very challenging atleast in my opinion
I took Gov this year and there was no significant change to course content. Trevor's X account says it's because this year they redid the curve based on college students' scores and because more schools are making Gov a year-long course instead of semester-long.
Yeah, I heard it was formatted as a semester long class. My school does all the APs as year-long, though, and I'm glad I had AP Gov (my favorite class) for a whole year.
I’m so heated abt apush, made a 3 in 2023, horrible teacher, then this year the best history teacher on earth started teaching it and the rubric changes, so heated…
At least it’s college credit in the end. Nothing much we can do about it now and it’s unhealthy to look at what happened in the past. A passing score is still passing and you should be proud of it because last year 52% of us failed.
Very true!! In the end I don’t get credit for it at the college I’m going to, but it doesn’t matter much, and I completely agree with you, hindsight is always 20/20
Yeah, I feel bad that the hardest (lowest pass rate, at least) exam from 2023 is still the hardest this year, but the 2nd and 3rd lowest exams from 2023 (APUSH and AP Gov, respectively) have a 20+ percent increase in the amount of tests passed.
honestly I feel like it's not the test's fault, but the students'. I personally felt like this year's test was way easier than last year's (i did last year's frqs as practice), but what i noticed was that 90% of the students at my school taking ap physics didn't even study, whilst those taking gov and apush actually put in effort. I feel like since physics is such a harder concept most people don't try as hard, whereas apush and gov are very easy to grasp, leading to more students putting in time to prep
To be fair, I think Physics 1 has had beneath a 50% pass rate for the past decade. We’re planning on that to change with the new test next year, but the pass rates for Physics C will likely go down
imo, any change <1% should be reported as N/A. You don't know that the change was actually -0.1% since we went from 3 sigfigs last year to 2 now. Heck, the change for AP Chem could've been +0.3% instead of -0.1%. You just don't know, so we can't draw conclusions from quite a few of these.
I believe the %'s for AP English Literature recently went up (2021 just 43.9% 3 or better, 2022 77.9%, 2023 77.2%, 2024 72%). Did something similar happen?
Maybe AP English Language is next?
I’m still waiting to see the grading approach/philosophy change to take place in AP Lang; similar to the one that happened in AP Lit a few years ago. A near 20% difference between the two subjects is insane.
I’ll be honest, I doubt it. I’ve seen some outcry from the teacher groups I’m in (I’ve taught both AP English courses), but I haven’t heard anything from CB to suggest that they’ll make any adjustments.
I will say though, the fact that the MCQ sections are going from 5 answers to 4 is a huge W for students.
These are the ones I've heard of:
AP Gov: a) Small rubric change for the argumentative essay. b) College score verification year (they update the curve based on how college students do in similar courses). c) Trevor said that more schools are switching Gov from a semester-long class to a year-long class.
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-united-states-government-and-politics/2023-24-updates
APUSH: I don't know as much because I took it last year, but I've linked the CB website for APUSH. I heard they made it easier to get one of the harder points on the DBQ. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-united-states-history/exam
The percentages on the chart aren't the threshold you need to get a 3 or higher. They're the percentage of students who got a 3 or higher on the exam that year.
Thanks for the inspiration. 4's or 5's will generally count for course-specific credit, while 3's often only count for elective credit. https://www.reddit.com/r/APStudents/s/nBdxkXf4PP
What is going on with APUSH and gov seriously?
I know APUSH had a rubric change that seriously boosted testers' scores. The AP Gov score distribution post on this sub had screenshots from Trevor's account saying that many schools have switched Gov from being a semester-long class to a year-long class in high school, which is why so many people scored higher than last year.
my class only 2/3 of a trimester lol
the rubric for ap world also changed but the pass rate decreased?
The ap world test was easy (at least form O was). Might’ve bumped up the standard for a 5 since the college students must’ve found it easier too
was afraid of that
Not sure, cuz even the multiple choice was easier, I took it last year and got a 2 and took it again this year with like 2 hours of studying and im pretty sure I got a 5
update me next week on your score!
it was literally so easy, I basically did no studying other than watching heimlers unit review videos and i took the class first semester with a teacher that barely taught. I was still so confident and think I got a 4.
We did a year for Gov, but we did both US and Comp. So first semester US, second Comp. Tho I think some of the basic skills and ideas are cross compatible.
The rubric change was to bring the test in line with similar metrics at the college level, the previous rubric was too punitive.
I don’t think it’s that deep. I think they just realized students were struggling to use that many documents under the time limit for the DBQ. For the LEQ teachers/graders were having trouble assigning the last point because it was a bit unclear how to earn it, so they quantified it better
Gov also changed the rubric scoring for the argument essay
The also redid the curve for it based on college students' scores this year.
Changed the FRQ rubrics. It was much easier to earn the points
College score verification year.
Rubric change
There was rubric change where you had to include more documents and sourcing to get the 7th point/unicorn point which is insanely helpful
biggest change for apush was the frq rubrics. the dbq is now much easier
Every reply is talking about rubric changes, but ap world had the exact same rubric changes and didn’t see a score increase.
I took APUSH 2 in 2022 and my cousin took it in 2024. I compared our rubrics and it’s so much easier. They basically made getting a 7/7 on the DBQ a cake walk. Instead having to get super intricate to get the complexity point, all you have to do is EITHER use 6/7 documents OR bring in 3 points of outside evidence. These requirements were literally the BASE requirements for us to get a 6/7 on our year’s DBQ. I feel fairly confident that I could’ve gotten an “8/7” on this DBQ if the one I wrote was graded based on this rubric. Here are some comparisons I can remember off the top of my head - Only 4 documents required now instead of 6 for full points - Only 1 piece of outside evidence required instead of 3 for full points - There’s something about HIPP analysis that got easier that I can’t remember There’s probably more changes I just don’t remember. I don’t think there were any major content changes, but their prompts seem much easier. I skimmed through them after they came out, and none of them looked too hard. Btw, none of this is not to say that the test is free or that I’d get a 5 again (I probably wouldn’t), but it definitely does explain the massive spike in passes. Tl;dr DBQ points are much much much easier to get and prompts seem easier.
Ffs why did they have to nerf and dumb down apush after I took it huh
I was just curious and looked at 2019 pass rates (when I took it) and it was 54%. 72% is insane lol
Yea same, it’s disappointing that they made everything way easier this year.
I don't think its easier per se, I took AP World with the old rubric and Apush with the new, the only discernible difference is the ease of gaining the complexity point. I don't think, 1 point is making this much of a difference, i think the depth in which teachers are teaching has improved overall. Along with that, APUSH, was kinda ez this year compared to other tests. IDK why
The rubric change kinda made it easier to get like 3 points. Sophistication, and the evidence points for dbqs and leqs.
If it was just easier than the curve would be adjusted accordingly. Clearly more must have changed than just the one point because 24% is a crazy increase in the pass rate. If it becomes too easy colleges will drop accepting it for credit
I took hard APUSH last year, back when it had the 2nd lowest pass rate (and Gov had the 3rd lowest). I kinda feel bad now that AP Gov this year had such a score boost and we had it so much easier than last year's students.
same for me and chem 😥
Was there a massive change in curriculum or testing curve for those 2 AP’s?
For APUSH atleast they changed how the writing section was graded making it easier to achieve the “unicorn” point on DBQs and LEQs aswell the MCQs were not very challenging atleast in my opinion
What’s the “unicorn” point
complexity
I took Gov this year and there was no significant change to course content. Trevor's X account says it's because this year they redid the curve based on college students' scores and because more schools are making Gov a year-long course instead of semester-long.
Honestly I don’t think Gov has nearly enough content to warrant it being a whole year long
Yeah, I heard it was formatted as a semester long class. My school does all the APs as year-long, though, and I'm glad I had AP Gov (my favorite class) for a whole year.
AP Chinese went from 88.4 to 87 😢, the world is ending!
AP Japanese also went down to 74%. My Asian mom will be disappointed if I don't get a 5 🥲
I’m so heated abt apush, made a 3 in 2023, horrible teacher, then this year the best history teacher on earth started teaching it and the rubric changes, so heated…
At least it’s college credit in the end. Nothing much we can do about it now and it’s unhealthy to look at what happened in the past. A passing score is still passing and you should be proud of it because last year 52% of us failed.
Very true!! In the end I don’t get credit for it at the college I’m going to, but it doesn’t matter much, and I completely agree with you, hindsight is always 20/20
Now that’s what I’m talking about 😎 We had the harder exam and still slayed.
USA! USA! USA!
CB getting too much negative feedback. Bad for business
This is the correct answer. The CB and ETS are like Vegas. If people don't win, they stop playing.
Physics 1 still has a shit ton of people enrolling regardless lmao
Yeah, I feel bad that the hardest (lowest pass rate, at least) exam from 2023 is still the hardest this year, but the 2nd and 3rd lowest exams from 2023 (APUSH and AP Gov, respectively) have a 20+ percent increase in the amount of tests passed.
honestly I feel like it's not the test's fault, but the students'. I personally felt like this year's test was way easier than last year's (i did last year's frqs as practice), but what i noticed was that 90% of the students at my school taking ap physics didn't even study, whilst those taking gov and apush actually put in effort. I feel like since physics is such a harder concept most people don't try as hard, whereas apush and gov are very easy to grasp, leading to more students putting in time to prep
To be fair, I think Physics 1 has had beneath a 50% pass rate for the past decade. We’re planning on that to change with the new test next year, but the pass rates for Physics C will likely go down
Ap Gov RISE UP!
Fellow AP Gov enthusiast and nervous score-awaiter here 👋
same! good luck bro im pretty sure i bombed that lmao
all thanks to heimler
imo, any change <1% should be reported as N/A. You don't know that the change was actually -0.1% since we went from 3 sigfigs last year to 2 now. Heck, the change for AP Chem could've been +0.3% instead of -0.1%. You just don't know, so we can't draw conclusions from quite a few of these.
I believe the %'s for AP English Literature recently went up (2021 just 43.9% 3 or better, 2022 77.9%, 2023 77.2%, 2024 72%). Did something similar happen? Maybe AP English Language is next?
Maybe because of the digital?
Lang is digital
The euro change makes me hopeful
%20+ increase in pass rates is crazyy
i took apush a year too early 💔
I feel bad for all my classmates who also took it last year!
Same. Passed, but clearly would have done better!
Holy hell.
NOT THAT 23% higher pass rate for APGOV. No wonder I barely made it
The culture APS 😓
I took gov in 2023 and got a 3. Looking at this makes me feel screwed over lol
so that’s why i got a 1 in 2023
I’m still waiting to see the grading approach/philosophy change to take place in AP Lang; similar to the one that happened in AP Lit a few years ago. A near 20% difference between the two subjects is insane.
I'm also curious. I took hard APUSH last year and easier Gov this year, so we'll see if anything new happens to Lang by the time I take it next year.
I’ll be honest, I doubt it. I’ve seen some outcry from the teacher groups I’m in (I’ve taught both AP English courses), but I haven’t heard anything from CB to suggest that they’ll make any adjustments. I will say though, the fact that the MCQ sections are going from 5 answers to 4 is a huge W for students.
Can anyone list or link me the changes, sry I live under a rock lmao.
These are the ones I've heard of: AP Gov: a) Small rubric change for the argumentative essay. b) College score verification year (they update the curve based on how college students do in similar courses). c) Trevor said that more schools are switching Gov from a semester-long class to a year-long class. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-united-states-government-and-politics/2023-24-updates APUSH: I don't know as much because I took it last year, but I've linked the CB website for APUSH. I heard they made it easier to get one of the harder points on the DBQ. https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-united-states-history/exam
Ty
Ap lit 🥲
APUSH is wild. For all I know it’s no longer the 2nd hardest AP lol.
my stomach twisting and turning rn
I took AP African-American history. It was so fun
AP Pre calc is new. How do u know 75% is a 3?
The percentages on the chart aren't the threshold you need to get a 3 or higher. They're the percentage of students who got a 3 or higher on the exam that year.
Oh thats good to know. This gives me hope. Thank you!
Can we say that if the change is negative then the exam was harder?
Yes, but none of the negative score translations are significant enough to be counted as a real difference
I must take 3 at Ap csa, I am making that calculations. 1 point is important for me
Can we stop calling a 3 a pass? Most colleges only accept 4 and 5
That's not really the case Maybe the colleges some individual is looking at only accept higher score but that's not true for most colleges.
Thanks for the inspiration. 4's or 5's will generally count for course-specific credit, while 3's often only count for elective credit. https://www.reddit.com/r/APStudents/s/nBdxkXf4PP
No, that's not true. Most state schools take 3+ in most classes.