Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

I've visited the collegeboard.com website and came across this new tool that they offer to college counselors. According to the CB, AP Potential is a program developed to qualify students for AP classes and to predict their potential scores from their PSAT scores. For example, a history AP score would be derived from the student's PSAT verbal score. The collegeboard has supported this program with intense research. Do you guys think this program will be accurate in its prognosis?

By Sovietman (Sovietman) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 08:11 pm: Edit

i dont see any relation between APs and SAT's

By Aoe2guy (Aoe2guy) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 08:14 pm: Edit

according to the CB there is profuse evidence supporting their assertion. check out their site and scroll around under some headline, and open up their file discussing AP Potential in Adobe Acrobat Reader - they have charts, graphs, and tables of students' PSAT scores and which section ( V or M ) correspond to a particular AP course. its very detailed - check it out

By Logic447 (Logic447) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 08:39 pm: Edit

>according to the CB there is profuse evidence supporting their assertion.

Collegeboard also thinks that the SAT measures the ability of a student in college. They have a lot of graphs and facts but a lot of it is pure bull. I remember they had a question on one FAQ page. The question asked how many points a score can go up with a prep course. They said on average a student increases 20-30 points. I guess, that explains Princeton Reviews 100 pt. guarantee.

By Apg (Apg) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:17 pm: Edit

I couldn't agree more. Additionally, the correlations they use are based on students from '93-'96. This means that writing scores are not included; an important omission when one considers that ETS is attempting to predict scores in English and History.

This is just another bogus product that ETS is selling to make ever more money off of hapless students and secondary schools.


APG, take it easy on the quotes please.
<moderator>

By Aoe2guy (Aoe2guy) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:25 pm: Edit

Hey Hey im not defending the onerous CB now, dont get me wrong, just posting some interesting ground for conflict.

By Clickspring (Clickspring) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 11:35 pm: Edit

Eh, I only got a 192 (not even a commended scholar!) on the PSAT and I still got 4's and 5's on AP exams.

By Sosodef (Sosodef) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 11:45 pm: Edit

can someone put a link to the website

By Prethumous (Prethumous) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:53 am: Edit

Pah.

Ditto what Clickspring said; got a 57 Verbal (but also a 68 Writing) and I 5'd the Euro exam.

By Bradk (Bradk) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 02:44 am: Edit

The only thing I've heard about this is that our school requires a 55 on the sophomore verbal PSAT to take AP US History and a 60 on the junior verbal PSAT to take AP English, but I suspect they just want to make sure that reading skills are up to par.

By Prethumous (Prethumous) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 03:54 am: Edit

Bradk, I sent you an e-mail, which got "rejected". Did you know of this?

By Prethumous (Prethumous) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 03:56 am: Edit

If you were aware, have I...pissed you off? If so, then you have my apology.

By Apg (Apg) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 09:38 am: Edit

---

Quote:

...our school requires a 55 on the sophomore verbal PSAT to take AP US History and a 60 on the junior verbal PSAT to take AP English...

---

By Bradk (Bradk) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 02:52 am: Edit

Why is that abuse? I think those cutoffs are pretty generous for anyone wanting to take an AP course. I didn't mention that there are other prerequisites necessary...for example, to take AP US History, a sophomore has to get an A or B in history and english, recommendation of the history teacher, and a 55 PSAT verbal. I also forgot to say that if the student doesn't have a 55, then they must show up for a conference in order to determine whether or not they are committed to taking the class. I guess I should have said that... ;)

By Apg (Apg) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 08:25 am: Edit

The "conference" does soften the situation a bit, but the question remains: why are good grades and committment alone not enough? Use of test scores would seem to be totally unnecessary. Grades in previous classes should be the main factor.

By Encomium (Encomium) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 10:44 am: Edit

http://www.collegeboard.com/research/html/rr9804.pdf


i saw that ages ago