testing season thread

RainWaiv

RainWaiv

*ding* *ding* *ding* *ding* *ding*
since all the smogoffers who are of legal driving age but cannot have an unrestricted license yet are currently undergoing their AP tests (or IB if you're a fucking nerd lol) (or A-levels if you're british) (or some other equivalent if you live in a country that was uninvolved in the revolutionary war or france) made this thread to complain and maybe post scores when you're done aha

i guess the college people who are here can post about finals or whatever

my testload is pretty light this year (just IB busman since i needed a group 6 and i wanted an easy 7 on my transcript) but next year im gonna have like 10 days worth of 2-3 hour tests which im really excited for
and the district is gonna try implementing plus and minus grades into the gradebook so if you want a 4.0 you need to get at minimum a 96 in all your classes which FUCK NO or at least not with these teachers we have at this damn school
 
I don’t post here ever but I figured this would be a good starting one

I’ve got APUSH and AP Comp Sci. Comp Sci I’m not worried about, the multiple choice questions are pretty easy and the actual coding I had to submit took about 15 minutes so that wasn’t hard either. APUSH on the other hand I’m a lot more worried about. The LEQs and multiple choice are both fine, but I’m ass at DBQs so I’m not excited for that. Hopefully multiple choice + LEQ can carry my grade. Oh also the SAT is this week.:psygrump:
 
BM paper 1 done. now to #GleekSweep paper 2 and get a 7
Comett7778 said:
I don’t post here ever but I figured this would be a good starting one

I’ve got APUSH and AP Comp Sci. Comp Sci I’m not worried about, the multiple choice questions are pretty easy and the actual coding I had to submit took about 15 minutes so that wasn’t hard either. APUSH on the other hand I’m a lot more worried about. The LEQs and multiple choice are both fine, but I’m ass at DBQs so I’m not excited for that. Hopefully multiple choice + LEQ can carry my grade. Oh also the SAT is this week.:psygrump:
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If you're not great at DBQs the secret is to pretend the complexity point doesn't exist. That way you can focus on the 5 other points that are significantly easier to get and settle for that (since those points are more or less a checklist) and then bank on the parts you're actually good at for a 4/5 possibly (realistically you'd have to fuck up an entire section to get a 3)
 
sorry youtube shorts have rotted my attention span and you lost me halfway through the second parentheticloid

is this the OU DBV LC signups [CLOSED!!!] thread?
 
I teach a bunch of different AP subjects, and before that, I was a nerd who took a bunch of AP subjects, so I have opinions! In case anyone here is a High School sophomore/junior (likely) and wants to make minor life decisions based on some internet stranger's advice (even likelier), I will share those opinions you all. Then YOU can take the courses and form your own opinions, and we can have a big ole opinion party!!!!
One of the most fun math classes you will ever take, if your teacher is ready to make it fun. If you're in the position to even consider taking AP Calc you're probably going to enjoy it, and Calc I is like an omnipresent gen-ed course, so if you're going to college this will be guaranteed to save you time and money if you pass. I also think the average AP Calc teacher is probably more jazzed about teaching Calc I than the average university Calc I teacher, so that's another reason to take it.
One thing to know about AP courses is that different schools cover them in different amounts of time. Even though the curriculum is the same, I've seen this covered in anywhere from a full school year to half(!!!) a semester. Even if the amount of class hours is the same, two months is just way to short to absorb this class, so if your school is insane like that then I wouldn't take it lol. In college course terms this is basically Calc I and Calc II smooshed into one class, which is weird when AB is just Calc I. If you're planning to go into a major where you will likely take Calc II (ie STEM) this might be worth taking over AB, but otherwise I would only take it if you're really into math and you don't have a better option.
This is easily the #1 math course to take just for your own betterment as a person. Having an understanding of intro-level statistics makes it much easier to interpret stuff you hear about in daily life. I'm not saying you'll do the math in your head, but like understanding the concepts in this course gives you a stronger bullshit radar, basically. You too can annoy your friends with weird, counterintuitive opinions about scientific studies and polls! As a course, I'd say this is one of the easiest math courses, although be aware that it's more interpretation (ie, writing sentences) heavy than most math courses. In theory this should also be very good for getting college credit, and Stats 101 is a very common gen ed requirement, but I've found that some schools are picky about which of their stat courses they'll consider it equivalent to, so it's not necessarily as solid as the Calc courses for that. It's not like you have to pick one or the other though, generally.
This is very similar to the CS 101 course you'll find at most universities. If that interests you, I would definitely recommend it. This isn't the only way to learn programming, but again, if you're taking AP STEM courses you're probably someone who does well learning things through the traditional class format, so this is a good choice there. I will warn you that a lot of people (including teachers) think that there are people who just can't do CS, no matter how hard they try. I personally think that's bunk, and kind of shameful for teachers to even entertain, but if you care a lot about your transcript being perfect, maybe ask around to see if your school's version of this class tends to grade lightly. On the other hand, if you want to find out if CS clicks with you without spending tons of money on a college course, this is a great way to try it. Ultimately the best predictor of CS success is how well you understand math; it doesn't use a ton of math but if you did really well in algebra courses you'll probably do well in CS.
This is very similar to the CS 101 course you'll find at a university that hates you and wants you to be confused. It's kind of a hodgepodge mess of different classes: you've got some "CS for people who hate math" type stuff, some actual CS concepts, and some "CS concepts" that are actually just discussions of cybersecurity, networking, and generally not-actually-programming computer things. I would avoid this course personally, if you're someone who likes programming then the other stuff will be annoying to you, and if you're someone who doesn't like programming you're just taking a course that should be an easy A except randomly they've thrown a very technical and difficult elective into it.
Even though all the other subjects I teach are math/CS courses, I somehow ended up teaching Comparative Government and Politics. You wanna know how that happened? The answer is money. I like having it and nobody else was available. That being said I actually love teaching this course, because I'm a nerd who thinks about this stuff anyway. Comparative Government is generally considered a really easy course by AP standards, and I definitely agree; if you're the kind of student who's likely to take AP courses you will probably be able to do well here. It's a good starter AP course, too. More than that though, I honestly just think this is a good course to take for your own worldview. Pretty much everyone has some opinions about foreign affairs, but very few people actually know much about how foreign countries work. The curriculum for AP Comparative Government is pretty good at presenting things in a reasonably objective way, and the group of countries it covers will probably fill holes in most students' knowledge. Of course I don't agree with the specifics of every single thing they say, but it does a good job of illustrating how foreign countries that seem extremely different are essentially responding to the same problems. Or more specifically, it does a good job of illustrating how the seemingly-crazy ways they do stuff in other countries actually have some kind of logical foundation.
Some hot takes about classes I haven't taught but have some experience in, either as a tutor or just from taking them:
- AP US Government is another really easy course, at least if you're in the US lol. Just for civics reasons I think it's good to understand how the government works in the country you live in, so like if you're a US student it's probably worth taking. I really enjoyed this class as a kid but I am a nerd, I think you'd have to be really passionate about civics to have strong feelings about this class.

- AP US History is considered somewhat hard, and in my experience that holds up. The basic issue is that the history is recent enough for some stuff to still be contentious, and yet past enough that a lot of it is obscured by the haze of time: old documents are confusing, you'll get to stretches of 20-30 years where everything blends together, etc. If you like history I still think it's worth taking, though, just be prepared for it to be hard.

- AP Psychology is the most vocabulary-centric course I've ever taken, honestly moreso than some foreign language courses :row:
If you're good with that then I think it's cool and not too hard. Definitely more of a pop psyche class than a "real" psychology class, but if you're interested in the subject you will likely enjoy it a lot.

- AP Studio Art is very different from the other classes obviously. When I took it we were expected to already have a bunch of portfolio pieces from prior classes, which screwed me, but ultimately I felt that I grew a lot from the course. If you want to grow as an artist I think this is a great course even if you don't want to go to art school.
 
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