College Board to end guessing penalty on AP Exams

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2...1_ST_N.htm

By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed
The College Board is about to announce a change in the Advanced Placement program that will end the penalty for wrong answers.

So after decades in which test takers were warned against random guessing, they may now do so without fear of hurting their scores. The shift is notable because the SAT continues to penalize wrong answers, such that those who cannot eliminate any of the answers are discouraged from guessing. The ACT, which has gained market share against the SAT in recent years, does not have such a penalty. At this point, the College Board is changing its policy only for the AP exams.

Under College Board policy to date, AP scores have been based on the total number of correct answers minus a fraction for every incorrect answer — one-fourth of a point for questions with five possible answers and one-third of a point for questions with four possible answers. The idea is that no one should engage in "random guessing." The odds shift, of course, if a test taker can eliminate one or more possible answers, and the College Board's advice to test takers acknowledges this, saying that "if you have SOME knowledge of the question, and can eliminate one or more answer choices, informed guessing from among the remaining choices is usually to your advantage."

A spokeswoman said that the decision to end the guessing penalty relates to broader changes in the AP program. The College Board has announced plans to redesign a number of courses, and that process will start to produce results in the 2011-12 academic year. The redesigned courses will feature "an increased emphasis on conceptual understanding and discipline-specific skills, resulting in fewer and more complex multiple-choice questions," the spokeswoman said.

And for those questions, the College Board believes that the best way to score is simply based on the total number of correct answers (without a penalty). While the shift in courses and question types will be slow — only a few courses at a time — the College Board decided that it wanted to provide all students with the same test instructions, so the guessing penalty would be eliminated across the board.

Trevor Packer, director of the AP program, also noted that the College Board will soon be offering distinct versions of the multiple choice questions overseas. Since those questions count for half of total AP scores, and there will be different versions abroad, "it will be simpler, cleaner, psychometrically, not to have to account for the deductions for wrong answers," he said.

The change will be effective for the AP exams given in May 2011.

Packer said that the change will not make the exams easier, but he said that some AP test readers who have been briefed "are thrilled that students won't have to think about this when they take the test."

As for the SAT, the College Board spokeswoman indicated that the change is being announced only for AP. "The SAT Program has no immediate plans to change scoring processes, and will keep the public informed if that position changes," she said. (The SAT awards one point for each correct question and subtracts one-fourth of a point for each incorrect answer.)

The ACT not only doesn't deduct anything for incorrect answers, but doesn't appear worried about guessing. ACT's tips for test takers say: "Answer every question. Your scores on the multiple-choice tests are based on the number of questions you answer correctly. There is no penalty for guessing."

Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, said he viewed it as significant that the College Board was changing any policy related to guessing, since the organization has argued since the 1950s that a penalty was needed. He said he looked forward to seeing how the College Board would justify having one policy for AP and another for the SAT.

Schaeffer also said that the guessing penalty is "a major competitive disadvantage for the SAT" vs. the ACT. "While the ACT is not a better test in any psychometric sense, the lack of a guessing penalty is one of the ways it is more consumer-friendly," he said.

Now this could get very interesting. Though with the predicted increase in scores (increase % of questions correct as well as an increase in passing/high AP scores), I can see the scoring curve for the exams being less lenient across the board (in other words, slightly harder to get the desired high AP scores) to compensate for the change. But for now, too early to tell.

Good prediction.

Wow, with 3 APs coming up this year, this could give me some brief relief.

Good prediction.

This. And if it's not the case, let the rage of billions of APers over the past decades rain down upon the College Board.

After I take a majority of my test and get 3s on every one of them. Awesome timing.

LF>rescoring without penalty. I have 20 bucks.

lol this fails so hard. They basically screw a the new test takers because the college-acceptance and other standards will be raised because the test is "easier". I for one had too many AP tests on the borderline between 2 and 3. now people will get that 3 instead of the 2. Good news for me though: i don't need to take this crap ever again cause i'm in college already >

WillDaSnail mentioned that the point system is still privy to collegeboard's self-adjusting curve. Thus even though you may get more points in this new system, so does everyone else. Thus things balance out when they decide what amount of points deserve a 4 or a 5 on the exams. At my school, only 5s are accepted for general biology and general chemistry. 4s are accepted for humanity courses: history, political science, culture and the lower three numbers are not even considered towards college credit.

Uhhhh...this change is entirely superficial and does not affect scores in any way, since a curve is applied. It'll only serve to encourage people to guess, which THEY SHOULD BE DOING ANYWAY.

Ha. Of course this happens after I graduate. Then again, I only got a single 4 on any exam (I hate you Euro), so I guess it doesn't really matter anyway.

You can talk about the curve and whatever, but seriously taking off an extra 1/4pt was pure idiocy. You're already getting -1 for getting the problem wrong.

Ha. Of course this happens after I graduate. Then again, I only got a single 4 on any exam (I hate you Euro), so I guess it doesn't really matter anyway.

You can talk about the curve and whatever, but seriously taking off an extra 1/4pt was pure idiocy. You're already getting -1 for getting the problem wrong.

The original purpose of having the additional 1/4 point penalty for every wrong answer was to deter people from purely guessing through the multiple choice portion of the exam. (In another words, its a deterrence against BSing through the MC) AP Exams are designed to see if you really know the material or you don't.

I'm okay with both the old and the new system. As I said before, with the removal of the guessing penalty, CB will definitely up the minimum threshold needed to obtain the high AP scores. CB never gives anything away for free; you should already know that they work with having two faces, if you know what I mean. I take anything CB says with a grain of salt.

Uhhhh...this change is entirely superficial and does not affect scores in any way, since a curve is applied. It'll only serve to encourage people to guess, which THEY SHOULD BE DOING ANYWAY.

This.

But it does matter in a way. Not penalizing guessing is essentially penalizing over-cautiousness, because bubbling more answers = better.

The original purpose of having the additional 1/4 point penalty for every wrong answer was to deter people from purely guessing through the multiple choice portion of the exam.

It's still a load of bull, though. You're already getting marked off for getting the problem wrong.

This also punishes people who simply got the problem wrong; it's not like College Board can tell whether you guessed or just screwed up.

This also punishes people who simply got the problem right; it's not like College Board can tell whether you guessed or knew it all along.

If you guess then you didn't know the answer in the first place which means that you should still get points off. At the end of the day, the pyloric sphincter will always lead to the duodenum, not the stomach. But you managed to rule out that it is something that does not lead to the heart, kidneys, and brain. Good job! You're not a retard! But you still have to study for this test in order to get a good score. Aww... :/

Oh goody, this will make the Stat test even less scary.

[fright]I try to teach these kids![/fright]

DAMMIT. I took my only 3 AP tests last May 2010.

AP Calculas- 4. My college accepted 5's.
AP English Composition- 3. My college accepted 4's.
AP Biology- 3. My college accepted 4's.

Now they're going to rub my damn face in it?!?!?!?!??!?!?!

*runs outside and gets hit by a car*

[fright]I try to teach these kids![/fright]

Hey! I took AP Courses, passed all of them, and ended up in a college in Japan!
no to clarify i never took ap courses, only honors
*awaits facepalm picture*

[fright]I try to teach these kids![/fright]

What's with the facepalm? lol

What's with the facepalm? lol

People fail to understand the concept of a curve. Even after you wrote about it in your OP. Either they're too lazy to read through this thread or they're just...