I meant to do this a while ago, but I don't know about you, but the connection between, "I should do this" and getting it done is a little sketchy these days. But better late than never.
We were camping the day that exam scores came out. We camp in an area where every once and a while you might pick up 5 minutes of LTE, but for the most part, we don't get internet service (which is sort of the point of camping). So the morning scores were posted, I got up and tried unsuccessfully for 5 minutes or so to pick up some signal. After that, I drove around 25 minutes into the Luddington Meijer and sat in the in the parking lot to get the scores.
Let me tell you that I feel just as nervous in those moments as I did getting my first AP exam results back in 2006. I really didn't know what to expect this year. I looked at a few essays and liked what I saw, but with such a strange exam, who knows.
First off, I want to be respectful of those who didn't get the score they wanted. As I said in one of our last classes, don't be too hard on yourself, it's not fair that the entire exam came down to 45 minutes. I'm proud of every single one of you regardless of what you got on the exam.
That being said, I was blown away by the scores, APUSH fam came with a hard flex. I don't want to get into too specific numbers out of respect to everyone, but we crushed the national average with our overall 3 and above rate. I have a doc where I rank group performance by my students by 3 criteria - overall average score, total number of students that got a 3 and above, and overall 3 and above rate. Going back to 2006, the 2020 squad was #3, #3, and #2 respectively. The classes that were ahead of you on overall average and pass rate were much smaller groups (one section) and the classes ahead on overall number were much larger to start as I had 3 sections those years. That adds up these scores being the best overall group performance that I've had by a wide margin. And while it does have a different feel because of the abbreviated exam, the national pass rate was only a little higher than it was last year. It's not like the readers were just tossing out good scores because they felt sorry for you. You earned it fair and square. Be as proud of your accomplishment as you would if it was a normal exam.
Looking back, the first two weeks off were such a weird time for me, and all your teachers, as we were unsure of what we were supposed to do. But two weeks after our final class at Norrix, on March 27th, we started our online adventure together, weeks before actual online classes formally started. Quite simply, we went on attack mode. And while it was such a weird change, I can't tell you how much I appreciated your willingness to come to those classes even when you didn't have to as we tried to figure things out together.
So what's next? In a phrase I find myself using a lot, who knows? It's clear this will once again be a very different school year, this time from the start. It seems the two options at this point are a hybrid schedule (part online/part in person) or all online to start the year. Recognize that whatever it is, it will not be like anything we experienced last year. If there is some in person school, it will be very different, if it's all remote, it will likely be much more than 2 or 3 classes a week where all you have to do is try. So we need to be ready to adapt once again. Push yourself to do what you can academically as you enter your junior year of high school. But also take time for your mental health and know that, for what it's worth, I'm here to help you out in any way that I can. Have a great rest of your summer and I'd love to see you in stinky old D-9 your senior year for AP Euro. Take care. Over and out.
We were camping the day that exam scores came out. We camp in an area where every once and a while you might pick up 5 minutes of LTE, but for the most part, we don't get internet service (which is sort of the point of camping). So the morning scores were posted, I got up and tried unsuccessfully for 5 minutes or so to pick up some signal. After that, I drove around 25 minutes into the Luddington Meijer and sat in the in the parking lot to get the scores.
Let me tell you that I feel just as nervous in those moments as I did getting my first AP exam results back in 2006. I really didn't know what to expect this year. I looked at a few essays and liked what I saw, but with such a strange exam, who knows.
First off, I want to be respectful of those who didn't get the score they wanted. As I said in one of our last classes, don't be too hard on yourself, it's not fair that the entire exam came down to 45 minutes. I'm proud of every single one of you regardless of what you got on the exam.
That being said, I was blown away by the scores, APUSH fam came with a hard flex. I don't want to get into too specific numbers out of respect to everyone, but we crushed the national average with our overall 3 and above rate. I have a doc where I rank group performance by my students by 3 criteria - overall average score, total number of students that got a 3 and above, and overall 3 and above rate. Going back to 2006, the 2020 squad was #3, #3, and #2 respectively. The classes that were ahead of you on overall average and pass rate were much smaller groups (one section) and the classes ahead on overall number were much larger to start as I had 3 sections those years. That adds up these scores being the best overall group performance that I've had by a wide margin. And while it does have a different feel because of the abbreviated exam, the national pass rate was only a little higher than it was last year. It's not like the readers were just tossing out good scores because they felt sorry for you. You earned it fair and square. Be as proud of your accomplishment as you would if it was a normal exam.
Looking back, the first two weeks off were such a weird time for me, and all your teachers, as we were unsure of what we were supposed to do. But two weeks after our final class at Norrix, on March 27th, we started our online adventure together, weeks before actual online classes formally started. Quite simply, we went on attack mode. And while it was such a weird change, I can't tell you how much I appreciated your willingness to come to those classes even when you didn't have to as we tried to figure things out together.
So what's next? In a phrase I find myself using a lot, who knows? It's clear this will once again be a very different school year, this time from the start. It seems the two options at this point are a hybrid schedule (part online/part in person) or all online to start the year. Recognize that whatever it is, it will not be like anything we experienced last year. If there is some in person school, it will be very different, if it's all remote, it will likely be much more than 2 or 3 classes a week where all you have to do is try. So we need to be ready to adapt once again. Push yourself to do what you can academically as you enter your junior year of high school. But also take time for your mental health and know that, for what it's worth, I'm here to help you out in any way that I can. Have a great rest of your summer and I'd love to see you in stinky old D-9 your senior year for AP Euro. Take care. Over and out.
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