North Middlesex Regional High School
AP Biology 2006-07 - Mr. Virzi
3rd quarter grading formula for AP Biology
This is a summary of the 3rd quarter grading formula that has been described to
students in AP Biology class a number of times over the course of the 3rd quarter;
I am posting it here for the convenience of parents and students for reference purposes.
As described on the course outline handed out on the first day of class, tests count as
50% and quiz, homework, and lab grades are combined for the other 50% of the grade.
This formula will continue.
The test component for 3rd quarter is determined as follows:
-Each student must take a minimum of 10 chapter tests. 3rd quarter is 12 weeks long,
so this pace amounts to a little under one chapter per week, which is a reasonable
schedule for an AP Biology course. Our textbook contains 55 chapters; we have covered
the first 17 chapters as well as the last 6 chapters in the Campbell text together in
class during the course of the first two quarters.
-For 3rd quarter, students are allowed to determine for themselves which chapters
they wish to cover and be tested on. The purpose of this is to enable students to review
previous chapters that they feel they need to work on, or to forge ahead and learn
new material at their own pace if they wish to do so. Students may not take more than one
test on the same chapter.
-Individual chapter tests are provided for each student as they request specific chapters.
In other words, each student is provided a customized assessment on their own time schedule.
Students are allowed to
schedule tests as they wish, although I strongly encourage students to avoid putting off
too much work until the last week or two of the quarter. They must complete a total of
ten chapter tests during the 3rd quarter; uncompleted tests will count as 0/100 test
points.
-Chapter tests consist of approximately 15-25 multiple choice questions which are
AP-level in difficulty. Students are allowed to choose any 10 questions which they wish to
be counted for the test grade for that particular chapter test. Students are strongly
encouraged to answer all of the questions, even though only ten questions will ultimately
count. The AP Biology test consists of 100 multiple choice questions and 4 essay
questions.
-For each chapter test, students may elect to have the test count as a minimum of
100 or a maximum of 300 test points. They state their preference after they have taken
the test and have handed it in, but before it has been graded. The purpose of this policy
is to encourage students to further self-assess on each question carefully, to practice
eliminating as many wrong choices as they can, and to give students a good measure of
control over their own grades by providing a mechanism for them to help themselves by having
more or less weight attached to tests.
-Free-response practice. The AP Biology test contains 4 essay questions which must all
be answered. Students should plan to spend approximately 22 minutes on each question.
We will continue to practice this style of essay writing in class, using actual questions
that have appeared on past AP exams. The free-response practice questions will be
worth approximately 120 quiz points each, and will be graded based on grading rubrics
established by the College Board which are specific for each question. Since these
questions are purposely written to be extremely broad in scope, no student is
expected to have mastered all of the details listed in the scoring rubrics. The
free-response questions are designed to have a level of difficulty in which the average
student knows approximately half of the material. Consequently, students should expect
to be unfamiliar with some parts of one or two questions. It is very important for
students to practice writing coherent essays on topics for which they may not have
specifically prepared. Therefore, students will not always be given advance notice of
free-response question topics when we do practice writing during class. If we neglect
working on this important test-taking skill during class, then students will be less
prepared for the AP Biology exam than they should be.
-Extra credit. Students are strongly encouraged to do oral presentations during
class time. Each oral presentation is worth a minimum of 50 bonus points. Students may
do as many oral presentation as time allows. I cannot overemphasize the potential value
for students of doing oral presentations; explaining biological concepts to peers enables
students to assimilate the language and ideas in a much deeper way than simply reading to
prepare for multiple choice questions. Nationwide, AP Biology students typically have the
most difficulty with the free response portion of the AP test.
Sample grade calculations:
Student A takes 5 chapter tests worth 100 points each, gets an 80% on each.
She also takes two chapter tests worth 300 points each and gets an 80% on those.
She does not take three chapter tests. Her quiz, lab and homework grades also average
80% (800 out of a total of 1000 points). She does no extra credit oral reports.
[(5 X 80) + 2(3 X 80 ) + 0] / [500 + 600 + 300] X 50 + [800 / 1000] X 50 = 71 (C-)
Student B takes 8 chapter tests worth 100 points each, gets a 74% on each. She also takes
two chapter tests worth 300 points each and gets a 74% on those. Her quiz, lab and homework
grades average 65% (650 out of a total of 1000 points). She does 8 extra credit oral
reports, each worth 50 bonus points.
[(8 X 74) + 2(3 X 74 )] / [800 + 600] X 50 + [((8 X 50) + 650) / 1000] X 50 = 90 (A-)
Although I will make every opportunity available during class time for students to do
oral reports, there are some topics that will require me to spend some class time to clarify things as questions may arise.
In addition, we will be staying on course with our practice writing for free response questions.
I understand that as the end of the quarter approaches, that some students may wish for more
class time to be spent on oral presentations, and every effort will be made to accomodate
students' interest.
If you have any questions, please contact me directly with your concerns,
either by emailing me here or by simply stopping by
Room 20 after school. I am here on most days until 3 PM.