AP CSP Unit 1 Test Day

Unit 1 APCSP Test Day How did it go – by the numbers (hint not very well)

• 55 Students Taking the Test
• 59 Zip Grade Scantron Sheets Printed
• 4 Zip Grade Scantron Sheets left over that belong to students I don’t know
• 20 Questions printed on the test
• 35 Minutes Allowed (per AP Time)
• 1 Custom Countdown Timer used for this test
• 18 Questions valid after a more careful review of the test
• 7 students who hyperventilated that they might make a B
• 1 student earned a perfect score
• 2 students who earned a 50 – the lowest score
• 38 tests with smeared ink by the printer that blocked out content or answers
• 197 times I said “Yes you can write on the test”
• 18 students who properly folded their test as a hotdog
• 5 students who wrote their name on the test as asked
• 2 questions I had to throw out after I realized there was more than one correct answer – AFTER having already calculated grades and updated the gradebook of an entire section
• 3 emails home to parents explaining that the score was out of 30 points not 100 points. So that score of 25, is 25/30 which is an 83%
• 5,987 times I wished parents would speak to their students before messaging a teacher

I am tired. The first test always raises student anxiety, which I completely understand. For many, this is their first AP Course and so I appreciate their desire to do well.

For some reason, I took the time to make a custom countdown timer for this test – that changed halfway through and with 5, 2 and 1 minute warnings. Since this was the first test, I decided to let the students have an extra 8 minutes after the exam. That shifts the purpose of the timer to helping build awareness of the AP CSP timing without increasing the anxiety in the room.

But without fail, when I write a test at least one question that I really like will have to be thrown out because of a careless or tired mistake on my part. Does that skew the results? It might, if this was a one test kind of class. But since they will take a multitude of assessments during the course, I think it is really no big deal. It just hurts my teacher heart a little bit.

If you are looking for some new test questions on bytes, RGB color codes or pixels you are welcome to use these three new questions I added to my library this week. Good news, these don’t appear to have any mistakes.

I the end of August finds you in a less tired place that I am today. Time to step away from the computer and hydrate!