Seven of nine. This week we continue our look at the 2021 free-response questions with an eye to ways to adapt and expand the questions. Hopefully, you will find ways to use this and other free-response questions to help your students learn more and be better prepared for the exams. 2021 BC 2 This is…
Many, perhaps all, of you, are looking at a vastly different teaching situation in the Fall. A teacher wrote to me recently asking if I could describe how he could give several versions of a test on the same material to his online classes and scale them so as to be fair everyone even though…
Why “scaling” is necessary No teacher can make two tests on the same topics equal in difficulty. No two teachers, even if they collaborate, can make two tests on the same topic equal in difficulty. No two teachers in different schools, districts, or states can make two tests on the same subject equal in difficulty.…
I got to thinking about grading the other day after seeing a question on Facebook. We’ll get to that question in a minute, but first I want to try to outline a grading scheme I used towards the end of my teaching career. It is based on how free-response question on AP Calculus exams are…
Some thoughts on pacing and planning your year’s work for AP Calculus AB or BC. The ideas are my own and are only suggestions for you to consider. Almost all textbooks provide an AP pacing guide among their ancillary material. You can consult the guide for your book for specific suggestions for the number of days…
Six of nine. Continuing the current series of posts, this post looks at the AB Calculus 2021 exam question AB 6. Like most of the AP Exam questions, there is a lot more you can ask based on the stem of this question and a lot of other calculus you can discuss. This series of…
Five of nine. Continuing the current series of posts, this post looks at the AB Calculus 2021 exam question AB 5. The series considers each question with the aim of showing ways to use the question in with your class as is, or by adapting and expanding it. Like most of the AP Exam questions…
Four of nine. Continuing the series started in the last three posts, this post looks at the AP Calculus 2021 exam question AB 4 / BC 4. The series considers each question with the aim of showing ways to use the question with your class as is, or by adapting and expanding it. Like most…
Three of nine. Continuing the series started in the last two posts, this post looks at the AB Calculus 2021 exam question AB 3 / BC 3. The series considers each question with the aim of showing ways to use the question in with your class as is, or by adapting and expanding it. Like…
Two of nine. Continuing the series started in my last post, this post looks at the AB Calculus 2021 exam question AB 2. The series looks at each question with the aim of showing ways to use the question in with your class as is or by adapting and expanding it. Like most of the…
First of nine. One of the things many successful AP Calculus teachers do is to use past AP exam questions throughout the year. Individual multiple-choice exam questions are used as the topics they test are taught; free-response questions are adapted and expanded. There are several ways to do this: Assign parts of a free-response (FR)…
I hope you have all either completed your year or are close to it. Take some time to relax. I am working on a series of nine summer post which will be begin on Tuesdays starting June 22. Each will look at one of the nine 2021 free-response questions. I will not be presenting their…
