August Textbook Pick-Up Dates Set

Greetings!

I am SUPER excited to begin the journey with another great group of AP Psych students, and I’m busy making plans to prepare a fantastic experience for you!

I know you are probably in the midst of enjoying a beautiful summer, and the fall may be (understandably) far from your mind, but I wanted to give you the heads up about something to watch for in your Infinite Campus message inbox/email this summer.

AP Psychology students do not have a “summer assignment” like some other AP courses, but we do have early textbook pick-up in August. At that time, you’ll get your AP Psych textbook, course materials, and directions for your first reading assignment. You also get to meet me in person, and start talking about the great adventure that is AP Psych!

This year, I was able to schedule textbook pick-up dates and times concurrently with registration week at the high school. I’m hoping this will be convenient for students and their families, since you’ll probably be making a trip to the high school that week anyway. I’ll be meeting students and handing out textbooks in rm 136 (my classroom) during the following times:

Monday, August 10; Noon - 5 PM

Tuesday, August 11; Noon - 5 PM

Wednesday, August 12; 9 AM - 5 PM

Thursday, August 13 - Noon -5 PM and 6 PM - 8 PM

If, for whatever reason, you will not be available to come in during those times, please feel free to contact me via email to arrange some other time when early August rolls around. I’ll be spending A LOT of time at school this summer, so chances are we will be able to make something work.

Have a great summer.

Global AP Psych Score Results are Out!

As the AP Psych Exam Reading wrapped up almost a week ago, global numbers are just becoming available. Trevor Packer, head of the College Board, tweets about trends in results in all AP subject areas, and today AP Psych was the subject of several.

A couple of trends that Trevor commented on are worth noting. First, the number of students taking and passing the AP Psychology Exam is up. At the Reading, we were told that over 280,000 AP Psych exams were taken this year. Similarly, news at Psychology's College Board Forum night was that the number of schools who offer AP Psych continues to rise, with another 7% increase projected this year.

Also pleasing to hear is that the percentage of students earning 5's on the test is up this year (as compared to last). I'm hoping Chi-Hi students' scores also reflect that trend. Perhaps one of those "perfect" scores belongs to a student from Chippewa Falls (okay, odds are against that, but one can hope?).

Last, it looks like students performed better on FRQ 1 (research methods) as opposed to FRQ2 (Chandler and Alex). As someone who participated in the scoring of FRQ2, I can say I was surprised at how difficult that one turned out to be for students. I certainly learned a lot about the interesting misconceptions students can have about the terms and concepts used in that question.

All this talk about AP Exam data makes me anxious to see how my own students performed on this year's test. Alas, here in Wisconsin we must wait until July 7, so I'll have to use the opportunity to practice my patience.

Have a Great Summer!

2014-15 has been a great year in AP Psych! We've been VERY busy, so I thought I'd put together a little slide show detailing some of the amazing stuff you've done this year.

Congratulations to our graduating seniors, and I hope everyone enjoys a happy, healthy summer!


AP Psych 2014-15 from Virginia Welle on Vimeo.