2020 AP Scores!

Dear Vanguard AP students,

What a strange year 2020 has been; COVID has touched upon every aspect of our lives, including education!  AP classes were no exception. Exams were certainly different this year. To start, they were on-line and a small percentage of students across America struggled to submit their exams properly (Vanguard students were not excluded - several of you had to retake an exam due to technical difficulties). The exams were also limited to 45 minutes, they only covered a tiny portion of what you learned and they only covered the syllabus through March. Last but not least, most students were given exam scripts different to their peers’ scripts.  I know that for some, this set-up was disappointing and maybe even unfair (some exam questions were easier than others).  Furthermore, many of you had been looking forward to the three-hour exams, eager to show off all of the skills that you had honed and all of the information that you had learned. But through it all, you never complained and never gave up. You understood the reasoning behind the changes. The shorter time period and different exams scripts were so that students could not cheat, even on an open-book exam; the shortened syllabus was so that students in states where schools closed early would not be punished. The reason behind the on-line part is obvious. When results came out last week, I was so proud of every single one of you. I graded one thousand AP Art History exams this past June, so I can say with confidence that I can tell that each of you took your exam seriously and there were some phenomenal results. But exam scores aren’t everything (I would argue that they are not even the most important thing); resilience and the determination to face unexpected challenges head-on is what matters most in education and in life. Vanguard students exhibited both in spades and I am so, so proud of you

Mrs. Ferretter

AP Faculty: Art History, English Language & Literature, European History