biology as well as United States history - with 387,000 test takers the most popular A.P. exams as well as the SAT, will release a wholesale revamping of A.P. Next month, the board, the nonprofit organization that owns the A.P. And studies show that most schools do the same canned laboratory exercises, providing little sense of the thrill of scientific discovery.Īll that, says the College Board, is about to change. teachers have long complained that lingering for an extra 10 or 15 minutes on a topic can be a zero-sum game, squeezing out something else that needs to be covered for the exam. Students and educators alike say that biology, with 172,000 test takers this year, is one of the worst offenders.Ī.P. But many of the courses, particularly in the sciences and history, have also been criticized for overwhelming students with facts to memorize and then rushing through important topics. has proliferated, spreading to more than 30 subjects with 1.8 million students taking 3.2 million tests, the program has won praise for giving students an early chance at more challenging work. teachers encounter it, “they almost want to start sobbing.”Īs A.P. “Some of the students look at the book and say, ‘My gosh, it’s just like an encyclopedia,’ ” Mrs. class in Worcester, Mass., now confronts a book with 56 chapters and 1,400 pages, along with a profusion of animated videos and Web-based aids that supplement the text.Īnd what fuels the panic is that nearly every tongue-twisting term and microscopic fact is fair game for the year-end test that decides who will receive college credit for the course. But as an explosion of research into cells and genes reshapes our sense of how life evolves, the flood of new material has been staggering. WHEN Joan Carlson started teaching high school biology more than 30 years ago, the Advanced Placement textbook was daunting enough, at 36 chapters and 870 pages.
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