Beginning May 2011, the College Board Advanced Placement’s multiple-choice section scoring policy will no longer deduct points for incorrect answers.

The total score on the multiple-choice section of APs will now be based on the total questions answered correctly, without deductions for mistakes, according to the College Board Web site (www.collegeboard.com). In previous years, one-fourth of a point was subtracted for each wrong answer. Other sections of the AP exam, such as the free-response questions and document-based questions, will not be affected.

The rationale for this specific change is that incorrect answers are not key to test results. “Existing research confirms that both formula scoring (in which points are deducted for incorrect answers) and rights scoring (in which no points are deducted for incorrect answers) are valid scoring procedures,” College Board Executive Director of Communications Jennifer Topiel stated in an e-mail.

Test organizers confirmed this. “I think the research is indeterminate — some educational research supports subtracting the quarter point (for incorrect answers) but others say it doesn’t matter,” AP co-coordinator Steve Granucci said.

Although the scoring policy will change, the score scales will not. “This change will not make AP Exams any easier or harder for students,” Topiel said. “The number of points needed to earn scores of 5, 4, 3 and 2 is, as always, based on how well college students performed when AP Exam questions were pre-tested.”

AP program test design staff have been planning and enacting multiple changes to courses and exams over the past few years to ensure that they are aligned with the comparable college-level courses. The scoring changes will provide students the strongest opportunity to gain college credit when they perform successfully on AP exams, according to Topiel.

AP teachers received e-mail notifications of the new scoring policy from College Board on Aug. 16, according to Reynolds. The announcement can also be found on the College Board Web site.

Some teachers have adjusted their grading to the new policy. AP European History teacher Jeff Reynolds had graded his chapter tests using the earlier AP scoring method, but he adopted the College Board’s new policy beginning this year. “It’s a monumental hassle to grade it the old AP way, but I don’t think the new policy will make a difference because students will still have to study as much.”

Other teachers will be making partial adjustments to their grading policy. “I am changing the way the final will be graded to the new policy,” Advanced Placement US Government/Politics teacher Nader Jazayeri said. “I don’t think the policy will have much effect, but we’ll find out after a year or two.”

Some students favor the policy. “This new way is fair and makes the test easier,” senior Linh Ngu said. “It also takes the stress off the AP experience and becomes more like a regular test.”

However, others deem the new policy could produce misleading results. “It helps the people who guess and don’t actually know the material,” senior Jessica Moy said. “It allows everyone to takes those risks now.”

This new policy will mean some students may adjust their test practices. “I would have to change my strategy in taking the test,” senior Nathan Leber said. “Now, I do not need to think twice before I guess.”

Educators and students can adjust their preparation for the tests with confidence, as Topiel says it is here to stay. “This is expected to be a permanent change,” Topiel said.

Because of the new scoring policy, scoring worksheets within the Released Exams have been revised, according to the College Board Web site. Worksheets are downloadable online.

Besides a change to the multiple-choice scoring policy, there is also a change to the AP Calculus exams for the May 2011 exams. “The format of the free-response sections is being modified so that Part A (graphing calculator required) consists of two problems and Part B (no calculator is allowed) consists of four problems,” Topiel said. However, there is no change to the format of the multiple-choice sections.

The Development Committees, consisting of secondary school and college teachers who design their respective AP exams, believe the change in format will help the Calculus exam more accurately represent the broad range of calculus topics and concepts, according to Topiel.

Besides changes to scoring and exam formats, there is also a change to the exam schedule. For example, the Chemistry, Environmental Science and Psychology exams are now on the first day of exams. Last year, US Government and Politics and Comparative Government and Politics were on the first day, but have now changed to the Tuesday of the second week of exams. For additional date changes, refer to the Web site.