Instructions for taking the test and posting your score are found here.
Share your thoughts on the exam by commenting below. Your comments are due by class time on Wednesday, Nov. 12. (Your lesson Plan for Teaching Project #2 is also due at this time.)
- How long did it take you to complete the test?
- What theory and ear training concepts does it assess?
According to the AP system, high school students normally have a one-year course to prepare for this exam. Some colleges will then accept a successful AP score as credit for one or more semesters of theory.
- Do you think that a one-year high school course would offer sufficient time to prepare a student to be successful on this test? What kind of background would they need prior to beginning a high-school AP course?
- How much, if any, college credit should be awarded for a successful score? How many semesters of theory?
It took me about an hour to complete the multiple choice questions on the exam. There are many great topics addressed in the exam including harmonic progressions, modes, chords, rhythms, error detection and compositional techniques that are taught in many first and even some second semester theory courses. I believe that if an instructor really covered everything in the exam in as much detail needed to complete the exam for a 4 or 5, I think that this would be sufficient to award students credit for Theory I. HOWEVER...If the university curriculum is designed as an integrated course which includes theory, ear training and piano as a whole, using AP credit would be unfeasible. Also, since curricula can differ so much between different universities, some students may have holes in their background at one college/university, whereas the same student may be over prepared at another.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to the test itself, I felt like for me there was a lot of dead time in the recordings. This is great for students to get work time, but terrible for those of us who like to do a test quickly and efficiently and get it over with! I know that with the technology of CD recordings, they had to find a happy medium of not too fast and not too slow. I think with the technology available used in other mediums (the bar exam for law for example) one could conceivably design an online test where a test is proctored but where students can work at their own pace.
I spent about an hour and a half on the multiple choice section of the exam. This portion focuses on a broad range of theory techniques including; identifying chords, rhythms, form, harmony, modes, error detection, and basic compositional tools. The test is based on both aural skills and visual representations. I believe that in a detailed and planned course, the material presented could be learned in a one year course. That being said, it would rely heavily on the curriculum of the high school and on the entrance exams of universities as to whether or not this AP exam would transfer as credit. Some high schools do not even have theory courses to offer. As Nick suggests, some students may have gaps in their instruction where others may be more prepared.
ReplyDeleteI thought the test was very comprehensive, but I could have done without the CD proctor. While it allows sufficient time for question completion for some, there are others who would prefer to move more quickly and others who may need more time.
In response to both you and Nick: I agree about the CD proctor; it's simply a necessity when you're giving the test to a bunch of students in the same room.
DeleteThe complete exam took me about an hour and a half to complete. The concepts that were assessed were basic fundamentals that I believe are taught within the first 4 semesters of Music Theory (equivalent to two years). These basic blocks of knowledge needed for the bigger concepts of Theory are embedded with background knowledge that should previously be obtained by the students in beginning years of schooling. I think that Music Theory as a whole should be taught over an extended period within a students schooling to focus on small subjects at a time, then building those small blocks into larger concepts.
ReplyDeleteThis exam in my opinion was too advanced for someone just entering collegiate level theory with NO background in theory at all. Students who have had the proper prolonged lessons with things like scales, intervals, rhythm and harmonic analysis previous to taking the exam would be the most fit for the exam.
If there were to be college credit(s) awarded to those students who performed efficiently on it, I think that two college credits should be awarded.
Hi Shanyse, The idea behind the exam is that it is preceded by a College-Board approved Advanced Placement COURSE, anywhere from one semester to a year, to prepare students for the exam. Normally college credit is given for anywhere between one and two semesters of college theory, but not four.
DeleteIt took me about a little over an hour to complete the multiple-choice portion of the test. It assessed a wide variety of concepts including melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic dictation, error detection, and different aspects of analysis. I never took this test, but I liked the multiple-choice setup for the exam, although it did throw me off a couple times. I’m so used to analyzing piece of music freely, sometimes seeing another option would make me second-guess myself.
ReplyDeleteThinking of the class as a one-year course is difficult for me because most high schools in North Carolina are on a block schedule, meaning students have 4 classes each day for 90-95 minutes, and each class is only semester-long. The students have the same four classes every day (some schools run “A-days” and “B-days” for the entire year). At the school where I student-taught, students were required to take music appreciation, chorus, band, or a placement test before entering AP music theory. Teachers can’t spend weeks on note-reading with these students. Otherwise, they would never get through the material. I think teaching to a test can be extremely difficult, and covering all of this in one semester would be hard, even with 90 minutes every day. On the other hand, students could still score high enough on the exam to earn credit, even if they missed several questions.
Deciding how much credit should be rewarded for a successful score is difficult because every university theory curriculum is different. At YSU, for example, counterpoint is taught in Theory 1, but is not covered on the AP exam. Overall, I think students who score well on the exam should automatically be placed out of materials/fundamentals, but should either have to take theory 1 or be tested further to place out of theory 1. Like we have talked about in the past, spending extended time on fundamentals will only increase chances for student success in higher levels of theory.
MA: "At YSU, for example, counterpoint is taught in Theory 1, but is not covered on the AP exam." JR: It IS covered on the exam--sort of. Free-Response #7 is a soprano/bass counterpoint question.
Delete(I did the thing, where I typed my comment in the box and not in a word document...and lost all of it.)
ReplyDeleteI also spent about an hour and a half on the multiple choice section of the exam. Some of the concepts covered include: secondary dominants, phrasing, meter/rhythm, error detection, modes, form, texture, cadences, chord progressions and more (including both visual and aural skills). I think a curriculum could be created which could potentially cover all the topics on the exam; however, I think that would be a stretch.
From my own experience as an AP student, I remember being extremely overwhelmed by the vast amount of information presented on the exam. I recall thinking to myself (during the exam), “I remember this! But, I have no idea.” I think a year to cover all of these topics is simply not enough time for your average high school student to fully digest and understand to the point that the information can be processed and spit out on an answer sheet. A pretty decent portion of the exam could be summed up as basic terminology and remembering certain cadences or modes, but I think mostly it was application of skills. And application takes more time to wrap your brain around than merely remembering the difference between duple and triple.
Concerning college credit, if a student is successful upon completion of the exam, I think he/she should be awarded at least one semester of theory, with the only exception being piano. I think it really just depends on where you’re coming from and where you plan to go; the curriculum will be different everywhere. I remember in my AP theory class, we spent a whole semester on Dido and Aeneas. During which time we covered some of the topics that were included in the exam, just not to the point I personally could apply them outside of that particular situation.
I think overall, the test was indeed comprehensive and at times more overbearing than anything. As Shanyse mentioned, smaller chunks over a prolonged period of time as opposed to huge chunks crammed into one year. If the basic fundamentals are overlooked or rushed, the student will only struggle later on. Even after my training at YSU, having to answer four questions at a time involving a single listening (possibly two) was intense!
MP: "(I did the thing, where I typed my comment in the box and not in a word document...and lost all of it.)"
DeleteJR: Ouch. Sorry to hear that. But it DOES prove a point.
I had forgotten that you took AP Theory. It's great to have this perspective.
DeleteMP: "in my AP theory class, we spent a whole semester on Dido and Aeneas."
DeleteJR: Sigh. Proving once again that the teacher can make all of the difference.
It took me a little over an hour and a half to take the exam.
ReplyDeleteThe aural training portion of the exam focuses on some dictation, chord identity, and answering questions in an excerpt. The aural portion was long an extensive; the amount of time it took to take just half of the test was exhausting. Students taking this long of an exam could hinder the performance they give on the test and make the results a bit lower than expected. The students are given excerpts and must give contextual questions about the piece. However, some of these questions seemed too advanced for the students. Contextualizing and finding certain music theory things in a piece of music are difficult unless you know the rules of how they are voiced and where they can resolve to. Students also have to understand that not every use of the chord is correct and resolved correctly. Another thing is that some aspects can have two different meanings without being taught. However, there are some aspects of the test that were well done. For example, there was a portion where the students had to listen to a piece of music and note where the error was. It was either in the bottom or the top voice and it was either note or rhythm. However, I think this question could have been done better. The error identification is a great skill to have and I wish that the test focused more on it. However, they could have built up to it a bit before just throwing the questions about the errors. Maybe have a portion of rhythm where the students must identify the error and what the correct rhythm would be. Then do the same with a melodic dictation with rhythm. And then do a melodic dictation and find the error in notes. I think that the one excerpt and finding the four errors was too much to do in a small amount of time, but building up to it would strengthen the skills and allow students who are unsure some practice before just jumping right in and doing the question. The chord identifications were a bit confusing because they were just notes built and you had to identify the chord played. The problem is that I had to take a few minutes to realize the chord qualities of each and then take a hearing to figure out which chord was played. The chord quality testing was not necessarily bad, just that it should have had the qualities instead of actually built chords. Also, some of the built chords were not in root position so it took even longer to check the chord quality and such.
Some of the questions are guided and allow for students to get a few points if they are unsure of the questions and answers. The main problem with multiple choice questions on a standardized test, in my opinion, is some of the words and answers chosen for the questions. For example, some of the questions gave an answer of interrupted cadences, or Phrygian cadences. For me, I did not have the training required to be able to know what these cadences are and how to find them in a piece of music. Also, there are some differences that may cause some confusion while taking the test, like a change in the key that is not specifically written on the piece. Some of the questions are worded in a way that may confuse some of the students while taking the test as well. Also, some of the questions were somewhat advanced for a high school student to know and understand. Some of the questions also had patterns that if the student saw them would make it easier to get right. For example, on the error detection questions, the answers were easy to answer because it was top line rhythmic error, top line note error, bottom line rhythmic error, bottom line note error. The students could have found the pattern and gotten that right without fully understanding why their answers are right.
SB: "The students are given excerpts and must give contextual questions [you mean answers?] about the piece. However, some of these questions seemed too advanced for the students. "
DeleteJR: Too advanced based on what? I don't think the question is whether or not these things could be taught in a high school course, but how long it would take to cover this content.
SB: " The error identification is a great skill to have and I wish that the test focused more on it. However, they could have built up to it a bit before just throwing the questions about the errors."
DeleteJR: Presumably, this skill would have been taught in the preceding course.
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteThere was not much of a written portion of the test besides a lot of contextualizing and finding certain theory things in pieces of music. I think that this is too advanced for the targeted students. I think that this should mostly be about basic concepts and notes that will build chords, time signatures, rhythms, intervals, chord progressions, and such. A lot of the basic fundamental concepts were ignored and some more advanced things, like modulation, form, and analysis were questioned. That should have been a separate portion of the test after testing on basic fundamentals. In my opinion, I think that students are too quick to get to the hard aspects of theory and ignore the basics and that causes them to make errors that could have been avoided if they would have thought more about the fundamentals. Also, I think that a lot of the questions do not fully ask about building concepts from one to another, for example, using modulation to lead into teaching secondary dominants, or intervals to build chords. Building upon known information is crucial for music theory and is one of the reasons why students at YSU are successful through the theory curriculum because everything builds on everything else, something you learned in theory 1 can help you in theory 4 and Analytical Techniques.
Overall, I think the test was too advanced for a student with one semester of training in music theory. Some of the things they asked I didn't learn until theory 2 or 3 and contextualizing can be difficult at times. I agree that there were maybe too many questions on one piece or excerpt of music and that made it a bit more difficult to fully understand and was a bit too intense. (sorry, I had alot to say about this exam.)
SB: "I think that this is too advanced for the targeted students. I think that this should mostly be about basic concepts and notes that will build chords, time signatures, rhythms, intervals, chord progressions, and such."
DeleteJR: But the AP test is supposed to assess whether the student has sufficient skills to earn college-level credit. Students are supposed to know fundamentals BEFORE college.
When I was in high school, I did not have any theory courses available to me. So for me to judge whether or not the amount of material covered was a suitable amount on the AP Exam might not be most helpful.
ReplyDeleteThe exam itself was pretty well organized and easy to follow. There was definitely ample time in between each instruction for questions to be read (which in some exercises can be critical), and sufficient repetition of listenings. The questions in the beginning of the exam were pretty elementary in nature, with simple interval recognition and melodic/interval patterns later advancing to more difficult tasks listening to actual pre-existing compositions and analyzing them. I am also happy that for the last few questions there was critical thinking required through the analysis of music: a necessary skill.
Therefore, overall this AP exam was not only sufficient in it's organization, but that the material also was varied and covered a lot of important skills in musicianship classes to come.
It took me over two hours to complete the entire exam. It started pretty easy in the beginning and seemed to have gotten more in depth the further along the test went. From the very beginning, it was covering a wide range of material. Even though there was a lot of different material being tested, it wasn't all grouped together as one but rather grouped by each technique.
ReplyDeleteMusic theory was not offered in my high school, so I am unclear as to exactly how far into the music theory realm a student will be instructed. I thought the test got pretty hard though and it did not offer a lot of time for answers, especially in the dictation part of it. I feel like a student would have to be pretty advanced with a lot of ear training in order to complete all of the questions in the timely fashion. I don't believe that one year of music theory prior to this test would be enough for a student to pass this exam, I mean, I still struggled on some questions! I don't think a lot of credit should be offered to a student that passed with a successful score, maybe the student can begin at the theory 2 level. While they might have all the basic understandings of music theory, a college level theory class is much more in depth to the foundation and structure of music theory.