“Dear School Administrators,
To improve A.P./I.B. test results in the area of the sciences, perhaps the science department, in the school-year of 1998-99, can:
1. Detail a comprehensive course outline at the beginning of the year, clearly and definitively laying out the topics to be covered and the time period it is to be covered in. This may keep students from encountering never-before-seen problems on the A.P./I.B. tests.
2. re-examine its textbooks to provide, perhaps, yet another set of textbooks that may be more accessible and user-friendly to the students. *Purpose: This would certainly root out the problem of students not being able to comprehend their books and thus use it as a complement to class lectures. (Primarily Physics)
3. Return to the more fundamental lesson plans, i.e., lecturing from the textbooks, quizzing the students, working out physics, chemistry, or environmental systems problems, and ending with chapter tests or the like. Students are missing some essential basics, while getting too much depth on other aspects of the course.
4. Strongly advise the students taking the A.P. tests to purchase an examination preparation book that they can mark in and follow along throughout the course. After all, better to spend on the preparation book than sacrifice the cost of the test itself.
5. Reorganize its courses to a more orthodox format, i.e., first-year science classes freshmen year and first-year or advanced science classes sophomore, junior, and senior years.
6. Include lectures specifically addressing I.B. materials and hold practice tests throughout the year.
7. Make sure that the majority of the students comprehend the material before moving on to the next subject.
8. Never assume that the students come into class already knowing the material (specifically with knowledge of previous years).
9. Assign difficult homework, but not so difficult that it is unrealistic.”