588. BIG CHANGES TO AP TESTS IN 2025
Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
Release Date: 08/20/2024
Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
Teens on the road to college tend to encounter a variety of counselors positioned to support them on their journeys. However, not every one of these counselors has the same job. Amy and Mike invited educational consultant Margaret Rothe to define the different roles of school and private counselors. What are five things you will learn in this episode? In what ways are school and private college counselors the same? Do you have to be a high school counselor to be a private college counselor? What is something high school counselors do that IECs don’t or can’t do? What is something...
info_outline 606. HOW GRADING POLICIES INFLUENCE GRADE INFLATIONTests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
The fact that students are earning higher grades than ever without any appreciable increase in other assessments of academic ability should be well-known by now. Less understood are the root causes of this increasing phenomenon. Amy and Mike invited researchers Maia Goodman Young and Dan Goldhaber to dig into the data on how grading policies influence grade inflation. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What is the purpose of grading? How did state policy around grading in Washington change during the pandemic? What does the research show about changes in grades...
info_outline 605. EXTEMP WITH AMY & MIKE: November 2024Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
The Tests and the Rest podcast has always been relentlessly focused on exploring important topics in testing, admissions, education, and learning with amazing expert guests. Once in a while, though, we enjoy an unstructured opportunity to discuss our own takes on major issues, upcoming events, and our endeavors at the intersection of business and education. Catch up with us in the latest episode of EXTEMP with Amy & Mike. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What new piece of curriculum did Mike create recently? What is Mike’s background in birding? What were...
info_outline 604. ALL ABOUT THE ACT TEST ENHANCEMENTSTests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
The ACT has been remarkably stable since the last time the exam was “enhanced” in 1989. However, significant changes are coming more quickly than you might think to this influential college admissions exam. Amy and Mike invited ACT representative Catherine Hofmann to share all the details about the ACT Test Enhancements. What are five things you will learn in this episode? How is the ACT changing? What aspects of the ACT are staying the same? What is the motivation for these enhancements? Will the Enhanced ACT be linear or adaptive? What is the timeline for the Enhanced...
info_outline 603. BUILD A WINNING BRAND TO ACE COLLEGE ADMISSIONSTests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
You don’t need to be a future business major to bring some marketing acumen to your application to higher education. Amy and Mike invited marketing professional Stacey Ross Cohen to review how to build a winning brand to ace college admissions. What are five things you will learn in this episode? How are college admissions and personal branding related? Why is personal branding/digital leadership critical for college-bound students? What are essential steps teens should take to build a strong personal brand? How can college-bound students use social media to their advantage? What...
info_outline 602. HOW ADMISSIONS COUNSELOR MORALE IS CHANGING ADMISSIONSTests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
The current college admissions dynamic where selective schools routinely receive 10, 15, or even 20 times as many applications as they have available seats has been a tremendous source of stress for applicants and their families. But how are the professionals who have to manage these applications holding up? Amy and Mike invited author Teege Mettille to explore how admissions counselor morale is changing admissions. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What exactly is admissions counselor malaise? How have changes on college campuses impacted the admissions process? What...
info_outline 601. EXTEMP WITH AMY & MIKE: October 2024Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
The Tests and the Rest podcast has always been relentlessly focused on exploring important topics in testing, admissions, education, and learning with amazing expert guests. Once in a while, though, we enjoy an unstructured opportunity to discuss our own takes on major issues, upcoming events, and our endeavors at the intersection of business and education. We hope you enjoy this first episode of EXTEMP with Amy & Mike. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What massive step did Amy take in her test prep business? How many educational projects exactly has Mike been...
info_outline 600. CELEBRATING OUR 600TH EPISODE with educator Susan PowersTests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
After 599 episodes devoted to amazing conversations about testing, admissions, education, and learning, it’s time for something completely different. Amy and Mike invited educator Susan Powers to help celebrate our 600th episode. Get ready to hear from the ghosts of podcasts past, present, and future along with a modified Colbert questionnaire! What are five things you will learn in this episode? What are the biggest things Amy and Mike learned since the beginning of the podcast? What were some of our favorite episodes? What will our podcast tombstones say? What are Mike, Amy,...
info_outline 599. TEST PREP PROFILE: Sara KohnTests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Sara Kohn, who was raised in South Florida and attended Florida State University, where she obtained a degree in marketing. She later pursued a master's degree in exercise science. About two decades ago, She began tutoring about 20 years ago and eventually established her own company, Ready Set Prep - now called Advanced Test Prep, focusing on high level preparation, particularly for National Merit and the PSAT/NMSQT. She has conducted successful...
info_outline 598. TEST PREP PROFILE: Reema ChitaliaTests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Reema Chitalia, a dedicated test prep expert passionate about shaping the futures of students pursuing education abroad. After earning her Master's degree in the United States and working as a consultant at Deloitte, she recognized gaps in global education systems and utilized technology to tackle these challenges. Before long, she established Edufit, an innovative online test prep platform that offers bite-sized lessons designed for Gen Z, ensuring thorough...
info_outlineAdvanced Placement courses have set the standard for accelerated subject studies in many high schools, but next year’s offerings may look very different from what teachers and students are used to. Amy and Mike invited educator John Moscatiello to explain the big changes–both in testing platforms and course options–in AP tests in 2025.
What are five things you will learn in this episode?
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Why did the College Board revise the scoring of AP tests?
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How has the College Board recalibrated AP test scores?
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What new AP tests will be available in the 2024-2025 school year?
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How is digital testing affecting AP testing? Which tests?
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What potential changes could be on the horizon for the AP program?
John Moscatiello has been a leader in the education space for the past two decades. His career began at the Princeton Review, where he taught the SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests, AP Exams, ISEE, SSAT, SHSAT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT Verbal, and TOEFL. At the Princeton Review, John went on to train hundreds of teachers, write content for 13 test preparation books, and work as a college admissions consultant. In his capacity as the National Director of Tutoring from 2007 and 2009, John managed thousands of teachers and tutors, supporting them with online professional development and the creation of an online community. From 2015 to 2016, John starred in more than 200 educational videos for the Princeton Review’s SAT, ACT, and GRE self-paced courses.
John’s academic career began as a Spanish major at New York University, where he realized the value of the AP Program by using credits to graduate a full year early. He then pursued graduate degrees in history from Fordham University and the University of Notre Dame, where he won awards for his undergraduate teaching. He was a Fulbright scholar to Spain in 2012 and worked at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) in Madrid. John’s academic research has been published in both English and Spanish. He currently teaches part-time at a private high school in Princeton, New Jersey.
John has supported thousands of students by building and implementing programs for underserved communities through the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, TEAK Fellowship, NYC Service, Corporate and Social Responsibility at Proskauer Rose LLP, and the Aga Khan Development Network. John’s tutoring and NGO work has taken him to more than 10 states and 25 countries around the world, especially in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and East Africa. In 2018, John founded Marco Learning in order to address the lack of high-quality AP resources and to better support AP teachers and their students.
John previously appeared on this podcast in episode 241 to discuss The Future Of AP Exams and episode 448 to discuss Controversies Around New AP Programs.
Find John at https://marcolearning.com.
LINKS
The Great Recalibration of AP Exams
RELATED EPISODES
CHOOSING BETWEEN AP AND IB PROGRAMS
HIGH SCHOOL COURSE SELECTION AND ACADEMIC RIGOR
HOW IMPORTANT IS GPA IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS?
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.