AP Calculus Reading

Last summer, I was invited to take part in the AP Calculus reading (grading) in Kansas City, Missouri.  For seven days straight, myself along with over 800 other high school teachers and college professors graded over 400,000 AP Calculus exams.  We started every morning at 8:00 and got done each day at 5:00 pm.  We would go through a briefing on one of the free response questions that explained what we could accept for answers.  This usually took anywhere from 45 minutes to and hour.  After the briefing, we would start correcting that question only and it would take us two days to complete all of the tests.  

This was one of the best things I have done for professional development.  I learned a lot about the AP exam that I did not know before.  Students would ask me questions about the scoring of the test and all I could give them was my best guess.  Now that I have gone through the AP reading, I can answer those questions.  I have also adjusted the way that I teach certain topics based on what I learned at the reading.  I had a great experience and I hope they invite me to do it again in June.