Advanced Placement Processing has Advanced!
As the transition of undergraduate transfer credit evaluation and posting from the Office of Admissions & Recruitment to the Office of the Registrar enters its second year, OAR and RO team members have hit an important milestone in shifting the technical and functional processes for Advanced Placement Credit into the RO purview. Given that UW–Madison was #13 among colleges and universities receiving the most AP scores (10,991 exam scores from 4,201 students), this work is of critical importance to our incoming students.
This year the College Board has confirmed that 2021 Advanced Placement exam scores will be sent to UW–Madison approximately three weeks later than usual, so the Credit Evaluation Services team in the RO will be prioritizing the running of the automated processes to load the scores, matching the AP records to the student records in SIS, evaluating and posting the AP exam scores. Given the volume of scores UW receives, those automated processes can take hours to run and some posting of AP credit may need to be done manually. Despite that, the team’s goal is to have AP scores loaded and posted to student records within 24 hours of receipt from the College Board (the projected receipt dates are July 21 and August 16, 2021).
In addition to the assumption of the technical processes, there are many data elements that are used to match student identity as reported on AP scores with their SIS record and, if those data do not match, the student score reports can be suspended. Dani Creasey (RO) has worked with Harriet Allen (OAR) to take responsibility for reviewing the suspended records and is doing so on a daily basis, minimizing lag time for those students whose AP and SIS data don’t match.
Finally, the RO has also collaborated with colleagues in OAR to identify a seamless support model for students inquiring about the status of their AP scores, ensuring that the student gets assistance regardless of which office they contact. We’ve also outlined specific action steps for advisors, OAR and RO staff to share with students who believe they’ve submitted their AP scores to UW–Madison but the scores are not on their record, allowing us to quickly locate their scores, if we have them, and, if we don’t, to help the student make the request to College Board to submit their scores. We’re very excited about this “advancement” in our AP processing and in the improved service we’re providing to our students.