Inside Four Walls: AP tests are now easier...great

This one seems to have gone relatively unnoticed, but it seems as though AP tests are going to be graded differently now. Here's how the tests used to be graded;

Under College Board policy to date, AP scores have been based on the total number of correct answers minus a fraction for every incorrect answer — one-fourth of a point for questions with five possible answers and one-third of a point for questions with four possible answers. The idea is that no one should engage in "random guessing."

Now...just number wrong. So you can guess your way through the test. Is this really surprising anyone?

The schools have been working harder to make AP more accessible to all students, even those that don't belong. So what has been happening to the AP scores overall? Dropping of course! So instead of the College Board keeping their standards high, they lower their expectations.

I have talked in the past about schools lowering their expectations to motivate students and "help" them out, but what is this telling the students? Simple, if you can't do it, don't worry we will lower our expectations so that you feel good about yourself.

I don't teach any AP courses, so I am curious about the reactions of teachers that do. Will this help or hurt students? And how does it affect your course?