How very sad your life must be to have to disparage this uplifting story to serve your own agenda. I agree with the majority here that this is an inspirational story that shows what hard work and dedication by both student and teacher can result in.
Maybe it has something to do with the timing? The test results posted were from last June or July that said 6 total (AB/BC), right after the exams were taken. Maybe they re-score some of the top tests, throwing out some questions so that more are considered ‘perfect’ later?
I don’t get why these results are being released in January anyway. Wouldn’t these students have taken the AP exams in May 2015? Why are they just finding out now? The story on the kid from Davis High says he’s still in school now, taking Calc BC, so the test was on Calc AB as a junior? Same with the kid from LA, as he’s still in school too.
Congratulations to them all.
reading some other threads/posts by californiaa, it seems to be a jeckyll and hyde situation. She asks seemingly legit questions – then quickly devolves into sprinkling in both argumentative and outrageous language (“Just because I love my kids more than you” or “my kid is perfect”). I believe purposely in order to toss a grenade into the room. I believe she sits back and enjoys the furball. Fair warning – clearly someone whom I’d walk away from in a social event. Thank goodness for the ignore list – that’ll be one person on mine from now on.
Am I the only one who is astonished that of 420,000 students taking the AB or BC exam, only a small handful–6 or 10, whatever–got a perfect score? Is first year calculus really that hard?
The test is over 3 hours, so I can imagine the odds of a slip here and there is very likely for most people with that many problems. Fatigue could be a factor in the mistakes. Being flawless for over 3 hours is hard, I think.
Even the best people in math likely make an error or two just given how extensive the test is. Misread one word, transpose a number, etc and there goes a few points.
If too many people were getting perfect scores, they’d probably revamp the test to make it more challenging.
Yes, it is that hard.
@gettingschooled understood. It’s obviously a self-selected group of very talented high school students. It’s unlikely an admissions rep at a top good school has never seen anyone else that has scored a 5 on this exam.
It is possible for everyone who takes the test to score a 5. And clearly a lot of them do.
If you consider that for many AP exams you only have to get around 70 % to get a 5, you can see how hard it would be for someone to get 100% ! They are not easy tests.
They are not easy tests, but over 100,000 students score 5. I’m just surprised that of all those high scoring students, only about 10 students get it all right. We’re talking about a huge pool of students, way more than 10 of whom are highly obsessed with math and spend many hours per week over and above their homework doing math, and/or will go on to be International math olympiad competitors or Putnam winners, or math professors at highly regarded Universities. There’s a lot of talent and hard work out there. But I guess I’m the only one…
Usually poor people are told that they must rise above their circumstances. But when they do they are told that their life story doesn’t matter. Which Is it? The point of this story is that there are capable and extraordinary people in public schools and that we need to have teachers there to help them.
Last time we had a happy thread, it deteriorated as some are trying to do to this one. I guess some (one, in particular,) are so blazing competitive that they can’t rejoice in another’s triumph.
Great teacher. Great results. Great about Cedric. Let’s not get this thread closed for bickering.
As for the question of why now?
“Cedrick learned over the summer that he had scored a 5 – the top score – on the exam but had no idea he’d gotten every single question right until last week.”
CB only sent out these results in January.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
trying??
Let’s dial back that snark please and keep somewhat to the topic on hand or I will close this. I imagine the OP posted this as a feel good thread - which it is. If you don’t agree - fine. However, this thread, and this site, is not a debating society, so once you’ve expressed your opinion, do not continue to rehash it, because minds are unlikely to be change.
Yes, it is a feel good story. The story made me smile all morning. I don’t know this kid or the teacher, but I’m proud of them nonetheless. I feel connected to them as a fellow human being. It’s affirming in all the good ways possible. The student is the kind of example I wish for my own children to follow - to make the best use of the resources available to them – to respect the sacrifices of teachers, parents and other elders who help light their path forward. This teacher is doing the Lord’s work. And I say that as a non-religious person. Teachers like Mr. Yom should be revered. Every kid deserves a Mr. Yom in his life. Both of them got lemons in life, and made lemonade.
Good for Mr. Yom and Cedrick!
And kudos to their high school for having a 70% graduation rate.
Maybe if my old neighborhood’s zoned high school had a critical mass of teachers like Mr. Yom and administered as well as that LA public HS, its graduation rate wouldn’t have been ~34% when it was shut down by the DOE for underperformance in 2012…and that lowish graduation rate was AN IMPROVEMENT from the mid-'90s.
cobrat: my large urban alma mater school district has a DISTRICT WIDE HS grad rate hovering ~22% for entering ninth graders. Lowest of any big city school district in the country. Your closed-down 34% grad rate HS would be a high performer in the context of my old school district…
Another quick run of the numbers… approx 10% of graduating seniors enroll in a 4-year college. So now we’re down to about 2.2%. Among those who enroll, about half obtain a bachelors within 5 years. So that’s 1.1%.
1.1% of ninth graders in this school district will have a bachelors degree in 9 years. How about dem apples?
Wealth, natural talent, resourcefulness - of the many ways students can achieve academic success, I’m most impressed with resourcefulness. I realize they are not mutually exclusive and you can certainly have two or all three in combination. My point is this: you can’t change the circumstances of birth such as family wealth (or lack thereof) and natural talent (or lack thereof). On the other hand, being resourceful means you choose to seek and create opportunities that others are born with. Or you have to work doubly as hard to develop skill others are naturally born with. Money can buy tutors and coaches and the best K-12 education. Natural talent can get you quite far as well. But that 1.1% in @T26E4’s post? Those kids are nothing if not resourceful. Being resourceful doesn’t always overcome the effects of poverty or lack of natural talent, obviously. But when it does, it is an amazing thing to witness.
If I had to survive on a deserted island, and I had to choose only one partner - either the student with the best education money can buy, the student who is effortlessly talented or the student who is hardworking and resourceful, — I’d take the resourceful one any day.
Is resourcefulness taught? Can it be bought? If yes, I’d pay top dollar to get some for my kids… LOL.
This article makes me think of Jaime Escalante (Stand and Deliver teacher from East LA). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_and_Deliver
@OHMomof2: exactly. Lincoln HS is also in East LA not far from Garfield HS.