So far, 4s and 5s on APs. But the ACT/SAT is baffling for sure.
Is it a time issue, is she missing many easy questions because of carelessness or is she missing the hard questions or might it be nerves? If she is making 4/5’s on AP’s, I think that shows she understands the subject matter. Lower than expected ACT/SAT’s in that situation makes me think it is a test taking issue.
Probably a bit of nerves, and probably a pacing issue. Both, she is working on. But, she hasn’t taken any AP Math yet and is currently in AP Lang, so I’m going by her English grades to date as well as her math grades through honors algebra 2.
Following BKSquared’s questions, has she taken the actual SAT or just PSAT? If the SAT as well, has she also taken the ACT? How were her reading scores on the ACT / SAT?
My understanding of the ACT / SAT is of those tests before this latest iteration to the digital format. But, that said, with regard to math, the student needed to have a fairly robust knowledge of at least Algebra 2 to do well on either test. It helped to also have at least some trig, but there were much fewer of those questions. A challenge for those students who had zoomed past trig by 11th grade (nothing wrong with that) is that they potentially had forgotten some of the algebra that formed most of the test and they needed a refresher on that test. Under the pre-digital version (and possibly the digital version), if your daughter is just now taking Algebra 2, she may not have enough math background yet to maximize that score.
With regard to reading, my understanding is that a large part of that score is baked in by the time the student takes the test. Other than some practice on recognizing the types of questions and their format, either she is a quick and comprehensive reader or she is not. Unlike math, there is not a lot of cramming she can do on that portion of the test at this point.
With regard to the grammar portion, again reviewing some practice tests to understand the question format and types of questions and reviewing basic grammar rules, this portion will come rather naturally.
The bigger point I would like to make is that if she has taken a few APs and has gotten 4s and 5s, is currently in at least trig, and has read a lot throughout her life, my strong suspicion is that she will do just fine. Just try to not let the angst get the better of either of you.
Very few people think their school has grade inflation. It’s always that other school over there has grade inflation and it’s not fair to my kid over here who doesn’t have grade inflation. Hmmmm
I do believe my school has a degree of grade inflation post-covid. I say this because I have older kids who took the same classes at the same school pre-covid. My current senior would be extremely offended at the suggestion of grade inflation, and swear up and down their grades were hard fought and earned (and they were.) But the benefit of perspective has me aware of subtle differences. A little leniency with late-work where there was none. Able to petition the teacher to delay a deadline or test because of x, y, z where there was zero consideration pre-covid. Some teachers allow retest if your score was under 70, to a max final score of 70. These are examples of grade inflation.
Our high school profile showed gross grade inflation during the covid year(s) but this current class of 2025 profile appears closer to pre-covid, with more students <3.00 than >3.75 and an average school day SAT just under 1150 (mandatory everyone testing, not cherry-picking the collegebound kids.)
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My partner is a high school chemistry teacher in Massachusetts the #1 state for secondary education and the #1 ranked public schools in the country. When we met I was shocked to learn that kids could 1. Retake tests for full credit. 2. Turn in homework late for full credit. 3. Turn in missed assignments for full credit. My daughter went to a top prep school where she could not do this and my son went to a top public school where you could. Needless to say his GPA is higher than hers was. This is prevalent throughout the state. In my opinion, if your high school does any one of these…your grades are inflated.
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The question regardless is what do we want to accomplish with grades? What exactly are we measuring? These aren’t inflated if we are measuring ability understand the academics. Does handing in something late have anything to do with academic knowledge? (or is it executive function?). Do we need to “harm” kids who know it all if it took them a bit longer?
If grades are to rank kids for knowledge and executive function and speed, then that is very different. Then kids with same knowledge level at end of year should have different grades.
Do want schools to be grading for admissions purposes? or for understandin, etc.
I don’t have a great answer to this 
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My kid has an IEP that allows 2 and 3, while 1 is at the discretion of the teacher (some don’t allow retakes at all, some for a maximum grade, some for full credit). Not all kids with EF issues will have the benefit of a 504 or IEP for various reasons from school resources to parental knowledge. It’s a good question you pose. If grades are supposed to indicate to colleges that students understand the work, these are fine. But I can also see that students who don’t have or are unable to carry accommodations into college could hit roadblocks with these issues. So yes, agree it’s a good question with no clear answer.
interestingly, where I live people with money put their kids in the private schools because they’re less competitive academically than our publics and there’s more hand-holding at the privates
Reminds me of Congress. Most people think that Congress stinks, but their Congressman is a great person.
Grade inflation is a huge problem across the US, but not at my school.
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Some might define where I live that way, but I don’t think it exactly true. No always anyway.
We left our district because what some described as “competitive” was really an unchecked “rat race” with a very large proportion of the kids attending Kumon and RSM after school.
What some call “hand-holding” is actually encouragement and mentorship. There is an emphasis in thought and connection, not just regurgitating facts. Its not coddling. There is room to grow, explore, and you don’t get sorted into academic boxes early on the same way it can happen in public schools. All while maintain really high standards of work and expectation.
I think test scores play a role in sussing out grade inflation. IMO this is why colleges care and review in context. People can argue that some students don’t test well etc but in aggregate, it tells you something. I don’t believe our school has a particularly high proportion of top GPAs (my guess is less) but the AP pass rate is 95%+ (85% 4-5) and the average SAT score is 1400. To me that is very different from 4.0s at school where there is a low AP pass rate and the average test score in 1100.
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Agree that turning in something late may not measure mastery of subject, unless cheating is involved. However retesting for full credit does put into question the mastery of the subject. If you get a “practice” test, the second time around should be better even if the questions might be different. My “mulligans” almost always are better than my first shot.
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It sounds like you live in a more affluent area than I (if you have large numbers attending Kumon and RSM) but absolutely the public schools here are an unchecked rat race. We have more AP classes than you could ever fit in your 4 years and they are heavily encouraged to all upperclassmen, with a particular emphasis on including students on free & reduced-cost lunch plus URM populations.
What you described as hand-holding at privates is exactly what I was thinking as well. I didn’t mean regurgitating facts. There’s an undeniable advantage given these resources. If I were paying for my student to attend a private, I would expect nothing less than the hand-holding.
agree, but does that mean you have not mastered the material if it takes you 2 times? Or is the goal posting moving for you? I don’t think first kid would always be that much better on second take unless studied more.
Anyway, I am just debating to show it is super complex IMO and there are lots of competing priorities in the need and purpose of grades…I do think getting a perfect score first time is different than need 3 takes, I am just not sure when and if it matters for HS. it may, may not, it may just represent kids grow at different times - that kid who needs 3x as a 10th grader may be amazing by 12th (I certainly know kids like that!). But maybe we still want to recognize that…not sure!
The other issue in my district, and others, is early college at the local community college which produces higher grades than our high school AP courses and the consensus is that early college is unfairly weighting grades versus kids with a heavy AP load. I havent followed that issue as closely but I thought it was an interesting issue and one getting a lot of attention locally.
But when in practice you have thousands of high schools that all answer this question differently, for all pratical purposes the result is grade inflation for some. At School A a student may come to the same end result knowledge of the material after learning from their mistakes on the test results but be stuck with the C. At school B a student could perform the same as the student at School A the first time but retake it for an A. Both student have the same net mastery, but one gets a better GPA than the other. You could all that inflation at School A or deflation at School B depending on your bias but either way nets the same.
I believe comparing GPAs across schools has little actual meaning - it’s not really a great method comparing effort, or knowledge. Not only is scoring very different, but expectations and rigor etc.
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Agree. And this is why I think including scores (AP, ACT, SAT) in a holistic review along with everything else, is the best way to accurately/fairly evaluate students.
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I agree and this is the crux of many of the opinions/disagreements re UC admissions in CA and likely admissions to the UT system. Though they are very different they are treated as equivalent for admissions purposes to the most desirable state flagships in those states.
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I agree that a school’s profile (i.e. % of students with a 4.0 and what the AP passage rate and standardized test scores are) can mean a very different level of academic preparedness for two 4.0 students, if their schools’ profiles are quite different. While it might (and probably should) be accounted for in private school college admissions, I disagree about in-state flagships.
In-state flagships are designed to serve students from all over their state (even when state governments are giving them less and less funding). The high schools from the state will probably look like some combination of these:
- Under-resourced schools
- Schools with smaller populations (too small to have the depth and/or breadth of offerings of larger schools)
- Magnet schools
- Well-resourced schools
Kids have no control over where their parents live and what high school they go to. If a kid does the best they can at an under-resourced school or school with a smaller population and comes out with a 4.0 (and meets all admission requirements of the flagship), they shouldn’t be penalized or bumped out because their schools’ 4.0 probably doesn’t have the same rigor/preparation as a student who earned a 4.0 at a school with better resources (or a student with a 3.7 or 3.8 or 3.9 at the higher rigor school).
Public flagships are intended to be accessible to a broad range of students from a state. That includes rural, suburban, and urban students and families from all economic strata. Whether a state chooses to take the top X% of each school’s graduating class or uses some other method to choose a class, I think it could be very problematic to have a public institution that’s supposed to pull from the entire state that is predominantly filled by those who have been privileged to attend the most rigorous high schools.
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