Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
4341

<p>blueiguana, I don’t much care for the weighting APs and Honors equally either, but it’s also the way that UC does things. It’s not a battle worth fighting. Don’t even get me started on the ridiculousy puny weighting that our district uses for honors and AP. Suffice it to say that it is not an extra point. :mad:</p>

<p>FlMathMom, glad it was useful. I was really surprised to find out about that free app fee–like you say, every little bit counts. </p>

<p>omom, a good friend of D1’s had a horrid horrid calculus teacher first semester of junior year. She managed to switch to the good teacher for the second semester. That, combined with a wonderful tutor allowed her to get a 4 on the AP AB Calc test. :smiley: This is a kid who is not pursuing anything STEM, but for your D, she should swallow her medicine now. ;)</p>

4342

<p>My D’s HS offers AP Calc AB & BC , Honors Calc and AP Stats for advanced math.</p>

<p>Emmybet-my nephew attends a WI high school that doesn’t weight grades. He is in IB program. Got a B+ in 1 class freshman year and already knows that he won’t be getting one of those 2 val/sal scholarships to UW. The kids who usually get them at his HS are the non-IB kids, b/c they take easier classes. How unfair is that?</p>

4343

<p>I’ll say also on the flip side of APs and senior year - both of my kids have really been thrilled to get even that tiny taste of college from these classes. We have a very typical public HS, and I know for a fact that even the APs aren’t taught in the loaded way they are at other schools (AP Lit, for example, has no mile-long reading list; I think they pick 1 full-length book a semester for “outside reading;” the rest is short pieces and excerpts). But they do get to work at a mature level in many ways regardless, and it’s good work - kids do get 5’s on the exams here, so I can’t say the program is run poorly.</p>

<p>D came home yesterday saying that her AP Gov teacher let them work in small groups, even sitting outside in the sun collaborating. They got their project done, but also just talked - doesn’t that sound like college? </p>

<p>Almost every day she’s also having to make decisions that are more like college - how much to invest in an activity, how to manage her ever-more-complex schedule, how to deal with people about much more serious issues than ever before. She’s really seeing how she’s going to leave her mark, and even more importantly what she’s doing that she will take with her to the next place.</p>

<p>All of the crises and decisions are such great practice for next year, as well as the schoolwork they are challenging themselves with. But at the time they’re not so easy to live with.</p>

<p>Another thing I’m noticing, however, is that her recovery period is getting increasingly shorter: she’s over a disappointment in 10 minutes that it used to take her all day to get past. A teenager getting perspective! Will wonders never cease?</p>

4344

<p>mommylaw - oh, yes, that scholarship is archaic and so frustrating! Our GPAs aren’t weighted at all, so the kids load with easy classes and then get the bucks. On the other hand, the amount of the scholarship hasn’t increased for about 20 years - it used to pay tuition for 4 years, but now is really only a nice boost. And while we understood its whole purpose was to give incentive to stay in WI my D was angry that she had to kiss a nice reward for hard work goodbye when she decided to go out of state. If you turn it down, they pass it to the next in line, and that was a hard day for her when she told them “no.”</p>

4345

<p>Count us in on the schools that only offer AP Calc. We have both AP Calc AB and BC - but no regular Calc. A couple of the boys in D’s grade took AP Calc BC last year as juniors (after having doubled up on Math in sophomore year). That left them with no Math class to take this year as seniors. Apparently, they signed up for AP Calc AB! They want to have a Math class, it has to be AP since both of them are in the running for val/sal. I don’t understand why they didn’t take AB last year and then switch to BC this year…</p>

4346

<p>That is going to be an interesting experience … I think BC covers AB, and then goes further (usually colleges give credit for 1 sem for a good AP test score in AB, and 2 sems for BC…). Sounds like they got really strange advice. I’m surprised they aren’t going off-campus; that’s what early Calc-takers at our HS do. We only offer AB. My college D knew right away when her college course moved on to post-AB material, so I really do think they’re going to get a repeat (a kid with a 5 on BC would have passed out of her entire yearlong course).</p>

4347

<p>omom - What math class did your D had last year? In our school the math path is Alg2 - Pre-Calc - Calc. I know some schools don’t have the pre-calc class, so if this is the case, you might want to find a pre-calc text book for your D for a quick review.</p>

4348

<p>D had pre-calc last year, and got an A, but it was a struggle. She has no other AP options to replace this class with. I’m not sure what class she would take if she drops it.</p>

<p>I’m thinking we need a tutor. If she really wants to be a doctor - which means doing the coursework for it, she’s going to have to feel comfortable with math.</p>

4349

<p>arisamp - Depending on the colleges that the 2 boys are applying to, taking Calc AB after BC can hurt them more than not making val/sal. They will look like grade grabbers, who are more interested in GPA than in learning and challenging themselves.</p>

4350

<p>S’s school offers precalc, reg calc, honors calc, AB and BC calc. I know his school would not allow a boy to take AB after taking BC. S took honors calc last year and was not allowed to sign up for AB this year, he had to take BC. I agree with others that colleges will look at that and wonder what is going on. </p>

<p>Couldn’t someone in the math dept run a special class for them in multivar calc of stats or something else?</p>

4351

<p>Omom - I’ll put in my two cents (sense?). I think if your daughter is pre-med, she should make the time now for AP Calc so when she takes it in college she’ll have a strong foundation. She may want to juggle her priorities to make the time for a tutor. Our school’s Math Club tutors students. Sometimes it is easier to learn from a peer. My son actually tutored some summer school kids via Skype. What a world! I’m sure the Val honor is very important, but this class may be more important to her future success.</p>

<p>On the non-weighting of GPAs - That seems very unfair. How can you possibly equate an A in an AP, IB, dual-enroll or Honors class with a regular class espec when determining Val/Sals or any type of award or scholarship!! Have any of you complained? I sure would. It probably won’t help your kids but hopefully kids in the future would not have to deal with this injustice.</p>

4352

<p>Gee, omom, this is tough. I hope she can get on track soon. Tell her we all think she is a real trouper!!</p>

<p>My impression of math - and I am an English major who never took Calculus - is that Calc is very different from everything that comes before. My D who has only gotten an A in math once in HS (last semester in Pre-Calc) is SAILING through the intro concepts in AB Calc. In fact, many times in past years, while she was struggling, her math teachers have said, “just wait, you’re going to love Calc, it’s so much more like the way you think.” She told me yesterday that definitely feels true. Believe me - she’s shocked.</p>

<p>I think your D needs someone on her side, to put it into a perspective she can relate to. Maybe the shift has been too sudden for her.</p>

<p>Also … this is hard to say, but having had one Val and one not, I think conquering this very important goal for her is way more important than standing on a certain podium on graduation day. Yes, scholarships and long-term benefits are really wonderful for Vals, and it’s incredibly rotten to drop down. But I hope if this is what dings her she can know that she did the right thing for her future, and that you all can know that in a few years it won’t matter one bit if she was valedictorian. She’ll be at a great school and no one will ever ask again. This sounds awful and trite, but I hope you know what I mean - I really feel for you, and hope this can have a positive outcome, in many ways, now and later.</p>

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<p>O-Mom…I second, or third the tutor. Calculus is a Pre-Med requirement and she may not absorb enough to score a 5 on the AP exam, but it will give her a base of knowledge for the Calculus in college. If she is struggling at the HS AP pace, she will drown at the college pace (usually one semester vs one year) Get her head wrapped around it now…it will be better in the long run.</p>

4354

<p>Kids in S’s HS organize “study groups” where they help each other. I can’t say how helpful they are, but kids keep doing it, so I guess, they see value in it. </p>

<p>RE: weighting GPA. I haven’t heard of any calculation that would be completely fair. S’s school weights honor and AP classes, and I think it should. Still someone who takes 5 AP classes and gets all As will have a higher GPA than another kid, who takes the same 5 APs plus orchestra and also gets all As. Another example, in S’s grade more than 20 student took AP Calc BC last year. The school offers Calc III class for such kids. Not only this class is not weighted at all, but it counts for 1.6 school credits, so it brings the weighted GPA down even more than any other regular class would. OTOH, the school doesn’t rank, so our kids don’t stress out about GPA that much.</p>

<p>Do you have a weighting policy that you think is fair? I would like to hear about it.</p>

4355

<p>My D told me yesterday that she LOVES senior year. Junior year was good in many ways, but she never, ever had a moment that wasn’t on-task, on-schedule, don’t-stop-sprinting, don’t look behind-you, faster-faster…you get the picture.</p>

<p>This year, she’s involved in the same number of ECs (actually 1 more), plus the ongoing, huge commitment to voice, plus piano plus musical-theatre, etc. So I asked what’s making the difference, and she said it’s not having a science this year.</p>

<p>Last year, AP Chem just about did her in, though she managed to maintain a B+ first semester and (cue the trumpets) an A- second semester.</p>

<p>She thought long and hard about rigor before deciding not to take a 4th year of science. This is a Humanities kid who IS taking college Algebra and Trig this year, and will likely get A’s. But that AP Chem was a doozy for her; she routinely put in so much daily time on that one class that this year she really feels the difference. I’m happy for her because, though she kept a good attitude last year, I knew she felt very stressed a lot of the time.</p>

<p>This year she’s sailing along in her APs, Dual-Credits, and Honors…happy to be NMSF and will receive our school’s highest academic honor (we don’t have Val/Sal), and really happy with her decision, in this single instance, to say, “enough is enough.”</p>

<p>A sweet moment for this high achieving, somewhat perfectionistic girl to say, “I decided to cut myself some slack, I made a choice I would have been obsessing over 2 years ago, I realize it was the right decision for me, I’m enjoying everything more, life is good.”</p>

<p>Yep, definitely growing up.</p>

4356

<p>My dropped Ap Calc today and is very happy. She will not need it in college and it was stressing her out. She always did really well in math last year until they started Calc… Then her grades plumetted … The opposite of Emmybet’s d…I think it was a good decision for her and will make for a more pleasant senior year. Still taking ap Chem, English and Spanish! So hopefully that will be enough rigor for admissions. Definitely not close to a candidate for valedictorian so we don’t have that consideration, haha!</p>

4357

<p>For any of you who don’t know and want to know how your EFC is calculated, go to <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/062810EFCFormulaGuideUpdate1011.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/062810EFCFormulaGuideUpdate1011.pdf&lt;/a&gt; which is in the Publications section (bottom right) of the Student Aid on the Web (studentaid.ed.gov). </p>

<p>I asked the FAFSA folks when the 2011-2012 formula would be available. They said November; however the updated tables are already published in the Federal Register. I’ve translated all this to an Excel spreadsheet. Anyone who wants a copy can PM me. I make no guarantees, but I think it is right. I’d love a second opinion.</p>

4358

<p>I think D’s school’s weighing policy is pretty fair. And it’s very similar to the weighting policy of my HS, oh way back when…</p>

<p>For Regular level classes, A=4, B=3, C=2 etc
For Honors level classes, A=5, B=4, C=3 etc
For APs, A=6, B= 5, C=4 etc.</p>

<p>Highest GPA possible is something like a 5.1 W/4.0 UW b/c of required R level courses</p>

4359

<p>mommylaw - I think our system is the same; however GPAs can be much higher b/c kids can start taking APs in grade 9 and for many, all of grade 11 & 12 is IB which count the same as AP. In addition, some kids take college courses in the summer or after school which count the same as AP & IB.</p>

4360

<p>Kudos to all the kids who are taking advantage of what’s available to them!</p>

<p>Good job as well to all of our students who are making decisions based on what is right for them. Be it which AP’s to take and where to place there energies, how many they can reasonably handle, and taking into account commitments of EC’s, jobs, and college apps when choosing courses. This takes maturity far beyond their freshman year when they simply took every advanced class available to them.</p>

<p>My son asked last year when he set his Sr schedule, wondering if 3 AP’s and one dual enrollment were going to be enough, ‘Shouldn’t I get credit for making a decision to take what’s right for me, keeping my GPA steady, and continuing with my EC’s?’. Yes, he should. Maybe not in admissions, but when he’s trying to assess what is reasonable in college, making smart decisions will save him…emotionally, physically, and possibly academically.</p>