<p>Congrats to your daughter, chrissyblue! It must be extremely difficult to catch up after pneumonia. I’m glad your daughter’s high school is being flexible with her.</p>
<p>Igloo - the standard thought is that colleges look at your course rigor in the context of what your high school offers. If your D doesn’t offer AP’s, your daughter won’t be dinged for that. If she’s taking advanced classes available to her, she’s fine!</p>
<p>Mom2M: I expect what you reported will happen here (I assume that whoever subs or is hired to teach will not have past experience with AP prep). I am not worried about the seniors in the class–if they fail the AP exam it will be a shame but won’t affect college applications. There are 2 juniors and 2 sophomores in the class --they have more to worry about. Given his age, I think the teacher left for personal reasons rather than retirement. It happens…</p>
<p>Chryssblu, I received just 2 C’s in college…calc taught by an interntl. TA I couldn’t understand and Art History (good teacher but wow, what a tough course). Cheers to anyone who aces it in high school.</p>
<p>PRJ: I did what you suggested and found some interesting trends in the common set data for a few top 20 LACS my D had expressed interest in. In addition to SAT and GPA data the admissions numbers are interesting. Based on my reading of CC posts I had assumed that ED offered a huge boost/advantage to applicants…there is a boost but it was less than I imagined. First, in the 5 schools I looked at, only ~15-20% of total accepts were admitted via ED. So the majority of accepts are RD. Second, the boost is about 10-25 percent points compared to the overall rate (and likely many “hooked” applicants in that pool). RD still seems a good way to apply for colleges in this world of ED/EA/SEA options…thanks for resource tip.</p>
<p>For those of you going through this for the first time, ask to see a copy of your HS’s profile. This is the document that accompanies a student’s transcript, explaining the HS’s curriculum, etc. I did this the summer before my D1’s senior year, and made several suggestions for revisions. This is a HS that does not send many students to top schools, adn the profile was “good enough” - for example, it listed all the AP classes but didn’t indicate that, given the small size of the school, many of the APs are offered only once/day and several are scheduled at the same time, so it’s virtually impossible for a student to take all or even most of them. There were also some grammatical errors:eek:<br>
Luckily, at the time we had a brand new HS principal and district communications director, both of whom were happy to work with me, amateur editor that I am ;)</p>
<p>geogirl1, that’s the kind of first year with Naviance document submission that I"m worried about :(</p>
<p>Chrissyblu, I’m so glad your D got that A after what must have been an incredibly frustrating and discouraging month. I hope she’s back at 100% before long-- in health and in class. </p>
<p>Igloo I expect you’d have to ask the school what constitutes a ‘Fine art’-- sometimes it would be something more hands-on than an art history course…sculpture or a musical instrument…but I think every school has a different definition. D couldn’t fit AP art history into her schedule this year so she’s taking it next year and can’t wait.</p>
<p>Thank you for clarifying the AP tests. My D told me last night some of her teachers could tell the difference between AP tests and SAT II’s.</p>
<p>Gwen, I’ll send an email asking the question. I can see how complicated the application will turn out to be. We are not even sure my D is satisfying all the requirements.</p>
<p>My D’s school is on trimesters and her first term ended before Thanksgiving. Her grades are as consistent as consistent can be from Freshman year through now, although with more honors or AP each year (of the few available to them at this small school) We are happy with her grades and more so with the comments from her advisor.</p>
<p>We have online document submissions through naviance. It seemed to go ok last year for my older D, the school was not always quick to update the status, a lot was listed as in progress when it had been sent. The college secretary had a family death last year around app time, so that was a factor. I will also be more on top of it next year as we’ll have more rolling schools.</p>
<p>I think our school will give back the PSATs next week.</p>
<p>Our high school doesn’t have naviance. It does have a similar program, but it wasn’t set up this fall. I’m hoping it’s all working smoothly by next year!</p>
<p>In the meantime - can’t wait for Christmas break and some unscheduled time!</p>
<p>I too am counting the days until Christmas break (16 counting today) but only because I can shut off my 6:30 AM alarm and D2 will be home from college. I fear that DS will have plenty of vacation homework/studying since his midterm exams (they are like semifinals, 25% of his semester grade)are not until January 18-21). Also, DS promised (yeah right) he would self study for the Jan. 22 SAT over Christmas break…</p>
<p>Since the APUSH teacher decided to concentrate on the “things that matter” on the test during the year, DS will be self-studying the first 15 chapters (complete with tests and essays due) over the Winter Break. We get a whopping two weeks, so his time is shot this year. Why this teacher doesn’t ust get assignments (and books) out over the summer is beyond me. He enjoys “breaking” his classes each year, though.</p>
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<p>seiclan -That’s how my older son’s high school was, and I hated it! I’d much rather they have finals before break and then have a BREAK. Of course, S1 just solved the problem by not studying or doing any school work over break…</p>
<p>Mizzbee -
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<p>So the work he’s doing is to prep himself for the AP test, but not for his homework? Wow - that’s great dedication! It seems to me (from what I hear), APUSH is just about the most work of any of the classes. It’s got that rep at our high school. </p>
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<p>Do you mean as in breaking their spirit?</p>
<p>Pinot Noir: Yes, he expects everyone to fail the first 4 tests, or at least get no higher than a C, and has written the tests accordingly for the last few years. It forces the kids to really buckle down, study together, or drop the class (which many do). At the same time, he gives A+ for easy homework, so the kids tend to end up with a B or C at mid-terms, and so parents don’t demand his head. DS has taken it very personally and made it his mission to survive, and runs a study group with his friends. He is also determined to score well on the APUSH exam. What irks me is that I don’t think the teacher does a good job preparing them for the test. Two years ago, he had only one person score above a 3 on the exam, and last year, only 3 students did. If he is going to write hard tests, at least make them in the same format of the AP exam. Instead he puts 5 questions about the quote at the beginning of the chapter, or questions about the italicized caption under a picture. When I asked him why he doesn’t focus more on DBQ (document based questions) or on short essay, he says that it isn’t time yet, or grading is too subjective. I personally think he doesn’t want to read the essays.</p>
<p>Wow. Sounds like a frustrating teacher. I really have a problem with teachers and school administrators who cultivate a climate of “us against them,” or “students against school” and visa versa. There are teachers out there who manage to challenge students tremendously while still making them feel encouraged, supported, and, like the teacher actually likes them.</p>
<p>One bad thing about our school is that they won’t let you switch classes. If you start in AP, you will stay in AP, no matter what.</p>
<p>Forgive me for being clueless;What does staying in AP mean? Is it different from taking AP courses?</p>
<p>Wow, if we had a teacher who wasn’t having students perform well on an AP, I think heads would roll! Really, I understand making the tests difficult, as difficult as the AP itself. But to make everything “hard” and still not have students perform well on the AP? That is crazy. </p>
<p>DS12 has a test in APUSH today. The tests are difficult. Was he studying hard last night? No, he went to the HS concert instead. Ugh. Where your kids seem to take it as a challenge to do well in a difficult class, mine seems to think that it just is what it is. He is happy with B’s. No extra work to get that A. I’m trying to be happy with the kid on the couch. He is a very engaged boy who strives hard in many areas. Just not in all areas. It is hard for a type A parent to parent a type B child.</p>
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<p>No, i just mean you can’t switch from APUSH to reg US History. i know in some schools you can, but in our school, you have until May 1 to make any schedule changes for the following school year, and after that, there is no changing anything at all, including switching from an AP level class you’re over your head in to a regular class.</p>
<p>Iglooo, I think Pinot means you can’t drop an AP course mid-year, even if you’re doing very badly. At our school, for instance, a student takes US History, Honors USH, or AP USH… you can drop APUSH in September if it’s too difficult.</p>
<p>That’s repulsive about the teacher “breaking” the kids-- really worth a complaint, especially if they don’t do well on the tests! Totally unnecessary, in fact counter productive. (We have one like that, tenured-- they moved her to teach freshman honors so at least the kids can be seen to “improve”) But it’s gross.</p>
<p>Multiple parents complain each year, but he tends to pad the grades at the end of the year with lots of As for homework, so it doesn’t hurt their GPAs in our already grade inflated school. I don’t know why more parents don’t complain about the lack of results on the AP exam, but I have and will continue. As it is, we only offer 5 APs at our school, so I think most parents don’t want to put any classes in jeopardy. However, it is crazy to spend an extra $100 (noty counting books) on the class if the kids don’t have the option to use it later. Most of our kids go to state publics that would accept the credit. Surprisingly, my son likes the teacher as a person, and says he is really funny and likes to debate current issues. If S can master this class, I told him he should be the one to complain to the principal about it. As a parent, I feel that I have no real way to know if he is mastering the material, since all homework is an A+ (write a page of notes on the chapter, auto A), but his highest test all year is A-. At least his AP Chem class is well run or I wouldn’t bother to sign him up for the other APs next year.</p>
<p>Geogirl… It is hard for a type A to parent a type B… I can definitely relate. My DS was supposed to be home studying for APUSH last night too. Was he??? No… he was at a scuba conservation project meeting that he is trying to get off the ground. He told me this morning that he stayed up last night and got it done, but I’m sure he didn’t give it the effort that it deserved… as usual. He is also happy with B’s and really would rather be out doing his EC’s than putting in the extra mile to get the A. Oh well, he has pretty much been this way all through life, but he did manage to get great grades this year at the quarter and I was so happy and proud of him. I just don’t want to be crushed when I see the grades at the end of the semester… the ones that matter.</p>
<p>5boys - do we have the same son? Scuba conservation? My DS is scuba certified and is currently spending his extra time studying for the Ocean Bowl team. Our HS team has won regionals the last 3 or 4 years and usually does well at nationals. I think they were 9th last year. My son made the “A” team this year and is obsessed. He would study marine biology is he thought he could actually support himself after school!</p>
<p>I feel like I am am constantly complaining about his grades. He has a strong GPA (95.5W, 93.2UW), but not a stellar GPA. The problem is that I see where he is capable of that strong GPA if he would just study a bit more. I just wish he’d push a bit harder. Just a bit. I’m trying to learn to let it go and learn to be happy with the Type B. He is a great kid.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s an APUSH thing - our APUSH teacher is so happy to break the spirits of these kids my younger daughter decided not to take the class. In the past his summer work was due 2 weeks before school started which meant that any kid who had a question or went to a wilderness camp and had no access to a computer/internet couldn’t take the class. That ended last year when we got a new hs principal, his edict was that no summer work could be due before the 2nd day of the new school year.</p>
<p>I wish we had an honors US History class, my daughter and others who didn’t want to put up with this teachers nonsense are bored in the regular class. With very little work she got a 98 this quarter. When we went to parent teacher conference the first thing the teacher said was, “Why isn’t she in AP?” and then he promised it would get less boring and more difficult as the term went on. Doubt it, this teacher is not particularly exciting. Oh well.</p>