<p>The kids who want the highest possible GPA for college apps wait until their senior year to take one or more of the unweighted required courses (e.g. gym, health, etc.) Pretty smart. My son had to convince one kid that he really DID have to take gym senior year to graduate…can you just see it? a kid is at the very top the class, has 14 APs but can’t graduate because he didn’t take gym?</p>
<p>^^This is exactly why our district recently did away with GPA for determining class rank. It’s determined by grade point, so more classes = more points, higher rank (assuming, of course that grades are good as higher grade numbers mean higher totals).</p>
<p>^^ This is not the case at our school whatsoever. This is partially built into the system specifically because APs are not available to Fresh, and only one social studies to Soph. They take PE 9/10 with great exception. Srs take no less rigorous classes their sr year. Coasting is an admissions disaster.</p>
<p>But taking PE senior year is not done for the purpose of coasting. It’s done for the purpose of getting the highest GPA possible (with weighted courses) on that transcript that goes out at this time of year senior year.</p>
<p>We made the mistake of having our elder student take several mandatory courses…in the early years, which really affects GPA because they are not calculated–should have had kiddo wait.</p>
<p>With kiddo2–we will probably have the electives pushed to the end of the hs years because of that. I learned this too late from someone with a dd who graduate last yr. took a course that many frosh take in the sr yr. Was brilliant strategically.</p>
<p>Our hs requires 2 yrs of PE, and a Mandatory course about drugs/drinking/dating/money mtg etc…and alot of kids also take drivers ed at school–get alot of time on the road etc before the exam. </p>
<p>Consider this–MANY fine colleges including Columbia and MIT require a swimming test to graduate from college. A money mgt course might be better these days!</p>
<p>One of the things that I find so interesting about cc is the differences in grade scale/classes offered/requirements, etc. in different high schools. That is one of the reasons that it’s so hard to compare students from different schools. </p>
<p>The HS that I graduated from required a swim test:)</p>
<p>^ so right
at our private–the APs are available for jrs and srs</p>
<p>at the freshman level–there is honors for Eng, Math, Foreign Language and Science.
as a soph they can take APUSH (if recommended- or appeal w an exam) besides the other honors level courses
as a jr they can take reg, honors, or AP, also the same for srs…</p>
<p>AND with the schedule the way it is–for seniors it is impossible to take all APs as several are offerred only 1x a day–which causes scheduling headaches…</p>
<p>This year they had to move Jrs out of AP classes so the Srs could get into them…
now-for a private WHY can’t they offer more sections???</p>
<p>And now for something completely different…D2 just started school on Monday. Small private school for kids with a variety of learning issues. She has no APs. No honors classes. The school does not offer APs or honors classes at all. She is, however, happy as a clam, which is an astounding improvement over last year. She’s even happier since I told her that U Arizona, where she’d love to attend, doesn’t require standardized testing. Let’s ignore that small issue of the OOS tuition for now… </p>
<p>Class of 2011 D1 will finish this year with 13 APs under her belt (very typical for her school). She is also a happy camper. It really is fascinating how different siblings can be from each other! :)</p>
<p>^
I’m glad to hear that your D is happy at her school. My kids are also very different from each other and S is attending a different HS than his sister did. I can’t imagine either one of mine doing what the other one did.</p>
<p>I have three, class of '09, '11, & '11. They are like night, day, and total eclipse of the sun. They all are/have attended the same hs, but very different academic paths and specialties. I have assured the administration there are no more headed their way. I don’t think they believe me. There has been very little crossover of teachers, and to their credit, those that have had more than one of ours have treated them as individuals.</p>
<p>I deleted the post - should have been in the college class of 2014.</p>
<p>Morning all…</p>
<p>Well kiddo2 is working on hw and all seems quiet here…Kiddo had a great grade on a recent math test which is frankly amazing…I think geometry “may” be a better fit than algebra was last yr…we shall see…</p>
<p>I dont know when the mid quarter reports come out–that will tell more of the story.</p>
<p>Hope all is well for everyone.</p>
<p>HW is a monster over here @ our house, as honors classes seem like freshman college courses. On any given day, DD writes 2-3 two-page papers in history, rhetoric, humanities, or biology. She’s knocking out As, but not getting much sleep until the weekends. She’s required to read real books in biology on top of her textbook readings. </p>
<p>She’s doing exceedingly well gradewise, so not much to complain about excepting the fact each teacher or Dr. thinks they’re the only person assigning homework during the week. </p>
<p>She’s slated to sit the Plan & PSAT tests next month as a freshman. Are there other students where the school requires freshmen to sit these exams?</p>
<p>Wow, Carmen that is a lot of homework. S has not had nearly that much (yet).</p>
<p>Our local HS gave PSAT to freshman,sophomores and juniors. Don’t know if S’s school will do the same, he thinks not until next year. I need to call and find out.</p>
<p>We’ve seen some homework, mostly in English. Od2 is a math kid and I think she procrastinates on the English, so it comes home. In order to avoid PE, od2 took culinary arts. Her claim to fame? Ate seven peanut butter cake balls in class. She brought one home to show me, but planned on eating it herself because “they’re really good, Mom!” Yes parents may brag about advanced classes, but mine? Third period cake ball eating champion. By the way, she weighs all of 85 pounds. Makes the accomplishment all the more impressive.</p>
<p>Our freshmen are “strongly encouraged” to take the PSAT. They told us last week that freshmen who are taking both pre-AP math and pre-AP English are automatically signed up for the PSAT. So I guess that’s that.</p>
<p>Interesting… I asked 2014 Son’s guidance counselor if he could take the PSAT this year because Son was toying with the idea of changing his graduation year to 2013 and I had made a certain score the criteria for doing this. Guidance counselor told me that if he took it this year, he could only take it one more time with the next year counting for NMSQT so we opted out. Oh well, I don’t think it is in his best interest to graduate in 3 years anyway and if he really wanted to prove something to me, he could just take the real SAT again.</p>
<p>Hmmm I am going to check this out—I am considering having kiddo2 take the test…
I thhink the PSAT only counts when taken Jr yr–and I know there are kids who start taking it in 8th grade. our older kiddo didn’t take it until Jr yr—we may do a better job helping kiddo 2 prep</p>
<p>My youngest son marched himself into the guidance office two weeks ago to sign up for the PSAT. He is one of four freshmen set to take it. He told one of his friends who will be doing it that he would find it very tough. The friend countered that my son would, too. What the friend does not realize is that the PSAT includes geometry and Algebra II. My son already completed geometry and is taking Algebra II now. His friend does not have geometry until the spring (block scheduling at the school). He also did not tell his friends that he took the SAT in the spring through Johns Hopkins and did pretty well for a 13-year-old kid. In fact, his SAT math score is better than most of the seniors at the school.</p>
<p>I figured that since guidance is picking up the tab on the PSAT, my youngest should take it – just to see where he is. His brother did it as a sophomore and junior. He got a National Merit scholarship to college.</p>
<p>Sure, if they’ll pay for it, why not? It’s a short, painless test. I just asked 2012 son when he wanted to take the ACT this year, since he took it in 6th and 8th. He chose April since that’s when he took it the other times. His last math score is still better than his 2011 brother’s. It’s a good way to gauge progress.</p>