<p>lol, just lol at some of the judgmental comments in here. these are high schoolers we’re talking about, not adults with full time jobs that are leaving their co-workers high and dry. some people need to get a grip</p>
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<p>How many colleges run eight hours of mandatory class time during final exam week?</p>
<p>I’m really shocked by how judgmental some of the posts are in here. In addition to whatever preparations happened in class for the week prior to the AP exam, I usually crammed the day before. Not sure if it really helped or not, but to insinuate that I didn’t belong in AP level classes because I studied that way is really silly, IMO. To be honest, in graduate school, I generally cram the night before my exams. So far I’ve gotten A’s in all my classes. I know it’s not a good strategy, but like other posters have said sometimes we have so many obligations that sitting down and studying the “right” way over a long period just isn’t realistic. </p>
<p>If they’re literally watching movies in classes anyway (which was the case for several of my classes during AP week), why NOT stay home and use that time more productively? Even as a graduate student, I make these sorts of decisions every day. Should I read the article for stats class, or spend my time doing something else? If I get nothing out of the article that I don’t get from going to class, why read it?</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Unless you’ve already racked up a bunch of unexcused absences, you probably can take one without a problem, but you need to check the handbook for YOUR school. There may also be official and unofficial rules, so our official rules were no skipping school, but those rules seemed to go out the window for AP tests week as far as I could tell.</p>
<p>Wow, some of these comments are really…well, let’s just say maybe you don’t have a child in college yet to make a comparison. Once classes end it is customary to have 1-2 days before exams start (called ‘reading days’ at my son’s school) where students start 24hr/day vigils in the libraries. They then do nothing but study in-between their exams. So these highly successful students are in fact cramming, taking advantage of every last minute to study, whatever you want to call it, and the university is doing everything they can to accommodate them (hours adjusted for dining halls, food brought into the libraries, designated study days with no exams throughout exams, etc.). Now, my son’s hs actually continues to function during APs. No movies or easy days. AP teachers will give tests on days other APs have exams scheduled. If you have a conflict and miss the test you make it up after school that day or the next. So staying home to study isn’t an option, however if there was a day that was a blank schedule for the afternoon I would certainly allow my son an early release to come home and study. Who wants to watch Finding Nemo again?</p>
<p>I asked this on another page, and I’d like to ask it here too- Can colleges see your attendance record? Is it judged harshly? If I was hiring someone for a job I would be really interested in that info (and would not be very generous with excuses). I personally believe that staying home and getting some real work accomplished is more beneficial than sitting around at school killing time, but could it really backfire at admissions time?</p>
<p>Yes, It’s going to show up on your transcript. If you tend to take a lot of sick days then you probably don’t want to do this. My son didn’t miss a single day last year. He’s missed one so far this year. I don’t think it’s a concern in our thinking, however you make a good point and people need to judge this for themselves.</p>
<p>I am taken aback at the judgment here too. But then maybe those who are judging went to exceptional schools where classes were always useful and never time wasting, and they never ever ever got sick, or fell behind, or overloaded themselves too much, or ever had too many things happening at the same time to handle them all, and always had enough energy and needed minimal sleep, always took all the pressure in stride emotionally, never needed a break, and . . . ??? </p>
<p>Anyway, to answer your question, it is a dilemma at most public schools. They lose money unless you say you are <em>sick</em>, so one has to decide whether to be <em>sick</em> or to cost the school money, unfortunately, when it is necessary (for whatever reason) to take a day off.</p>
<p>At D2’s HS, several morning classes were made “optional” by the teachers because attendance rate would be so low. </p>
<p>I called in an absence for one morning so that D2 could get some rest (took 6 AP’s in 5 days) - the morning off was definitely related to maintaining her mental health, she was a stress bomb all last week. I had no problem using her health (“sick”) as my reason. </p>
<p>I guess I’m surprised some parents are so strident in their opinion on this subject. I cannot judge others for their decisions, but also expect not to be judged for mine.</p>
<p>I’ve encouraged my kids to take “mental health " days, if they want to use it to study or to lay on the beach or have a Monty Python marathon, I didn’t care.
At least the time wasnt wasted as it is during those " early dismissal” days when all their classes are shortened to 20 minutes so they can have another assembly/more testing or so the teachers can have training on yet another email program.</p>
<p>Junior parent here, first time dealing with AP’s, daughter has been preparing since beginning of the year for three APs. But all of her other classes went on as usual including the AP’s, projects, novels to read, three additional tests and now a paper. If she wants a mental day, she has certainly earned it. She carries a 4.5, is number two in her class and has given me no reason to question her. The judgement here is astounding.</p>
<p>This is ridiculous. Tell me that it’s shameful to take a day off to study when you have 6 AP tests to take within a week or even a week and a half. We review for one AP test, take it, then have to get our butts into gear to get ready for another AP test the very next day. And when we have one day in between AP tests, why should we go to school when most teachers aren’t doing anything? I’d personally stay home and “endure the shame” and study and review rather than go to school and twiddle my thumbs.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I have to study to pass AP tests - even if it means cramming - but I suppose, according to one poster, it means I’m not fit to take an AP class.</p>
<p>I’ll let my 6 5s attest to that.</p>
<p>I think taking a day off from school to study for AP exams is more legitimate than taking off a week during the school year in order to go on vacation. Even though there are many scheduled periods built into a year to enable families to take their vacations together, many will pull their kids out of school during the year in order to avoid crowds or save money. In comparison, this is at least directly related to academic pursuits.</p>
<p>It’s high school. I agree with those who don’t feel that attending every school day is somehow sacrosanct. At my kid’s private high school they were able to sign themselves out at noon by the time they were seniors, no questions asked. It was assumed that they would take care of any missed work by talking to their teachers ahead of time. If a student wasn’t coming to school at all that day, all that was required was a phone call from the parent- no questions asked.</p>
<p>Public school is a little different because they do lose funds for unexcused absences. When my kids were in public middle school and needed a day off to start a trip on Friday (happened every year with son) I would write a note and enclose a check for the ADA for that day. Most parents would have just said their kid was sick so they school would get their funds. I wanted to set an honest example (after all, it was usually for a scout trip :rolleyes:) with son, and also felt better about it myself.
Honestly, I think my kids probably could have missed months out of their middle school years and not come out behind in any way, sad to say.</p>
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Doesn’t work this way in my state.</p>
<p>I used to think it was really important for my kids to be in school every day. But after getting two kids through the public schools, I figured out, it really isn’t that important. If you miss something, you make it up. It’s not a big deal. Both kids missed time for college visits, doctor’s appointments, sports, etc. Didn’t matter at all.</p>
<p>I was not aware attendance information is on a HS transcript, and can’t figure out why a college would care, or that it is even any of their business.</p>
<p>Depends on school. At our Ds HS they count an absence that has doctors or parent note excused as long as you haven’t used up allowable sick days.</p>
<p>I called them out sick.</p>
<p>Kids need to learn how to take care of their own needs. If a full day of study helps them gel the material in their heads then I am all for it. Some people need quiet and being alone to really concentrate on learning or reviewing material.</p>
<p>Its the end result that matters.</p>
<p>Our school only allows you to call out “sick”…so that is what you do.</p>
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<p>While they had such “reading days”, only those who were already academically struggling or taking an excess number of credits(think 7-8 full classes worth) would be pulling literal all-nighters. Personally, while I maxed out my credits, I never pulled an all-nighter in college…studying at a steady pace throughout the semester more than did the trick for me. </p>
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<p>Depends on the college. However, if my observations of my employers’ reactions to some prospective entry-level employees about to finish undergrad is anything to go by…cutting class or taking entire school days off to study for exams isn’t something one should bring up during an interview or be proud of. </p>
<p>It conveys an impression one is academically/intellectually dim or is unable to prioritize & multitask effectively…major negatives for such employers considering the duties/traits required for the jobs in question. In their world, the ideal employee is one who can study and excel at such tests while balancing out attending classes and other aspects of one’s life. </p>
<p>In the exceedingly academically competitive culture at my HS, staying home on schooldays to study for APs would be considered a sign a student is academically/intellectually dim…especially if they were taking the associated AP classes. </p>
<p>If parents offered that as an excuse, it wouldn’t be accepted and some teachers/admins may suggest the student in question consider whether the student in question would be better off transferring back to their neighborhood high school because he/she is struggling to the point of needing to take time off to study for such exams. </p>
<p>Granted, the HS was a competitive public magnet where even students who didn’t take AP courses were able to score 4-5s by self-studying for a few weeks before the test without skipping classes or other commitments.</p>
<p>notrichenough – that’s how it was in Cali. Funding is based on attendance, but sickness is allowed. But you could, for some reason, write a note and have your kid do make up work if you knew you were be gone for five days (such as on a family trip), and the school would not be penalized then. So, you didn’t have to be <em>sick</em> in that case. But you needed to be gone for five days, or at least that was my understanding. Complicated rules . . . Not sure about where we live now.</p>
<p>It would never even have occurred to me to allow this.</p>