Advice NY regents Physics

<p>My d took AP Physics this year received from mid 80's-low 90's thru out the year in AP physics. After AP exam class prepped for NY regents exam, she would get 95-98 practice exams. Now the regents exam grade was bad, passed it mid 70's, grades were initially posted(since removed as were all results for my younger child as well so not specifically just my d grades) but no longer visible.
Biggest issue is this regents exam is not given in August only June and January. She will be a senior in the Fall.</p>

<p>ANyone have any idea how this poor regents grade will reflect on her applications? we do not have AP results yet, but if the regents was any indication, not too optimistic it will negate her poor regents score. Never received less than 90's on any science regents prior.
Her overall GPA in all accelerated, and AP's for all classes there were subjects available is currently:
GPA 92 (not weighted )
ACT 30 has only taken this once with no real prep.</p>

<p>I know it will not eliminate her from getting into schools, but we were hoping for Binghamton/Geneseo financial safeties.
As well as merit money at other schools.
From previous experience I know the above SUNY's are strictly GPA/SAT/ACT based admissions. </p>

<p>If her applications go out in the Fall with transcripts, and she retakes this exam in January and does better, will schools "really" look at an updated transcript as it will be nearly early February when new results are available? Should she attempt an SAT subject test in physics or would it be a waste of time? Retake in January?</p>

<p>Not making excuses for this, however teacher was new, never taught this subject prior. Highest grade on regents in this class was a 88, from a kid who had a 98 average in AP physics. </p>

<p>Teacher who taught the course previous years AP physics kids would have 100% obtain a 90 or better.</p>

<p>The mid 70’s Regents test score is of little worry for Binghamton & Geneseo. Three years ago I would have said that her 30 ACT would make Geneseo difficult, but our school got 3 girls in this year with SAT’s in the low 1200’s. Having two D’s go through the whole college application experience at mid to very selective schools, not one school put any emphasis on Regents test scores, or AP scores for that matter. They really can’t because not all of their applicants take them. GPA, class rank, & SAT/ACT are still the cornerstones of most colleges admit policies.</p>

<p>In our school the Regents scores count as a marking period so they would affect the GPA. It’s not unusual for Regents scores to be out of whack with classroom grades. They seem to like to write tests that are deliberately tricky. Maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll throw out questions for being stupid this year!</p>

<p>From our school (large suburban public) an unweighted 93 would been a pretty safe bet at Binghamton and Geneseo at least a couple of years ago when my youngest was applying to schools. I know G. was a safety for him, but he had higher equivalent SAT scores.</p>

<p>I’d wait for the AP scores - if they are good they should negate the Regents score. I think the schools do look at the January transcripts FWIW.</p>

<p>NY state Ed dept. is now telling schools to not use the Regents exam as a final.</p>

<p>^Interesting. It was not only a final at our school it counted as a whole marking period! I also remember when my oldest took Fast Paced Chemistry at CTY they warned him that he could take the Regents in August, but it would count as part of his GPA. He did take it and who knows, since it was his worst Regents grade, (though it was still excellent), it probably did cause him to lose a spot or two in the ranking.</p>

<p>Is this new to this year, or just a suggestion? It is also an entire marking period grade for our school also.</p>

<p>As of now it is not a law but rather a recommendation from the state dept. As you can imagine, some teachers are resistent because it means creating & scoring a whole new test when they were used to having one created for them.</p>

<p>csdad – Is this recommendation posted anywhere on the NYSED web site? I’ve never heard this and as a member of our Board of Ed’s academics advisory committee this is precisely the sort of thing we would review. </p>

<p>To the OPs point, no the low Regents exam grade should not have much if any bearing on college admissions, even at Binghamton/Geneseo. We have kids who are admitted to those schools all the time with low Regents scores, even with some failing grades on the exams, so long as the classroom grades were high enough.</p>

<p>can’t find it on their web site, but this was told to our high school staff by our Principal</p>

<p>I think her end of year grade for physics is what is really important. That reflects how she did - and in an AP class which is super-challenging. It sounds like that one Regents score will be an aberration for her. I wouldn’t worry about it. No need to put extra stress on her.</p>

<p>Some of DS’ teachers used the Regents exam as a final, some did not. In fact, in AP Physics, the teacher used a practice Regents exam as a final (which counts as equivalent to a quarterly grade), then they had the Regents exam. For DS, this worked in his favor tremendously (loved the teacher and, apparently, learned a lot… although he is nervous about the AP test score).</p>