<p>"It takes no genius and no research whatsoever to guess which text would be used in AP-Biology. Campbell's is the most widely used text in AP-Biology and college introductory biology classes. Bluealien, the main difference between AP-Biology and my S's college biology class was that my S had to buy the book while his schoolmates got their copy free. Ouch."</p>
<p>I had a different book in college Biology than in AP biology. What is up with that? Anyway, I think Campbell's is way to technical and horrible at explaining things. That's on my "burn these books" list.</p>
<p>Marite: " There's really little to prevent students from covering all the materials on their own, as your son has done. So while I'm sympathetic about point a--the high curve--, I'm less so about point b." </p>
<p>Imagine that you were a parent who's kid stayed up and studied before every test, worked very hard, was very smart, etc,. but wound up with a B or B+ in the class, and then found out that that a third of the class had access to all the questions that had been on the classroom tests all year through an expensive prep center that you knew vaguely of, but didn't pursue because you either couldn't afford it, or you felt you child didn't need that kind of extra help. I think it's reasonable for those parents to feel that if they want their kid to compete in this arena, they'd better get them to that center. Unfortunately, that seems to be what's happening. </p>
<p>Call it what you will, those kids have a definite advantage -they see all the classroom test questions ahead of time and the other kids don't.
I know two of the tutored kids fairly well. Their parents feel they must go to Stanford or Harvard - one kid feels that he/she fails by bringing home an A-.
I think the whole thing stinks - I think the tutoring center preys on a certain type of family, and I wouldn't let my kid near the place, but I can understand why some parents now feel they're pressed to look into it. It's crazy.</p>
<p>" I think the tutoring center preys on a certain type of family, and I wouldn't let my kid near the place, but I can understand why some parents now feel they're pressed to look into it."</p>
<p>I think there is something terribly wrong with this approach. You will have a kid who can take the test and do very well but you will not have an intellectually curious kid who wants to learn and who wants to pursue his/her interests to the fullest. So if I were a parent of a kid in a school like that, I would just shrug it off, tell my kid to do his best and wait for the day he can graduate out of there and go to college. Or if he were in lower grades, I would seriously think of moving him out of there into another school.</p>
<p>Achat: I agree totally.
Bluealien:
Hmmm. My S took the AP-Biology test and felt it was easy. Maybe it had to do with the much vilified Campbell text? :) Or did his college prof manage to explain better and cover more in far less time than the AP-teacher?</p>
<p>Achat -It's certainly the wrong approach and I don't support it, but I understand it. ( I don't think I could get my kid to a tutoring center if I wanted to - he'd think it was an insult!) </p>
<p>I am beginning to understand our public school's policy of giving A' s to those with 4/5s on the actual AP test when they take it in May.- (They actually go back and change the grade for the student!)</p>
<p>This tutoring center is filled mostly with high achieving public school kids. The public school has been dealing with this issue for years. Maybe this is their way of evening out the score. Those who earned a B+ in the class while trying to compete with the "advantaged ones" - can still pull an A if they can earn a 5 on the AP exam.</p>
<p>Yes, Marite - the actual AP exam isn't that hard. My bet would be that the majority of the kids in my son's class will get 5's on the test, as they have in the last 8 years this teacher has been at our school. The others will get 4s.
But this isn't the issue at hand. It's the class grade...which I realize shouldn't matter, but we all know it does.</p>
<p>ASAP -- interesting approach, and I see the attraction. But does that mean a student could basically blow off the class completely, study on his/her own and raise an F to an A (although I wouldn't want to be the one rolling the dice on something like this)?</p>
<p>I'm not sure how literally they take this policy, Iderochi, but I know they have it. My guess is that they've not had to face such a dilemma - especially considering the kids that we're talking about in our community. Perhaps there are minimal requirements for being enrolled - such as attendence. I'll ask my public school friends.</p>
<p>I don't think you need another post to say that cheating is cheating, but here it is anyway. Your title says ....or maximizing opportunity. Maximizing opportunity for what?</p>
<p>Maximizing opportunity to get the highest grades to get into the most selective school to become the most successful person on the face of the earth. What else? ;)</p>
<p>"Achat: I agree totally.
Bluealien:
Hmmm. My S took the AP-Biology test and felt it was easy. Maybe it had to do with the much vilified Campbell text? Or did his college prof manage to explain better and cover more in far less time than the AP-teacher?"</p>
<p>The book was Concepts and Applications by Cecie Starr in college. We didn't even do human anatomy or punnett squares or anything like that (with the Starr text). There is a girl in one of my classes now that didn't even punnett squares in regular high school biology. She said the teacher never taught her that.</p>