Credit By Exam and NMF?

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>Does anyone know how a Credit by Exam score is considered for NMF?</p>

<p>Here's the situation. My d was homeschooled through 8th grade and started public high school in 9th grade. When we went to register for classes two weeks before the start of school we were told they would not accept that she had already taken Algebra One and Geometry because the courses she took in 7th and 8th grade were not "accredited." In the state of Texas you need to have Algebra, Geometry and Algebra two to graduate. According to our GC , it is not enough to have pre-AP Algebra two, pre-AP pre-Cal, AP Cal BC and CAL two/ three. <sigh></sigh></p>

<p>She took both those courses through ALEKS.com. ALEKS is not accredited for their high school courses but it is accredited through ACE (American Council on Education) for their college level courses. I asked the registrar if they would accept the college Beginning Algebra for her high school Algebra one credit. She said sure as long as I could get her a transcript and could prove it was accredited. Since she was still registered with ALEKS I just switched her to the college level Beginning Algebra course. She tested out of most of it and was able to complete the class and get the required transcript by the first day of school. </p>

<p>There is no college level equivalent for Geometry so her only option was to take the Credit By Exam test through UT's K-16 program. Because she had to cram to finish the college Algebra class she didn't have much time to review for the Geometry test and because she needed the credits before school started, she had to take the both the semester exams back to back. My normally straight A student did not do well on these tests. She got a 86 on one and a 72 on the other. We were told that she just needed a 70 on both semesters for the credit and that these scores wouldn't be factored into her GPA. I thought it was a pass fail deal and didn't worry about it.</p>

<p>We recently had our 'sophomore conference' and was shown her transcript and given her class rank for the first time. I was shocked to see these scores listed on her transcript. They are noted as credit by exam but listed together with her other classes. They aren't factored in to her GPA or rank. Every other grade she has is an A. She has a good chance of scoring high enough to make her NMSF when she takes the PSAT next year. Will this blow her chances for NMF? Can she retake a Credit by Exam test for a better score? </p>

2

<p>I have an appointment to speak with the GC on Friday about this.
Here’s my plan:</p>

<p>First I’ll ask them to date the course so it shows up as an 8th grade course. Currently it says she took the exam in 9th grade. She was still homeschooled when she took the exam and certainly not in highschool when she took the course!</p>

<p>If for some reason they won’t do this, I’ll ask them to report the score as pass/fail. Not sure if they can do this but since it doesn’t count for GPA they might consider this.</p>

<p>As a last resort I’ll have her take the exam again. I checked with UT K-16 and they do allow retakes and will provide a different version of the test. Of course with a another fee. If she does retake the exam I’ll need to make sure the school will <em>replace</em> the score on the transcript with the new score.</p>

<p>Wish me luck!</p>

3

<p>Not exactly the same, but S1 had taken part of a foreign language course at another HS and transferred to his current school. That language was not offered at new school. He took the credit by exam for that and he is a NMF. We are in Texas too.</p>

4

<p>Update! Saw the GC a day early I showed him the dates on the transcripts and explained that she took the CBE test before she started high school. He said no problem, he would correct it to show the correct year and make sure it is coded to show as a middle school CBE. Phew! I read that National Merit only looks at high school (9-12) grades so this should put her back on track for National Merit if she does well on next year’s PSAT.</p>

5

<p>Good to hear 3scouts!! We never know from one year to the next how C’s on a transcript are going to affect a student’s chances to progress from NMSF to NMF. I have no idea how NMSC would’ve viewed the 72 (the 86 would’ve been fine either way) but I’m glad it won’t be a factor in any case. Good luck to your D!!</p>