<p>Is it mid-quarter for the 1st quarter? Is it AP? I know that AP Euro is kicking a lot of the top kids butts this year in our school; it is known for that and is the first “wake up” call a lot of them get in realizing that everything won’t come easy for them as it did in the past. The teacher often says it’s the first time a lot of them “have” to study and they just don’t know how to. Yet.</p>
<p>If it’s mid-quarter for the 1st quarter then the grade could get pulled up by the end of the quarter. and if your school does transcripts the way our does, it only shows semester grades. So if the 2nd quarter is higher & can pull the semester grade up to a B, no one will ever see the C.</p>
<p>Don’t worry Longhaul! The C might be from 2 low grades. You never know, he might be able to pull it up to “respectful”. Is this an AP class? Maybe the teacher gives AP questions to get the kids ready for the test. What does your son say? I don’t think one mid quarter grade is the “end”. Maybe the teacher is trying to tell them it is time to step it up a bit.</p>
<p>Longhaul - if this is truly mid-quarter grade, no one will ever see it! Tell him to start working hard towards that A!</p>
<p>Oh, it is so cold here today, they are even expecting snow in the afternoon. Since our furnaces are not on yet, I have been attending to fires in the fireplaces since 6 A.M. Makes for quite a cozy morning I have been going from room to room, trying to read the second book in Stieg Larsen’s trilogy. Also ordering some AP prep/review books .
Need to get five of them (ouch). S has a final in AP Bio today, has been studying with a friend last night through skype His quarter ends this Friday.
In APUSH class they are pulling a practical joke on the teacher . She apparently keeps her classroom really cool, even though the kids are wearing sweaters in there and complaining that it is bitterly cold. Today they decided to bring bathrobes to school and will be sitting in them in that classroom. S took lovely pink bathrobe of his sister’s, with Beautiful Butterfly embroidered on the back, LOL.</p>
<p>Snow? In October? Please say it isn’t so! Even in my 4 decades of NJ living, I didn’t ever see snow until mid-November at the earliest. Brrrrrrrr! My blood has thinned now that I live in the South & I switched over to heat a couple of weeks ago when it dropped into the 30’s at night. But we flipped the AC back on last night; crazy weather day with tornadoes in the area. </p>
<p>And that sounds like one menopausal teacher ;)</p>
<p>Does anyone here know/remember what SAT II test matches up with AP Euro? I could go ask over in testing, but I’m lazy.</p>
<p>Butterfly bathrobe made me giggle And Kelowna – We are hitting unseasonable 70s today!</p>
<p>The C- is in a “pre-AP” US History class – Basically it is APUSH over 2 years to coincide with the NJ requirement of 2 years US History. It is taught like an AP.
And yes, mid-qtr, 1st qtr and only “semester” grades are on our transcripts. Just frustrating that I was blindsided with it – He told me of struggles with Pre-Calc and AP Govt a few weeks ago, but had no idea of the history. Also, he doesn’t really seem to care too much. He doesn’t know how to improve it. I said, well should we look into a tutor? “Mom, I’m not failing.” Guess I should never tell him about that tutor thread for Math team kids.</p>
<p>Plus side – AP Govt he is the curve buster getting A’s while the rest of the class is getting Cs prior to curve.</p>
<p>Here’s another thing to ponder LH: does he get quality points added to either his marking period grade or his GPA since it’s pre-AP? Our AP classes add 5 points to the end of marking period grade (i.e. an 88 becomes a 93) but that isn’t reflected in the mid quarter report. And there is also an additional 1 quality point added to the GPA (so a 100 which would normally be a 4.0 bumps up to a 5.0)</p>
<p>It’s usually a study skills issue with the history AP classes, but the fact that your S is the curve buster in AP Govt makes me think that he might not have that issue. A lot of teachers really pile on at the beginning of the year to prove a point; have you had open house or teacher conferences yet? Any feed back from other parents who are in the class?</p>
<p>Teacher conferences aren’t until after the quarter ends. DH has a call into the teacher. She has had kiddo for at least 1 class since 7th grade & I’m hoping she can add insight.</p>
<p>He is ADD and growing like a weed – I’m worried ADD meds may need tweaking and he may need to go back to basics on organization strategies. </p>
<p>I also think he has no clue how to take notes from reading. Teacher spends class time on “supplemental” and expects students to read and take notes from text separate. She also assigns the reading in a similiar manner to college courses – read 200+ pages before the test – no spooning feeding the material. </p>
<p>GPA on the 4.0 scale; he’ll get a .5 bump on GPA.</p>
<p>I’m a bit worried because our financial deal with the school is a “family” deal and it is unwritten, but I always interpreted it as, part of our deal is to use this kid as a marketing tool for the school – i.e. he was the only frosh last year taking dual college class. Think I am getting ahead of myself with that worry, but when all your eggs are in one basket…</p>
<p>Last year, S’s teacher for APHuman Geography made them outline every chapter using Cornell notes. He hated it at the time. But now he is in APWorld History and has found that things go much smoother if he just goes ahead and outlines - even though it is not required. Not only does he learn the material while he is outlining, but he has chapter outlines handy when it comes testing time. He has also started annotating all of his readings for English class as well. One thing I’ll say for him is that once he finds a method that works, he’s pretty compulsive about continuing it. BUT other than outlining, he has no study skills and, hence, can’t figure out how to study for math tests, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks megpmom! I had never heard of Cornell Notes – did a quick search and it is actually the method my elementary age kids use for their reading log. Will work with kiddo to get him organized.</p>
<p>This year our AP Euro teacher is having them do something called SPRITE charts which to me looks very similar to the same type of outlining that D1 did back in the day.</p>
<p>My D is in AP World History and it has been brutal. There have been many very low grades on tests in the class. She has received good grades on the tests post curve, but is unhappy to have earned her grade via a generous curve. She has never taken a course where there was curving involved, so this is new to her. The good news is she improved her precurve grade on the last test substantially and she was quite proud of herself. The comparative writing assignments that simulate the type of writing on the AP exam have also been difficult for her. She is a very good writer according to her English teachers, but this type of bare bones writing where you just report the basic facts without any fancy vocabulary (D loves to use her extensive vocabulary) is foreign to her. She went to a help session on Friday in preparation for the comparative paper due this week and saw the teacher again today to clear up confusion that developed over the weekend when she was attempting to write it. I think she is starting to get it now. The end of the quarter is Friday here. I know the grade in the class will be the type she is used to (grades are updated every few weeks online to keep parents abreast of their student’s progress), but it took a whole lot more effort than usual.:)</p>
<p>If an inexperienced teacher gave a final that was truly much too advanced for his students, and some scored a 10%, some scored a 20%, some a 30%, and some a 40%? If you didn’t grade on a curve, they’d all get F’s. I wouldn’t like a “no curving” policy! :)</p>
<p>In my kids’ school, they have occasionally had tests that everyone bombed. In those cases, I think the teacher either tosses out the test scores, or gives chances to correct and return, or sometimes gives extra credit. I guess that’s how they work around the “no curving” policy. S just told me today that he made a 78 on a quiz and the teacher said if he scored better on the test, she would throw out the quiz. Luckily, he made a 95 on the test!</p>
<p>In my D’s case, these AP tests are extremely challenging. The last test had 80 some odd questions on it that did not just asking for rote information. They require higher level thinking skills that my D describes as mentally exhausting. I do not think they are designed to produce very many high grades. I don’t know what the highest grade was on this most recent test, but on the previous test, it was an 80 (lowest C+). I think grades are appropriately curved in this environment. Grades are also curved on the AP exam and most college professors implement this practice as well.</p>
<p>Today’s AP Bio test was apparently brutal. And after the test the teacher (she is actually a sub) announced that she is not going to give any extra credit assignments, which apparently were promised previously. S had an instant talk with her in front of the class I do hope he was polite…</p>
<p>The AP tests are challenging. The teachers in our school set up their tests like the AP tests so the kids become familiar with the format and level of difficulty. They also know that these same kids are very concerned with their GPAs. Quizzes, labs, class assignments and homework are all added into the mix to ensure that those 78s and 85s on the tests potentially come up into the A range for quarter and semester grades. However, the “real” tests let the kids know where they stand in terms of preparedness for the AP. The kids also get much better at studying for exams as the year goes on.</p>
<p>I am always amazed at how different GPAs are calculated from school to school. We have percents only. The transcript only carries the unweighted GPA (as a percent). Weighted GPA is used to determine class rank and is not reported on the transcripts. I’m hoping/assuming that the GC puts it on her form somewhere. Honors courses get 5% bump and AP classes get a 15% bump. However, only the unweighted grade is shown. It is difficult to determine where my kids fit in compared to all the other smart kids on CC. The HS does have naviance, but our school only has a few years of data, and often I get a “insufficient data” when I try and match a school.</p>
<p>The college freshman’s perspective on AP classes…</p>
<p>DD is now in college. She took 10 AP classes in high school. AP Chem was the most difficult (she earned an 89, her only B in high school). However, now that she is in college, she is a chemistry rock star. She has taken two exams and missed one question. Many students are struggling with this class in college, there will be a curve but it will not be applied until the end of the semester so many are not sure if they are even passing the class. DD is 17 points ahead of the next student in this 282 student class. </p>
<p>DD also took AP calc in high school, earned an A. Yet she has a “c” at the mid-point of the college semester. She is studying about 20 hours a week for this class alone. She is attending supplemental instruction, group tutoring and private tutoring. She believes the problem is that she does not have a good foundation to build on. Consequently, she is learning the basics then learning the new material. Since she is just learning the basics she has had no practice and is prone to making erors as a result. She does understand the material now but spends hours practicing then getting the tutor to grade her work. </p>
<p>Those AP courses in high school are difficult, but the rigor will pay off in college. My D is wishing calculus had been more rigorus in high school.</p>
I have been going from room to room, trying to read the second book in Stieg Larsen’s trilogy. Also ordering some AP prep/review books .
His quarter ends this Friday.