Parents of the HS Class of 2020 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
9861

“I agree. We are not talking about becoming a doctor after graduating high school (AP courses are even recommended as med school pre-req requirements, they want you to take Bio 101, and Chem 101, etc. at your university, so not even that applies) - we are talking about replacement of a few 101 courses in college - at best, some electives at worst.”

@suzyQ7 - OK I’m sorry the premed example wasn’t great, but I’m thinking in general, for my students and my actual kids, I just think it’s about the content not whatever the AP people decided this year as a reduction. Maybe an international business major not really knowing Spanish is a better example? Or an engineer knowing physics?

" You likely have already paid for the exams, so may as well take them."

@roycroftmom - is there an adapted refund policy this year?

@asiancaucasian - I think your plan sounds very sensible; I like the idea of her “rebooting” her most important class at college this fall.

"Most APs are used for elective credit, not major credit. Placement tests for classes that build (writing skills, math, sciences, computer science,etc) are always a good idea IMHO but AP credit for other APs should be granted if the students achieves the minimum score the college requires. Maybe that minimum should be raised just for the abbreviated exams offered this year. IME very selective schools have always taken very little, if any AP credit so that is not a big change. Just pick 2 APs from a previous year to claim credit for. "

@Cheeringsection - I know we’ve gone around on this topic before, but DS16 was able to get a full year’s worth of AP credit in Engineering prerequisites (i.e. graduated in three years with a BSE) at Princeton (which probably qualifies as “very selective” :slight_smile: and major credit), and DS20 is looking at getting a semester or more at MIT (ditto). Those schools largely accept only grades of “5” as it is.

MIT has been tightening up for a while, but from what I can tell, 2020 will be the first fall that the math placement test is required for even the Physics AP (C, both parts) to be accepted. I can’t tell if that test’s requirement for Calculus placement (given a 5 on the BC exam also) is new or from 2019.

All that said, I do think that if an AP credit was going to go for elective credit, it would be reasonable to accept the score (or maybe a higher score like 4 instead of 3) for whatever it used to count as in the pre-apocalypse.

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I don’t know what you are seeing, but my college kids’ online courses are going full speed, and in some classes professors are actually requiring more work, not less.

My ds is head GSI for physics at his U and the exams they are designing, even though now open book, are tightly timed and diffificult.

Compared to what has happened locally with the schools here there is absolutely no comparison. It is an apples to oranges conversation. I don’t blame Us for questioning the outcomes. Most Us do allow students to test for placement (goodness, I did that as far back as the 80s). Hopefully it won’t come down to 0 possibility of credit, but U’s own exams for placement (which I think is superior, anyway…less teaching to a test format.)

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p.s. @suzyQ7
"but most quality AP teachers spend the majority of the last term prepping for the exam, not teaching a ton of new material. "

I like to think of myself as a quality AP teacher (chemistry) - and indeed, we had mostly finished the test material by mid-March, but it didn’t overlap 100% with what the AP decided to “include” on the 45-minute fake-o test. Specifically, we had totally finished acid-base titrations and analysis, but had not finished galvanic cells. The reverse was assumed with the modification. And I was using one of the approved AP Central syllabi!

I also always do a final unit of “extension topics in chemistry” with a survey of some organic, some nuclear, some aquatic environmental, etc. so that students will know more than the exam would specifically cover, but have a sense of what an educated person knows having had a so-called college chemistry course.

But also, I can imagine there being quality AP teachers who review/circle back as they go, and are still teaching new material eight weeks before the exam. I think this is particularly true in world language exams. My DS20 is in an AP language and it is very challenging, and they are actively still learning (and need to be), and the teacher is great.

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But as I mentioned above (after my edit) actual current college students taking the intro courses that the APs replaced are in the exact same boat. They are online (like high school kids) and have lost 1/2 their in person instruction for the semester. Should they not get credit for the course? Our kids are only losing 1/4 of their course instruction (and they are still getting - albeit online).

We are in the same boat here with wanting our student to get their well deserved credit since we both know it can really give them options at some - many - colleges. After everything they have gone through losing their senior spring, prom, graduation, cutting out AP credit would be the ultimate slap in the face.

Does anyone know specific schools that are doing this? I’d like to give them a piece of my mind!

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@suzyQ7 - I don’t want to fight with you :slight_smile: I generally agree with everything you post. I hope your child is able to get tons of credit, even if it also requires a placement test or two at their #1 school.

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Berkeley (and all the UC’s) counts as selective? If so, they are not changing their AP policy at all. But they already only gave elective credit for most.

D is focusing on Calc BC and Lit and not worrying too much about her others. Those both require a 5 to place out of Calc 1 and 2, and writing requirements. Both teachers were back up and running within a day of going online and are not skimping on material at all.

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Calc is the only AP class DS took and he’s retaking it in college anyhow, so we’re not real concerned, but he is going to take the test just because we already paid for it and we’re curious how he’d do.

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Make sure you read the small print with the June 1 date for the schools you are considering. For the UCs, SIR needs to be done by May 1 but you can ask to hold off on payment until June 1. That is different than holding off on a decision.

The UCs made a blanket statement for all campuses which include Berkeley as well as Merced. If you go to the individual schools, you will find all of the small print for how it applies to your major. For STEM majors, many UCs recommend against using STEM AP credit instead of taking the university level course. Some UCs don’t allow AP credit to be used for GEs while other campuses are very liberal. This was all before 2020.

Our school closed mid March and my senior is taking five AP courses. When school closed, there was very little new information that needed to be covered. I think most teachers planned on the time between spring break and AP exams to review and practice. In our case, I don’t think my child has missed a quarter of the academic material.

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They’ll be totally fine.

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Curious about how grading is going for everyone´s seniors. In our district here in CT, they made the decision to move forward past Q3 and only give grades for semester 2. The assignments that were already graded for Q3 still count, but instead of publishing 3rd quarter grades and starting a fresh 4th quarter, they are just combining the 2 into one marking period. Both my boys (ds20/ds22) are happy about this, as they each have a teacher or 2 who never grades enough assignments, making everything very high stakes. Seems like a reasonable solution, given that only semester grades show on transcripts anyways.

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In MA many school districts announced that its going to be pass/fail this semester. School ranks will stay as of end of first semester. Its kind of unfair to some - but I guess there is no perfect solution.

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My daughter only does DE classes. They’re continuing as normal and being graded as normal, and ending on time. Her community college moved all classes online, but my daughter’s were already online as we don’t live in-state for her CC.

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I could have some of this wring, but as far as I recall here is their grading plan. They are starting MP 4 after spring break which is this coming week. Work will be graded but for MP4 they will only have their grade count if it brings up their overall grade. If it’s lower than the average of the 3 marking periods they have had, it won’t count. However an F will still count as failing that marking period. So in a nutshell as long as they don’t totally tank the class, the 4th marking period can only help their grades, not hurt it. Transcripts have always only shown final class grade not individual marking periods so nothing weird would be on the transcript. Finals have been cancelled.

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Our grading has not changed at all. We found out on a Friday that by Sunday night we were expected to shelter in place and that the school was moving online. Monday there were informational “how to use the online platforms” videos. Wed. they offically started. The school day runs the same 8:15a-3pm. The bell schedule is the same. They use google classroom and they are required to keep their camera on but not sound. No assignments have been changed. They are still required to do group projects and use google meetup to talk to one another. We’ve done this for 3 weeks now and just finished the 3rd quarter. We are on Spring Break now. Quarter 4 is suppose to be the same. AP tests are required if you want the exta boost taking AP does to the GPA. There has been nearly no changes in grading, assignments, projects, tests, or AP. The only change would be that all assignments are due by Friday instead of throughout the week. I have a D20 and D23.

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Interesting how so many places are handling grading differently. For ds20 , his grades were already fine, so it would have been fine either way. For ds22, the fact that they are not going to P/f will really work in his favor. He had a rough freshman year and has really turned things around this year. He has straight As right now, and would have been devastated if they had moved to P/F.

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Anyone else doing a waitlist? Do you think S20 should write a LOCI? Who would they write to?

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@NYC2018nyc Send the LOCI to admissions. More movement than normal is likely depending on the school.

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Yes it probably does depend. For example, if it’s your in-state, public university there might be less movement from the waitlist as more accepted students in state might chose the local and possibly cheaper option during these uncertain times.

More expensive, private colleges might be accepting more students off the waitlist but that is pure speculation on our part at this point in time as many colleges have pushed their decision dates back a month to June.

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@fretfulmother makes a good point. It’s not MIT overall. I have no idea about dorms or off campus apartments.

The parties at MIT that attract students and students from local schools, currently, are their fraternities. This might not even be many.

And not sure if that’s a more recent development over the past few years.

They are all well behaved and friendly but they seem to have fun. That’s from some on the ground sources. But who knows?

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@socaldad2002 Per college counselor last week, schools already contacting those from the WL include UChicago, Lehigh, Wesleyan, and UW Seattle.