@AndreaLynn Our school doesn’t work on a 90 degree scale like your
Do your teachers teach to the test? Study the rubrics and take practice tests? I’m just asking because all of these APs ( this year and any year) rely on the kids answering their questions a certain way. Just learning the material doesn’t typically result in a high score. No judgement but just asking because that could be the reason for surprise scores. Also, do you know what your school’s record is on AP scores? Do kids typically get 4s and 5s after taking these classes? All things to consider.
The AP BIO teacher was AWFUL…like she seriously did nothing to prepare them for the FRQ’s . The whole year was a struggle. I found out that this teacher was let go a few years ago
but for some reason brought back to teach AP Bio. When quarantine hit and everything got virtual things got worse. The reason my boys did well in the class grade wise is because I was getting them outside tutoring to explain what they couldn’t get out of their teacher. I had conferences with her and the principal first half of the year with concerns. We had already heard that from this school year, no incoming freshman had signed up for AP Bio (mostly because of this teachers reputation) so they dropped it as offering for 9th grade at our campus. Other high schools in th r district are still offering it.
With AP Human Geo, the teacher was awesome. He had weekly virtual one and one sessions with the students to go over their FRQ’s and explain the rubric. He really worked with them. I think with that Twin A probably let his frustrations/nerves get the best of him as Twin B got a 3. My S21 got a 4 when he took it freshman year.
At our high school, you can’t take an AP science class until you’ve taken the honor equivalent first. So, you need Bio Honors first and then you can take AP Bio. It definitely helps the scores.
So, a strong science student would take Bio H, then Chem H, then usually Physics H and either AP Bio or AP Chem and then move onto the AP Physics classes senior year. No one here thinks that our middle schools have prepared the kids to take a college level science class like an AP and our middle schools are pretty good.
I’m sorry about your AP Bio situation! I hate the idea of teaching to a test like an AP but, if one needs high scores to use for college credit, one needs to prep for that specific test and they aren’t graded like a regular science test!
@hokiemama24 like @nichols51 said they were on Trevor’s twitter, but if you look in your kid’s college board account, there’s a spot where they can see the breakdown by score. The breakdown is different there than what Trevor tweeted because I think the one on the CB site includes the makeup tests and Twitter didn’t.
@homerdog our school is the same. No freshmen can take AP anything; even those who are super advanced don’t get an AP until sophomore year and even then, every few. Even advanced kids would do Honors Bio in 9th, Honors Chem in 10th, then Honors Physics in 11th. If you had a A in honors Chem, you could elect an AP science in 11th along with physics. Most kids only take the AP science senior year.
My D’s experience with her AP classes was the opposite - she finished with a B+ and a B in both, got brutal grades on the FRQs submitted in class, then got a 5 on both AP exams.
Edit to add - my heart breaks for some of these kids. D’s other friend got a 5 and a 3 on her two AP exams. The 5 was basically ignored and she was lectured by her parents about how disappointed they were in her for getting a 3. Do people stop to think what they’re doing to these poor kids???
@NJWrestlingmom that breaks my heart about your D friend getting lectured by her parents.
I think I have mentioned before, my daughter suffers from anxiety and depression, she puts in the bare minimum and has a 98 average, I could be on her to work harder because she has potential but her mental health is more important. It took a lot for her, and quite honestly me also, to accept that their are tons of great colleges she can get into without applying to the big name ones with low acceptance rates.
@AndreaLynn My husband and I attended a well-regarded “great” Jesuit university that is not a “big named one with a low acceptance rate.” This university accepted my math/science-struggling, honors-humanities-achieving-self back in the day. And I thrived.
Both of my sons are just like me. And we need merit to make private schools work from a budget perspective. So we are all about schools like my college over here. And CTCL schools. There really are some great options out there. Your D will find the right school for her because you are focusing on what she truly needs.
@GKUnion I agree that teaching to an AP test stinks. And some of our better classes are honors classes, not AP. Both of our kids chose to take an Honors Writing Seminar instead of AP Lit for senior year. Any class where the teacher is more in charge of their curriculum is better in my book. But APs are what they are and kids want to take them and parents want them to take them to get college credit. Sigh.
@InfiniteWaves Thank you. She has a list of 6 schools, we are on Long Island NY and the only non NY school is Sacred Heart in Connecticut. If I have to guess where she is going, it’s SUNY Bing. She fell in love with the school when we visited. Hoping to get to a couple of more schools just for comparison. On our tour at Bing she got mad at me when I asked our tour guide about mental health services on campus, I told her oh well you are not going someplace when I know you won’t have the support.
@AndreaLynn I have the same issues with D21. She suffers from anxiety and depression but is an extremely hard worker that finished the year with a 3.9UW and we were so proud of her. Her school only offers 5 AP classes with two of them rotating science classes. She refused to take APUSH because of the teacher horror stories about the class and felt she would be overwhelmed with her course load. We felt she was making the wrong decision but we trust her to know what she can handle. She is taking AP English Lit this year. I know taking only one AP class isn’t optimum, but her mental health is more important to us. She is taking two precollege summer programs this summer one at UARTs, and the other the UPENN summer academy. This was her choice, and she is handling the course loads fine with no anxiety issues so far. Even without all these AP classes, I think she will be fine and get into a great college.
One of the things I love about CC is seeing how different school districts across the country operate and their offerings. It’s so different in Texas, where we are. The top 10% rule for auto admittance (top 6% or UT Austin) makes AP classes a must for core subjects in most of the “competitive” districts. Even then, personally, I only let my boys take the AP classes I know they will excel at…S21 isn’t a STEM kid, so he never took AP Sciences…only the PreAp level or what other districts consider “Honors”. My S23 twins are very Math & Science adept so we felt comfortable letting them load up on AP’s for those subjects.
@NJWrestlingmom I’m so sorry to hear about your D’s friend, that is absolutely terrible, and so demotivating for her. I must say that I have struggled with this as a parent in the past, and my S21 was the one who made me realize that I didn’t praise him enough when he did well, I was only focusing on what he didn’t do well. That was a wake-up call for me, so when these scores came out, I had to remind myself again when he told me about his 3 score and the two 5’s that I should focus on what he did well and not what fell short of my expectation. It’s a learning process for me as a parent too.
Well, as of today, Pitt is TO for those applying to the Dietrich school which is what S21 will be doing. This means that all of his schools are now TO.
He has not tested yet (tried for March, May, June SAT) and is registered for August and September. He’s applying for English and writing. Is prepping again for a math section he’ll struggle with even worth it at this point? And will the August test even happen?
@InfiniteWaves not sure your state, but i’ll Be surprised if August tests happen here. So much confusion about even opening school, I don’t see them wanting to let kids in for tests. But I hope for a lot of people they happen! We got lucky and D took it in March, even though school closed the day before. She would love to get her math up a bit, too, but she’s made peace with what it is!
I am very close to feeling that way. One metro Atlanta county still says they are starting school in person (for those who want it). All other metro Atlanta counties have chosen to start fully online (mid August). S21’s August test is scheduled in a county that will begin the schoolyear remote, so I have zero confidence that his test is going to happen.
That one holdout county still has time to change their minds and start virtual - I think they will, though they’ve been very resistant so far (one school board member caught with a hot mic moment last week saying she could “just strangle” the lone school board member who had voiced an opinion that they should start virtually - causing quite the hubbub locally). If that county really sticks to in-person school, maybe we can change his seat to be in that county (although even the schools in that county have all cancelled for the ACT today, so it’s not looking promising). And the way our governor is handling COVID is appalling (of course, he’s also infamous for stealing the election vs. Stacey Abrams, so…)
I think S21 is going to keep prepping but dial it back in terms of how much time he puts into it - maybe 2 to 3 times a week instead of 4-5 (he had already forgotten stuff from his math classes in April/May when he started prepping again a few weeks ago…math is definitely a struggle for him, so this way he won’t forget it all over again). I think maybe he’ll just prep in the background and be ready to ramp it up if needed.
The two schools on his list at which he could especially use a better score are also the only two where he’s applying RD (EA at all the others), and it seems that even a score from a Dec test would be available in time for those Jan 15 application deadlines. (Dec test scores available to students Dec 18 and to schools “within a week” after that.
@NJWrestlingmom@InfiniteWaves@Acersaccharum
I had a chance to walk around Ursinus yesterday as I was in the area and had an hour to kill. Pretty campus with a combination of older and newer buildings. It does seem a bit compact though, and the athletic facilities were underwhelming. And there’s nothing in the immediate area outside of campus, so I’m thinking 4 years living on campus would get kinda stale and repetitive. In any event, would love to get my son on a visit and get his take as they seem to be doing something right.
My D submitted her first three apps yesterday - Northern Arizona, Montana State, and Utah State. They are all test optional but require scores for merit aid. She is scheduled to take the SAT on 8/29, hopefully she is able to.
She is planning to do her other two app tomorrow - Oregon and Oregon State with the common app, although I don’t know if she can submit them until 8/1.