He is not able to fit the AP in his school class (for various reasons) but really wants to take the AP exam. Wouldnt this be better than not taking it at all? He is putting in the effort by himself and doing self study vs paying for an expensive online class.
If the AP classes do not fit into his schedule due to conflicts, this can addressed by his GC during application season. What about an on-line CC course similar to the AP class? DE or your local community college courses may be more affordable and will show course rigor.
I donāt believe colleges count self-study APs. They want kids to take the class, not just the exam. Also, the lack of a single AP class as a sophomore in HS is not a big deal. At the end of the day it isnāt going to be make or break - as long as your child is working hard and taking demanding classes (and doing well in them) itās going to be fine.
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I think this is a great suggestion to take the online CC/maybe in person CC class if available.
If the only option is self-study, I would recommend that the effort is shifted to building up extra-curriculars or pursue a passion area.
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Keep in mind that many online high schools are usually part of for-profit organizations. It can be pricy. However, they want the kids to be successful and provide all the options so that they get good grades.
Harvard announced test-optional next four years (NYT article)
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The first real HS semester came to an end for DS24. All the final exam grades are in.
He ended up with A- in Chem(H) which we are happy with. There were enough buffers in other classesā grades to absorb Bās in the final exam to maintain an overall A.
Iām clearly seeing the trend across all his classes and will need to find a way to guide him for the future.
He does well in daily work - homework, a short quiz, classwork. However, the materials donāt seem to stay and fully become his. So tests were hit and missā¦ sometimes he does really well and sometimes C. And he spent a lot of time relearning the final exam prep.
Has anyone had a similar experience? and any suggestions on how to help?
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Have him take notes by hand if he isnāt doing that already. It really aids with retention. Kids today (my own included) are often terrible about taking notes by hand. Other ideas - have him try studying using a variety of methods - quizlet, flash cards, re-reading material & highlighting important ideas etc.
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I second all of these ideas. D24 also can be hit or miss with tests and when she uses a combination of these techniques, she tends to do better.
Oof we got my D24ās pre-ACT back and she did very well except did not finish any sections - by quite a bit. She is a perfectionist OCD type and works quite slowly but Iām told her grades are too high to get any sort of formal accommodations. Will try to encourage her to practice later. ACT should be the easier test for her but she would have to learn to move at a much, much faster pace. I guess they will take the PSAT next year and check that out. Also wondering if she will be able to finish the AP exams. I know she was overtired so maybe it wasnāt representative.
In the meantime Iām keeping my ear out on the TO trends for private schools. It seemed like full pay non-URM, etc. students mainly felt the need to take multiple tests for the '22 cycle. They also applied to a lot of schools per person due to the continuing uncertainty. Iām hearing there are a ton of international applicants and the US is essentially back to 2019 levels. I wonder how all of this will evolve before '24? It looks pretty clear that the CA publics will be blind for our class.
Itās interesting that TO really hurt my S21 IMO but may end up helping my D24. Doesnāt change my mind about TO though.
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I think the suggestion to take notes is very good. I remember growing up a teacher used to say taking notes is equivalent to reading the content 10 times and we always took notes.
It is not easy to get my son to do this all the time but he does better when he takes the notes.
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DS was accepted to SDSU and SJSU for Computer Science today.
Even though we donāt expect him to wind up at SJSU, Iām super excited about that one because of how competitive their CS program is (canāt even apply unless you have a 4.25 GPA.) Iām hoping that bodes well for a Cal Poly SLO acceptance.
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How to deal with the TO is tricky. At this point we fall under ORM category especially in the STEM majors so sometimes I feel taking the test and if score is good why not use that as leverage where you can.
Congratulations. Did not know that SJSU also sends out results so early.
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@s318830: I agree that is it very early for SJSU which usually posts decisions in February. Congratulations to your son!!
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@s318830 !!! SJSU is the real deal for CS. Congrats!! I love that we have college blinds next fall in this parents group!
@NateandAllisMom I think with practice your D24 may like the ACT. Iām so glad she did well. Itās normal not to finish when you first attempt the test. I want to say you have 1.4-1.7 seconds less time to answer per question.
I am thinking highly rejective schools enjoy their additional revenues from TOs and also allows them to boast their low acceptance rates. AOās always have to over deliver applicant numbers every year. Iām sure more schools will follow TO. The writing was on the wall when Cornell announced this with some of their sub colleges going test-blind, I think. I honestly think TO means test preferred if you have your scores. I hope they share for last class the break down of TO vs tests. Iāve not seen the data on too many schools.
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If they truly didnāt think SAT was necessary then they should have gone test blind.
I think the additional application revenue is just a cherry on top. By going TO, AO gets to reduce the acceptance rate while increasing incoming freshman test scores since only students with high scores will submit them. Also, by increasing the application pool, they get more kids to choose from to make the student body they want.
If I were running the Harvard admission office and my goal is to maintain the ranking while reshaping the freshmen class, then TO is exactly what I would do.
Iām ok every university deciding what they want to do with their system. If more and more go test blind or optional, it essentially means fewer spots for non-URM. Most of us in this forum will need to adjust our planning. More uncertainties, more applications, more essays, more stress are ahead of us. 
Eventually, some universities will exploit this situation, I think. If I were running the admission office of T30-T50 schools, I would target high-achieving non-URM who doesnāt fit T20 schools and who can pay a big chunk of tuition. Iām sure there are enough families who want more clarity during the admission process and less stress.
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Just venting today. DD24 has had a terrible Chemistry teacher this year. I promise, if I listed all the reasons, youād agree with me. I do not make āterrible teacherā accusations lightly (I teach at the CC level.) But who really wants to read all the reasons. So I talked to her counselor and weāre moving her to a different teacher next semester. But sheās still stuck with her first semester results coming from this bad teacher. She has managed to bring her grade up from an 84% mid-term to an 89.5. At her school, 89.5 is the minimum number for an A-, and pluses and minuses all count as an A. After the final, it was 89.43. So coming up to the 89.5 is awesome. But he still has two more assignments to put in the grade book. Iām going to be so pissed if those assignments drop her grade.
She really wants the ability to go to a school that typically requires a high GPA and UW 4.0. Weāve talked to her about the fact that even if she has a B (or a few) there will still be tons of great schools she can go to. But she doesnāt want her options taken from her by a bad teacher. I can understand that.
I hear ya. DD24 has a not-so-great chemistry teacher this year for honors chem. She was going to take AP Chem next year, but the same teacher also teaches AP Chem. And when I mean by a bad teacher, almost the entire class gets Ds and Fs on the quizzes and tests, after which, the teacher RE-teaches the material and lets everybody do quiz/test corrections for a better score. The students in DD24ās class have been talking to the AP Chem students, who are reporting the same thing happening in their classā¦they, too, are frustrated.
Itās frustrating enough that DD24 is probably going to take AP Environmental Science next year instead.
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Ugh! It sucks that a bad teacher is going to change what classes your daughter takes next year. Thatās a shame. What does she want to major in?
Evidently our bad teacher does okay with biology, but heās not very good with Chemistry and hates teaching it. I wish the school would just let him teach Bio and skip Chem.
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