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This is my point. She had to have been reasonably prepared when she entered AP calc. So either she learned on her own, or the teacher wasn’t as “bad” as she claimed. It’s the most normal thing in the world for students to hate their teachers, independent of the facts on the ground.</p>
<p>Back to my comment…it’s the first quiz. The kiddo got an 87. It is not the end of the world.</p>
<p>^^Further, kiddo must have learned something from somewhere/someone to earn the 87. </p>
<p>Maybe the teacher isn’t so bad. Maybe that’s the child’s (or her sister’s) reaction to the 87. A quiz is a quick check on how the student is doing, not a final assessment of the student’s qualification to move onto the next level of math (even then, an 87 isn’t horrible).</p>
<p>Agreed…87 isn’t horrible. Maybe better to get that first A- or B+ now than the first term of college.</p>
<p>This was actually a discussed topic at the parent orientation sessions where both of my kids went to college. The speakers candidly said…if your student is an all A student now, it is very likely they will get their first B or maybe even a C in college. </p>
<p>One school in particular is well known for grade deflation. The other not for grade inflation…but not deflation either. </p>
<p>In other words…87 isn’t the end of the world. The reality is this student could get an A at the end of this course without difficulty. 87 is a great grade for a first quiz.</p>
<p>It seems a little unfair to label this teacher as “bad” because your child scored an 87% on a quiz. Maybe your child did not study as hard as she could have for said quiz. </p>
<p>BlueHen89, thanks for your comment. It wasn’t the 87% that meant “bad teacher” although DD2 was not used to a grade below 90, but she is NOW a JR in more demanding classes and has to use her brain to understand and excel and accept a decent grade like an 87%.</p>
<p>But I should have have plainer at the start, is that DD1 said this teacher was a “bad teacher.” But I think through all these discussion comments we can work with what we have - the strengths and limitations - and teach ourselves and use the teacher’s off hours to help.</p>
<p>The BEST point is that DD1 got a 5 on the Calculus AP. </p>
<p>Once you get into tougher classes, “bad teacher” may mean somebody with a style that does match all students. But OP’s DD1 overcame that, so good for her! </p>
<p>I’ve told this here before, but once I was a Teaching Assistant for a calculus-based intro I (college) physics course. The instructor met with us every week. The first week, she said to go over the basic most common function derivatives in recitation, so I went to recitation and said “dr. Soandso told us to go over some common derivatives so lets do that”. On their end of the semester reviews one student said that I was a terrible instructor because I did calculus the first day and this was NOT a math class. So I was a “bad teacher” for doing what my boss ordered. Presumably, were he the TA, he would have told the boss where to put her derivatives. Yessiree. </p>