AET / AOS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A couple of things from the viewpoint of a parent of two kids who got into AOS.

1) About 50% of the kids in the 9th grade at AOS have completed Algebra2/Trig. It never even occurred to us to have our kids that accelerated but some parents get it done somehow. I'm not sure what affect that has on getting in, but it has a hell of an effect on how kids do in 9th grade.

2) To wit: AOS Freshman Math is AOS Math analysis. And it is no joke. The teachers basically act as if everyone already knows the concepts from Alg2/Trig and if you don't you are expected to learn it on your own. The freshman course is basically a HS Junior level honors Math Analysis course with advanced statistics and curves of best fit among large data sets.

The bad news: If your son/daughter doesn't take Algebra2/Trig before enrolling, they will struggle mightily.

The good news: The reason AOS doesn't require geometry is that there are few concepts from Geometry that come into play on the AOS side. So a kid who takes Geometry (mine both did) has little advantage over the kid who just took Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

When my second child got accepted into AOS we made sure she took Alg2 in summer school and it made a huge difference.

Wondering what’s the rush to not let them complete one full school year of math. What am I missing?

Do you recommend any practice books to prepare for the AOS test?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A couple of things from the viewpoint of a parent of two kids who got into AOS.

1) About 50% of the kids in the 9th grade at AOS have completed Algebra2/Trig. It never even occurred to us to have our kids that accelerated but some parents get it done somehow. I'm not sure what affect that has on getting in, but it has a hell of an effect on how kids do in 9th grade.

2) To wit: AOS Freshman Math is AOS Math analysis. And it is no joke. The teachers basically act as if everyone already knows the concepts from Alg2/Trig and if you don't you are expected to learn it on your own. The freshman course is basically a HS Junior level honors Math Analysis course with advanced statistics and curves of best fit among large data sets.

The bad news: If your son/daughter doesn't take Algebra2/Trig before enrolling, they will struggle mightily.

The good news: The reason AOS doesn't require geometry is that there are few concepts from Geometry that come into play on the AOS side. So a kid who takes Geometry (mine both did) has little advantage over the kid who just took Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

When my second child got accepted into AOS we made sure she took Alg2 in summer school and it made a huge difference.

My DS got into AOS after Algebra I and felt that they didn’t teach much and it was mainly inquiry based. Worked fine for my child but all kids are different

OP my child was in the same scenario. Talking Algebra I was the GT in Kentucky. We dropped AET. Applied to AOS abs TJ and got into both

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of things from the viewpoint of a parent of two kids who got into AOS.

1) About 50% of the kids in the 9th grade at AOS have completed Algebra2/Trig. It never even occurred to us to have our kids that accelerated but some parents get it done somehow. I'm not sure what affect that has on getting in, but it has a hell of an effect on how kids do in 9th grade.

2) To wit: AOS Freshman Math is AOS Math analysis. And it is no joke. The teachers basically act as if everyone already knows the concepts from Alg2/Trig and if you don't you are expected to learn it on your own. The freshman course is basically a HS Junior level honors Math Analysis course with advanced statistics and curves of best fit among large data sets.

The bad news: If your son/daughter doesn't take Algebra2/Trig before enrolling, they will struggle mightily.

The good news: The reason AOS doesn't require geometry is that there are few concepts from Geometry that come into play on the AOS side. So a kid who takes Geometry (mine both did) has little advantage over the kid who just took Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

When my second child got accepted into AOS we made sure she took Alg2 in summer school and it made a huge difference.

My DS got into AOS after Algebra I and felt that they didn’t teach much and it was mainly inquiry based. Worked fine for my child but all kids are different

OP my child was in the same scenario. Talking Algebra I was the GT in Kentucky. We dropped AET. Applied to AOS abs TJ and got into both

OP here, congratulations. Where is your DC at TJ or AOS? How’s their experience. Mainly asking do they feel left out as looks like in Nova 50% of 7th grade is doing Geometry in 8th grade. What kind of preparation did your child do. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of things from the viewpoint of a parent of two kids who got into AOS.

1) About 50% of the kids in the 9th grade at AOS have completed Algebra2/Trig. It never even occurred to us to have our kids that accelerated but some parents get it done somehow. I'm not sure what affect that has on getting in, but it has a hell of an effect on how kids do in 9th grade.

2) To wit: AOS Freshman Math is AOS Math analysis. And it is no joke. The teachers basically act as if everyone already knows the concepts from Alg2/Trig and if you don't you are expected to learn it on your own. The freshman course is basically a HS Junior level honors Math Analysis course with advanced statistics and curves of best fit among large data sets.

The bad news: If your son/daughter doesn't take Algebra2/Trig before enrolling, they will struggle mightily.

The good news: The reason AOS doesn't require geometry is that there are few concepts from Geometry that come into play on the AOS side. So a kid who takes Geometry (mine both did) has little advantage over the kid who just took Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

When my second child got accepted into AOS we made sure she took Alg2 in summer school and it made a huge difference.

My DS got into AOS after Algebra I and felt that they didn’t teach much and it was mainly inquiry based. Worked fine for my child but all kids are different

OP my child was in the same scenario. Talking Algebra I was the GT in Kentucky. We dropped AET. Applied to AOS abs TJ and got into both

OP here, congratulations. Where is your DC at TJ or AOS? How’s their experience. Mainly asking do they feel left out as looks like in Nova 50% of 7th grade is doing Geometry in 8th grade. What kind of preparation did your child do. Thanks

I was the first poster but I'll answer you as well. This is NOT a subtle brag but neither of my kids did any prep at all for the AOS process. They both went to private Catholic school and nobody had even applied to the academies in years. We were barely aware of it, let alone the prep. We considered prep for my second child because she *really* wanted to get in, but decided against it.

When my oldest was accepted, a lot depended on your PSAT score and I'd say 90 percent of the kids did prep for the SAT. He did not and his SAT score was below the average for the accepted student. But then they eliminated the PSAT from the entrance process. Now they do the California critical thinking test. My younger did one practice test the night before the assessment, but that's it.

As of last night, it looks like they are going to go to a lottery system and make sure all middle schools get a certain number of kids in. Prepping may not be worth it anyway. If your child is smart enough to make the cut to be in the lottery and it's truly a lottery, then crushing whatever exams they offer may hold no benefit over simply qualifying.

Have your child practice writing an essay on why they want to get in as well as cultivating a relationship with the 8th grade math and science teachers who will write recommendations. We know personally of a kid who probably lost admission due to recommendation from his math teacher. Kid was great at math with good grades, but butted heads with the teacher plenty.

Good luck. They are really trying to put a system in place that cannot be prepped for to eliminate the advantage of wealth. I sort of agree with that approach.

[Anonymous]

OP here thanks so much. I so agree with you that one shouldn’t prep for this and I am glad they are taking a different approach to determine who is the right fit. We are new to the area and counselors won’t be back until school starts. We didn’t want our child to be left behind as we are new to the area and missed/missing out on all the key information which other parents are aware of. It’s a tough year for anyone who is new to the area especially when in MS.

Please can I ask how did you find about the lottery? We have tried several times to call the Academy but in vain.

[Anonymous]

Also why a new and weird rule that one must have Geometry in 8th grade to be eligible for AOS. We know parents with tons of resources and money on hand have been preparing their kids from K onwards in Math. They will naturally be ahead. Why not an unbiased entrance rule for all which naturally tests the kids ability.

[Anonymous]

Please look at the School Board meeting from last night for more information about eligibility, math requirements and the lottery process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also why a new and weird rule that one must have Geometry in 8th grade to be eligible for AOS. We know parents with tons of resources and money on hand have been preparing their kids from K onwards in Math. They will naturally be ahead. Why not an unbiased entrance rule for all which naturally tests the kids ability.

Just a guess but probably meant so that kids can be prepared for 9th grade physics because they’ll need to be able to understand trig and vectors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A couple of things from the viewpoint of a parent of two kids who got into AOS.

1) About 50% of the kids in the 9th grade at AOS have completed Algebra2/Trig. It never even occurred to us to have our kids that accelerated but some parents get it done somehow. I'm not sure what affect that has on getting in, but it has a hell of an effect on how kids do in 9th grade.

2) To wit: AOS Freshman Math is AOS Math analysis. And it is no joke. The teachers basically act as if everyone already knows the concepts from Alg2/Trig and if you don't you are expected to learn it on your own. The freshman course is basically a HS Junior level honors Math Analysis course with advanced statistics and curves of best fit among large data sets.

The bad news: If your son/daughter doesn't take Algebra2/Trig before enrolling, they will struggle mightily.

The good news: The reason AOS doesn't require geometry is that there are few concepts from Geometry that come into play on the AOS side. So a kid who takes Geometry (mine both did) has little advantage over the kid who just took Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

When my second child got accepted into AOS we made sure she took Alg2 in summer school and it made a huge difference.

Any advise on preparation for the AOS exam?

[Anonymous]

No need to really prep. Better to look at the writing prompts.

[Anonymous]

Another good prep for the exam is to arrive at least 45 min early. The traffic gets backed up out to Sycolin Road, and sometimes out to Belmont Ridge Road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of things from the viewpoint of a parent of two kids who got into AOS.

1) About 50% of the kids in the 9th grade at AOS have completed Algebra2/Trig. It never even occurred to us to have our kids that accelerated but some parents get it done somehow. I'm not sure what affect that has on getting in, but it has a hell of an effect on how kids do in 9th grade.

2) To wit: AOS Freshman Math is AOS Math analysis. And it is no joke. The teachers basically act as if everyone already knows the concepts from Alg2/Trig and if you don't you are expected to learn it on your own. The freshman course is basically a HS Junior level honors Math Analysis course with advanced statistics and curves of best fit among large data sets.

The bad news: If your son/daughter doesn't take Algebra2/Trig before enrolling, they will struggle mightily.

The good news: The reason AOS doesn't require geometry is that there are few concepts from Geometry that come into play on the AOS side. So a kid who takes Geometry (mine both did) has little advantage over the kid who just took Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

When my second child got accepted into AOS we made sure she took Alg2 in summer school and it made a huge difference.

Any advise on preparation for the AOS exam?

If you really want test prep here is an option,
https://youngscholarscircle.com/product/academies-of-loudoun-prep-6-7/