Kids who bombed the SAT - getting good college results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ my PS kids were never given an option to retake tests they did not do well on. Ever.

+1 NY public HS school for DS 2021 currently a freshman at a private (reach). No retakes, absolutely no grade inflation, APs got only a .5 bump and honors .25. Rarely extra credit unless entire class bombed a test. All kids "collaborate" on HW, teachers know this, and adjust test and quizzes accordingly. Maybe universal grade inflation and cheating is a DC thing. DS has many friends at NYC privates. Seems that cheating is more prevalent in privates. My nephew, now in med school confirms this.

[Anonymous]

1. OP being bitter because her special snowflake didn’t have great results is a bad look. If said snowflake is at a decent private, I’m sure plenty of kids from her DC’s school have good results this year. Maybe the problem is OP’s snowflake and not some huge conspiracy.

2. Private school parents were quick to brag 18 months ago that they had purchased their way out of distance learning and had gotten a “normal” school year for their kid. So, it’s tough to swallow that OP and her ilk NOW resent kids forced into DL. You can’t have it both ways. Is OP saying she wishes her kid had a year of DL to cheat?

3. I can speak only for my kid and she didn’t cheat. I am 100% certain and you don’t need the long explanation as to why— but there is a reason I know. I can only speak for my kid. Op can only speak for her kid. Everything else is rumor and gossip.

4. At our FCPS HS, it is widely believed that TO does not mean TO fir UMC white and Asian kids. OP has her version of “people are saying”. Here’s mine. Every UMC kid I know applying to competitive schools submitted scores. Most also submitted 4s and 5s from APs.

5. I’m assuming OP is just as appalled and angry at legacy and athletic preferences. Right, OP?

4.

[Anonymous]

Wait, so we think the SAT is a better measure of college readiness than 4 years of high school grades?

I disagree. I say this as someone with a kid who scored a 1400 in middle school and attended a private. It’s a very simple test that most high scoring kids work their asses off studying for. Same as those working their asses off getting a 4.0 or in their ECs. It’s just one of many imperfect ways a kid can show they have drive and are ready for college. But in my opinion it’s not the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so we think the SAT is a better measure of college readiness than 4 years of high school grades?

I disagree. I say this as someone with a kid who scored a 1400 in middle school and attended a private. It’s a very simple test that most high scoring kids work their asses off studying for. Same as those working their asses off getting a 4.0 or in their ECs. It’s just one of many imperfect ways a kid can show they have drive and are ready for college. But in my opinion it’s not the best.

Your statement makes no sense. If people have to “work their asses off” studying for it, it is a meaningful test.

I think a lot of people (not necessarily you) are angry that kids that were completely shut out for so long—URMs, inner city kids, rural kids, first generation—are finally getting a chance. Frankly, it’s long overdue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just stop. What evidence (besides comments on DCUM) do you have that public schools inflate grades and private schools deflate grades?

Just stop. Are you serious? Let's start with MoCo. In March 2020, the "do no harm" policy required students to earn at least one grade higher than they did the previous quarter. So if you got a B, you got an A. That's grade inflation. How many posters on here with kids at Wilson have said they and all their kids friends now have averages in the high 90s, courtesy of the covid special grading policies. In public schools, you get a full point bump for AP classes. Again, grade inflation. None of that exists at many of the private schools in this area.

In MCPS you get a full point bump for AP and honors, and honors is basically on-level. I'd say 30-40% of the kids had a 4.4 or above GPA.

In the case of MCPS I do not believe it is the gpa boost for honors/ap that is causing grade inflation (since colleges are going to be recalculating gpas based on their own formula). I think the grade inflation comes in for the averaging practices for semester grades, ability to turn homework in at any point in the semester for full credit, and testing retakes. These practices hurt the top kids who are gunning for selective college admissions the most, IMO. MCPS tracks weighted and unweighted grade distributions by high school since they send a "profile" along with transcripts for admissions officers. It would be interesting to see this data over the last 10 years. You can find individual school profiles if you google. I can't find a source for all the schools in one place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so we think the SAT is a better measure of college readiness than 4 years of high school grades?

I disagree. I say this as someone with a kid who scored a 1400 in middle school and attended a private. It’s a very simple test that most high scoring kids work their asses off studying for. Same as those working their asses off getting a 4.0 or in their ECs. It’s just one of many imperfect ways a kid can show they have drive and are ready for college. But in my opinion it’s not the best.

Your statement makes no sense. If people have to “work their asses off” studying for it, it is a meaningful test.

I think a lot of people (not necessarily you) are angry that kids that were completely shut out for so long—URMs, inner city kids, rural kids, first generation—are finally getting a chance. Frankly, it’s long overdue.

I said many have to work their asses off. I said the test is an imperfect measure like all the others. But I never said it’s not meaningful. I said it’s not the best measure of college preparedness. I’d take the track record over four years.

I do agree that parents who thought they had advantages in this system are pissed they no longer do. It was easy a few years ago to make sure your kid started prepping for the SAT early. And poof your kid scored super high scores and had a firm position above those who didn’t. Not so easy now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting into college is not the same thing as staying in college much less graduating. Unless the colleges are really dumbing down the material I’m not seeing the woefully unqualified lasting very long.

Grade inflation is real but thinking that a kid with a 4.0 is going to fail out of college because they're coming from a big public high school is a stretch.

They probably won't fail out but they will have to major in something easy and far less marketable, at best they will have a lower A or B GPA instead of a tippy top Latin honors GPA. They are shunned from the smart kid study groups. Employers will be able to tease out they're below par.

I've seen it for 20 years. The "all A's" over-confident arrogant public school kids tell everyone he or she's going to become a surgeon or engineer. By the end of first semester pre-med or engineering ---> sociology or political science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting into college is not the same thing as staying in college much less graduating. Unless the colleges are really dumbing down the material I’m not seeing the woefully unqualified lasting very long.

Grade inflation is real but thinking that a kid with a 4.0 is going to fail out of college because they're coming from a big public high school is a stretch.

They probably won't fail out but they will have to major in something easy and far less marketable, at best they will have a lower A or B GPA instead of a tippy top Latin honors GPA. They are shunned from the smart kid study groups. Employers will be able to tease out they're below par.

I've seen it for 20 years. The "all A's" over-confident arrogant private school kids tell everyone he or she's going to become a surgeon or engineer. By the end of first semester pre-med or engineering ---> sociology or political science.

FTFY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting into college is not the same thing as staying in college much less graduating. Unless the colleges are really dumbing down the material I’m not seeing the woefully unqualified lasting very long.

Grade inflation is real but thinking that a kid with a 4.0 is going to fail out of college because they're coming from a big public high school is a stretch.

They probably won't fail out but they will have to major in something easy and far less marketable, at best they will have a lower A or B GPA instead of a tippy top Latin honors GPA. They are shunned from the smart kid study groups. Employers will be able to tease out they're below par.

I've seen it for 20 years. The "all A's" over-confident arrogant public school kids tell everyone he or she's going to become a surgeon or engineer. By the end of first semester pre-med or engineering ---> sociology or political science.

Your language is bizarre and you comment in every thread using words like “peers,” “shunned,” “crass,” and “dullard.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting into college is not the same thing as staying in college much less graduating. Unless the colleges are really dumbing down the material I’m not seeing the woefully unqualified lasting very long.

Grade inflation is real but thinking that a kid with a 4.0 is going to fail out of college because they're coming from a big public high school is a stretch.

They probably won't fail out but they will have to major in something easy and far less marketable, at best they will have a lower A or B GPA instead of a tippy top Latin honors GPA. They are shunned from the smart kid study groups. Employers will be able to tease out they're below par.

I've seen it for 20 years. The "all A's" over-confident arrogant public school kids tell everyone he or she's going to become a surgeon or engineer. By the end of first semester pre-med or engineering ---> sociology or political science.

I’ve got news for you, none of that matters as much as you think it does (and approximately none of what you wrote is true). “Smart kid study groups” WTF

[Anonymous]

There’s a poster in this forum who has a vendetta against public universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4 years of high grades in hard classes are more impressive than prepping for a 4 hour test that you can take multiple times and submit your top scores. Most schools are going to be moving away form standardized tests sooner than later.

We are discussing 4 years of inflated grades and bombed SAT scores even after prep, compared to 4 years of the hardest classes at really hard schools with deflated grades and top SAT scores in one sitting without prep. That is what OP is commenting on. She isn't dissing your 4.0 student who actually works hard and had teachers who are difficult graders on actual substance.

[Anonymous]

You will never convince me that private high schools with legacy admissions and $50,000/year tuition are “harder” than an IB diploma program and the like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 years of high grades in hard classes are more impressive than prepping for a 4 hour test that you can take multiple times and submit your top scores. Most schools are going to be moving away form standardized tests sooner than later.

We are discussing 4 years of inflated grades and bombed SAT scores even after prep, compared to 4 years of the hardest classes at really hard schools with deflated grades and top SAT scores in one sitting without prep. That is what OP is commenting on. She isn't dissing your 4.0 student who actually works hard and had teachers who are difficult graders on actual substance.

SAT scores are highly correlated with family income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting into college is not the same thing as staying in college much less graduating. Unless the colleges are really dumbing down the material I’m not seeing the woefully unqualified lasting very long.

Grade inflation is real but thinking that a kid with a 4.0 is going to fail out of college because they're coming from a big public high school is a stretch.

They probably won't fail out but they will have to major in something easy and far less marketable, at best they will have a lower A or B GPA instead of a tippy top Latin honors GPA. They are shunned from the smart kid study groups. Employers will be able to tease out they're below par.

I've seen it for 20 years. The "all A's" over-confident arrogant public school kids tell everyone he or she's going to become a surgeon or engineer. By the end of first semester pre-med or engineering ---> sociology or political science.

Your language is bizarre and you comment in every thread using words like “peers,” “shunned,” “crass,” and “dullard.”

English is my second language but I don't think I have ever used the words you attach to me. So you are mistaken and sound of unstable mind.