RMS bio at RMHS

[Anonymous]

My DD is taking RMS bio at RMHS this year. She has been saying bio is hard and I think the quiz scores tells that.
Is RMS bio fast paced than honors bio at other mcps schools? How different the contents/topics are between RMS vs honors? Just wondering because she has never complained before that a certain subject is hard. Will it get better later on once she founds out how to study? TYA!

[Anonymous]

Yes, RMS biology is faster paced than Honors Biology. Your daughter is in the magnet program and is a core class for the cohort. This is where she starts to get more challenge academically, which is presumably why she applied for the magnet. The course covers the same content but goes into more depth and has students doing more projects and writing to learn skills they need to be successful in the IB courses in 11-12th grades.

[Anonymous]

Is she in the IB magnet? I don’t remember the bio being that bad but the 9th grade math was the killer for my kid, who is actually pretty good at math. IB math is different than other math classes and can be really confusing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, RMS biology is faster paced than Honors Biology. Your daughter is in the magnet program and is a core class for the cohort. This is where she starts to get more challenge academically, which is presumably why she applied for the magnet. The course covers the same content but goes into more depth and has students doing more projects and writing to learn skills they need to be successful in the IB courses in 11-12th grades.

Agree with this. My kid went through RMS bio 2 years ago and it is meant to be faster paced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, RMS biology is faster paced than Honors Biology. Your daughter is in the magnet program and is a core class for the cohort. This is where she starts to get more challenge academically, which is presumably why she applied for the magnet. The course covers the same content but goes into more depth and has students doing more projects and writing to learn skills they need to be successful in the IB courses in 11-12th grades.

Agree with this. My kid went through RMS bio 2 years ago and it is meant to be faster paced.

+2 and I think the first PP was a little terse, but the bottom line is that RMIB is widely understood to be the most time consuming and rigorous of the selective HS programs. I'm not arguing that it is "the best" because that's a waste of time and subjective anyway, but it is known for having a massive workload that often precludes other extracurricular activities for all but the best-organized and fastest-working kids.

Hopefully OP's child went into the program with eyes wide open becuase it does not get better from here in terms of pace or time commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is she in the IB magnet? I don’t remember the bio being that bad but the 9th grade math was the killer for my kid, who is actually pretty good at math. IB math is different than other math classes and can be really confusing.

RMS English 9 was also hard for a lot of that cohort. It was the first time many got Cs on an English paper.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks everyone. She is doing fine with AAF math, but saying English and Bio is hard. Nothing has been graded yet for English, so we’ll see later how she is actually doing.
Science in MS was easy for her so I was wondering if it is hard because it’s IB. Do the kids taking honors bio at non magnet schools find also it is challenging? Trying to see how different it is between IB and non IB. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks everyone. She is doing fine with AAF math, but saying English and Bio is hard. Nothing has been graded yet for English, so we’ll see later how she is actually doing.
Science in MS was easy for her so I was wondering if it is hard because it’s IB. Do the kids taking honors bio at non magnet schools find also it is challenging? Trying to see how different it is between IB and non IB. Thank you!

I had one go through RMIB and one not. The one not is still at RM and took honors Bio. This DC is not as academically advanced as the other DC. And they did not find honors Bio challenging at all.

The RMS designation is a magnet level course. "Honors" is really just on grade level with the word "honors" tagged onto it for GPA inflation purposes. It's a disservice to the above average kids who really want to be challenged but be in a magnet because the "honors" classes are really just grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, RMS biology is faster paced than Honors Biology. Your daughter is in the magnet program and is a core class for the cohort. This is where she starts to get more challenge academically, which is presumably why she applied for the magnet. The course covers the same content but goes into more depth and has students doing more projects and writing to learn skills they need to be successful in the IB courses in 11-12th grades.

Agree with this. My kid went through RMS bio 2 years ago and it is meant to be faster paced.

+2 and I think the first PP was a little terse, but the bottom line is that RMIB is widely understood to be the most time consuming and rigorous of the selective HS programs. I'm not arguing that it is "the best" because that's a waste of time and subjective anyway, but it is known for having a massive workload that often precludes other extracurricular activities for all but the best-organized and fastest-working kids.

Hopefully OP's child went into the program with eyes wide open becuase it does not get better from here in terms of pace or time commitment.

This. And I agree that doesn't get easier. Also agree that English was tough in 9th grade for the RMIB.

MS Science was a joke at our home school and RMS Bio was the first time my kid was actually expected to learn something.

[Anonymous]

I remember hearing English being hard, DC did not mention anything about RMS bio but he came from TPMS though

[Anonymous]

RMS bio either requires a more studying than "Honors" bio or an incredibly good memory. My daughter took it last year and is lucky to have a good memory.

[Anonymous]

DS found 9th grade English relatively challenging, but not RMS Bio. He does have a phenomenal memory; writing is slower and harder for him. But I don't think it's a question that RMS Bio is considerably harder than Honors Bio.

[Anonymous]

She may just have to put a lot more time into memorizing and review than she is accustomed to. She'll probably settle in just fine once she gets used to the workload.

[Anonymous]

What does RMS stand for?
It looks like a code for "Magnet / Pre-IB"

[Anonymous]

Honors Bio and Magnet Honors Bio are classes that require time managed study because there is a lot to memorize and understand. This is the type of class for where Quizlet, mindmaps, and drawing process is helpful.