Transitioning from high school "re-test culture" to college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never allow my child to attend a school that allows retests.

+ 1. I wouldn't allow them to attend a middle school or high school that allows retests. I went to public school in BFE and we never had retests.

So dumb. Trial and error is a great learning tool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My senior is generally a good student, but definitely takes advantage of APS's re-test policy. I've warned him several times that in college that isn't going to be possible. Your first test grade is your grade. For those who have kids in college now, how was the transition? Did they adjust quickly to the new expectations, or was it a real struggle?

DS is a freshman who is home for Thanksgiving break. I asked him what was the biggest challenge he faced adjusting in college. I was expecting him to talk about weather, food, friends, sleep, roommate etc etc. He instead said it was "changing his study habits". He is taking 4 courses, 3 mid-terms and a final for each, no re-tests for any of them, between 60-90% of grades are decided by the tests, most of them don't curve, absolutely no extension on assignment due dates, etc. Some do give extra-credit assignments, and all of them let you drop lowest score assignment(s). So assignments do get lenient treatment, but tests are serious business. If your senior is a serious student, they will adjust. Mine did, after struggling in the first few weeks. So don't sweat it, they will be ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior is generally a good student, but definitely takes advantage of APS's re-test policy. I've warned him several times that in college that isn't going to be possible. Your first test grade is your grade. For those who have kids in college now, how was the transition? Did they adjust quickly to the new expectations, or was it a real struggle?

DS is a freshman who is home for Thanksgiving break. I asked him what was the biggest challenge he faced adjusting in college. I was expecting him to talk about weather, food, friends, sleep, roommate etc etc. He instead said it was "changing his study habits". He is taking 4 courses, 3 mid-terms and a final for each, no re-tests for any of them, between 60-90% of grades are decided by the tests, most of them don't curve, absolutely no extension on assignment due dates, etc. Some do give extra-credit assignments, and all of them let you drop lowest score assignment(s). So assignments do get lenient treatment, but tests are serious business. If your senior is a serious student, they will adjust. Mine did, after struggling in the first few weeks. So don't sweat it, they will be ok.

Except the ones who drop out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never allow my child to attend a school that allows retests.

+ 1. I wouldn't allow them to attend a middle school or high school that allows retests. I went to public school in BFE and we never had retests.

You do understand that retests are APS policy, don't you? Not much "allowing" going on here. The alternative is private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous[b wrote:]It has been completely fine, don’t worry about it. College is so different. Fewer classes, more time to prepare, fewer tests and assignments on a daily basis. My son says it is much easier to keep track of everything and be ready for exams.

[/b]


No! it's all about papers! Most parents reading here have kids who have very little training in that. I had my graduating senior sign up for a paper-writing course at Johns Hopkins after he graduated (first in class) from an area private. I knew he wasn't ready.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College gives rewrites and extra credit and many classes don’t have tests.

Also the curve is crazy.

It will be fine.

+1. Many ways in college to make up for a test grade. DS is doing great this year. He does extra credit when available and they get to drop a test in each class.

This depends completely on the individual professor.

[Anonymous]

How does a retest policy work? If a kid gets below a C they can take it over?

[Anonymous]

Our child's school didn't offer "re-tests" in HS so we wouldn't know. I do know that in one college class, they said the lowest test grade could be dropped....and when DC got sick for an exam, the TA said they couldn't delay taking the test because they could just drop it. My DC didn't like this option, they took the test sick as a dog because they had already studied a bunch and felt it was better than a zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does a retest policy work? If a kid gets below a C they can take it over?

Not where my kid goes. His professors don’t allow retakes. These public school districts need to get their acts together and stop the ridiculous policies that aren’t preparing students for the realities of college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College gives rewrites and extra credit and many classes don’t have tests.

Also the curve is crazy.

It will be fine.

None of my kid's professors curve. You get what you get. He said there are no retakes or extra credit. He's a junior and has had a midterm and final for every class except his fine arts class. Maybe if your kid goes to an easy state school like Towson or Salisbury, they might have these things.

No my kid goes to a T30.

My other kid at an SEC school actually get's less help/hand holding.

Also many T30 schools say their classes are 16 credits each so they only have to take 4 classes a semester which is hilarious. In many ways my kid at the T30 school has it much easier than the one at GA.

[Anonymous]

It’s why we stopped APS after middle school and put our kids in private.

Hard core from day 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s why we stopped APS after middle school and put our kids in private.

Hard core from day 1.

+1. My kids are at a Catholic prep school and what I love is that their midterms and finals are run (all 4 years) like college. The first midterms in 9th are a wake-up intro. Having them weighted at 20% or more and the review involved.

Missing assignments are 0–unless some very extenuating circumstances.

The teachers are very helpful and taught my kids to take advantage of office hours and get on top of things early if they are lost, don’t understand something or get a low grade. It has made them proactive and organized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College gives rewrites and extra credit and many classes don’t have tests.

Also the curve is crazy.

It will be fine.

+1. Many ways in college to make up for a test grade. DS is doing great this year. He does extra credit when available and they get to drop a test in each class.

Wow, what college if you don't mind me asking? Both DCs are in large universities and there is no retake, no dropping test. And curves usually work both ways, meaning kids need 95+ to earn their A in some classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College gives rewrites and extra credit and many classes don’t have tests.

Also the curve is crazy.

It will be fine.

None of my kid's professors curve. You get what you get. He said there are no retakes or extra credit. He's a junior and has had a midterm and final for every class except his fine arts class. Maybe if your kid goes to an easy state school like Towson or Salisbury, they might have these things.

DS goes to a top 10 engineering school and he has extra credit, can drop a test, and curves in each class. From my experience, professors tend to make exams extremely difficult to challenge the brightest students. The results are curved to reflect the class distribution.

Is it normal to know (or even want to know) this much detail about your college kids’ professors’ grading policy? I would think that if a kid is at now a Top 10 Engineering school, his parents would be ready to step back from this level of granular awareness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never allow my child to attend a school that allows retests.

+ 1. I wouldn't allow them to attend a middle school or high school that allows retests. I went to public school in BFE and we never had retests.

So dumb. Trial and error is a great learning tool.

np.. it would be but that's not how a lot of kids use the "re-test" chance.

My DC was in a magnet program, and they said that a lot of kids do use the "re-test" chance to get out of studying. Mind you, these kids are super busy with lots of activities and taking hard classes, but they aren't using the "re-test" as a learning tool.

That said, I have also told my kids that colleges don't allow re-tests, and that they should not rely on that in HS, either, because you never know what will happen later, and also it's a bad habit.

My DC now in college is a CS major, and a lot of the hard classes are curved. DC is a strong student and cares about their grades. There are no re-tests, but the professors will grade on a curve for the harder tests.