GPA Questions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is your high schooler doing with GPA? Did it vary from year to year?
What is considered a "good" GPA, weighted and unweighted?
How many kids are taking all Honors/AP and have a 4.0 unweighted GPA?
I know FCPS includes electives and PE in the GPA, but what do you think? Are these elective non-language courses important?

I have a peripheral question: what does the bolded sentence mean exactly? If you're getting extra points for Honors and AP, how do you calculate your unweighted GPA?
I've also heard that colleges unweight your classes and then recalculate your GPA. Does that mean they're effectively not giving you bonus points for taking honors or AP? What is the point, then? I'd understand if you were learning harder stuff, but I have one child who took Algebra 1 Honors this year while the other took regular Algebra 1. Beyond some "extension units" that introduced a few additional topics, the only difference between the Honors class and the regular one is that there is more work. Not more depth, but more work.

You calculate your unweighted GPA the old-fashioned way by taking away the extra points given for honors, AP or IB classes : A is 4 points, B is 3 and so on.

Many colleges, particularly elite ones, unweight your GPA for comparative purposes to create a level playing since some schools don't have advanced courses or offer very limited ones. The colleges still consider the rigor of the course you're taking as well, so what they're basically asking is did you do as well as you could in the most advanced courses available to you. Even though an AP course gives 4 points for a B, for example, you're still doing B work, not A work, which says something about how you meet challenges.

Yes, but taking only regular level classes shows that you're not up for a challenge, and would rather coast along. That may look worse to a college than a few Bs.

It depends what's on offer. If only regular classes are offered at your school and you're doing well in them, that's the best you can do. Some kids don't have the opportunities ours do in NOVA. Also some supposedly advanced or honors courses at some schools are easy, some regular courses are very challenging. Regional admissions reps typically know about rigor at a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is your high schooler doing with GPA? Did it vary from year to year?
What is considered a "good" GPA, weighted and unweighted?
How many kids are taking all Honors/AP and have a 4.0 unweighted GPA?
I know FCPS includes electives and PE in the GPA, but what do you think? Are these elective non-language courses important?

I have a peripheral question: what does the bolded sentence mean exactly? If you're getting extra points for Honors and AP, how do you calculate your unweighted GPA?
I've also heard that colleges unweight your classes and then recalculate your GPA. Does that mean they're effectively not giving you bonus points for taking honors or AP? What is the point, then? I'd understand if you were learning harder stuff, but I have one child who took Algebra 1 Honors this year while the other took regular Algebra 1. Beyond some "extension units" that introduced a few additional topics, the only difference between the Honors class and the regular one is that there is more work. Not more depth, but more work.

You calculate your unweighted GPA the old-fashioned way by taking away the extra points given for honors, AP or IB classes : A is 4 points, B is 3 and so on.

Many colleges, particularly elite ones, unweight your GPA for comparative purposes to create a level playing since some schools don't have advanced courses or offer very limited ones. The colleges still consider the rigor of the course you're taking as well, so what they're basically asking is did you do as well as you could in the most advanced courses available to you. Even though an AP course gives 4 points for a B, for example, you're still doing B work, not A work, which says something about how you meet challenges.

Yes, but taking only regular level classes shows that you're not up for a challenge, and would rather coast along. That may look worse to a college than a few Bs.

It depends what's on offer. If only regular classes are offered at your school and you're doing well in them, that's the best you can do. Some kids don't have the opportunities ours do in NOVA. Also some supposedly advanced or honors courses at some schools are easy, some regular courses are very challenging. Regional admissions reps typically know about rigor at a school.

They know which APs students take to puff up their GPA.

If you want to show rigor have AP Physics C, AP Chemistry, AP BC Calculus and AP Statistics.

[Anonymous]

Things have changed so much since my days applying to college. I'm 40 and to the best of my knowledge there was no such thing as weighted or unweighted. I didn't go to an IVY but a reputable University then onto grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things have changed so much since my days applying to college. I'm 40 and to the best of my knowledge there was no such thing as weighted or unweighted. I didn't go to an IVY but a reputable University then onto grad school.

I'm 40 and there was a weighted and un-weighted GPA in Fairfax County. I think it's been around since AP classes started.

[Anonymous]

^^I grew up in another state and there was no such thing.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in MA and graduated in 1982. Our school did not have a bump up for Honors or AP, but it was debated back at least to the 70's. They could not agree how much Honors should have compared to General and how much AP should have compared to either level. The compromise was that our school did not calculate any GPA nor did we have class rank. When I went to college in Virginia, several of my classmates has GPA bumps ups for AP type classes. It certainly was around, but it was not a rampant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this in the AAP forum?

Honors, AP and IB classes are all AAP.

No, they're not. Honors, AP, and IB are open enrollment for any student interested. They are not part of elementary/middle AAP.

AAP= advanced academic curriculum and AP, IB and Honors are part of that definition. While this forum is primarily for FCPS AAP formal program, it is not exclusively for it.

No, specifically AAP= is in fact and specifically The Advanced Academic Program offered only in grades 3-8th. That is the title/name of the specific program and not an umbrella term referring to all advanced academic programs offered by Fairfax County. Yet , you are correct in that the counties advance Academic programs are described on the district web page under the title of Advanced Academic Programs. AAP, AP, IB , and Honors all fall under advanced academic programs..... There for this question is definitely in the wrong forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this in the AAP forum?

Honors, AP and IB classes are all AAP.

No, they're not. Honors, AP, and IB are open enrollment for any student interested. They are not part of elementary/middle AAP.

AAP= advanced academic curriculum and AP, IB and Honors are part of that definition. While this forum is primarily for FCPS AAP formal program, it is not exclusively for it.

No, specifically AAP= is in fact and specifically The Advanced Academic Program offered only in grades 3-8th. That is the title/name of the specific program and not an umbrella term referring to all advanced academic programs offered by Fairfax County. Yet , you are correct in that the counties advance Academic programs are described on the district web page under the title of Advanced Academic Programs. AAP, AP, IB , and Honors all fall under advanced academic programs..... There for this question is definitely in the wrong forum.

+1
It's ridiculous that this thread is in the AAP forum, when it's specifically referencing GPA. GPA doesn't even come into play until high school (with very few middle school classes counting toward it). So if we're talking about high school, Honors, AP, IB, etc. - these classes are open to everyone. "AAP" doesn't have anything to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this in the AAP forum?

Honors, AP and IB classes are all AAP.

No, they're not. Honors, AP, and IB are open enrollment for any student interested. They are not part of elementary/middle AAP.

AAP= advanced academic curriculum and AP, IB and Honors are part of that definition. While this forum is primarily for FCPS AAP formal program, it is not exclusively for it.

No, specifically AAP= is in fact and specifically The Advanced Academic Program offered only in grades 3-8th. That is the title/name of the specific program and not an umbrella term referring to all advanced academic programs offered by Fairfax County. Yet , you are correct in that the counties advance Academic programs are described on the district web page under the title of Advanced Academic Programs. AAP, AP, IB , and Honors all fall under advanced academic programs..... There for this question is definitely in the wrong forum.

+1
It's ridiculous that this thread is in the AAP forum, when it's specifically referencing GPA. GPA doesn't even come into play until high school (with very few middle school classes counting toward it). So if we're talking about high school, Honors, AP, IB, etc. - these classes are open to everyone. "AAP" doesn't have anything to do with it.

AP, IB, honors, etc. are all part of Advanced Academic Programs. The "bump" for high school grade points is related to advanced academic programs. GPA in general is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this in the AAP forum?

Honors, AP and IB classes are all AAP.

No, they're not. Honors, AP, and IB are open enrollment for any student interested. They are not part of elementary/middle AAP.

AAP= advanced academic curriculum and AP, IB and Honors are part of that definition. While this forum is primarily for FCPS AAP formal program, it is not exclusively for it.

No, specifically AAP= is in fact and specifically The Advanced Academic Program offered only in grades 3-8th. That is the title/name of the specific program and not an umbrella term referring to all advanced academic programs offered by Fairfax County. Yet , you are correct in that the counties advance Academic programs are described on the district web page under the title of Advanced Academic Programs. AAP, AP, IB , and Honors all fall under advanced academic programs..... There for this question is definitely in the wrong forum.

+1
It's ridiculous that this thread is in the AAP forum, when it's specifically referencing GPA. GPA doesn't even come into play until high school (with very few middle school classes counting toward it). So if we're talking about high school, Honors, AP, IB, etc. - these classes are open to everyone. "AAP" doesn't have anything to do with it.

AP, IB, honors, etc. are all part of Advanced Academic Programs. The "bump" for high school grade points is related to advanced academic programs. GPA in general is not.

Yes, but the point is that this question would get a lot more traffic if it was on the VA Schools forum, since all kids can take Honors, AP, and IB in high school. It's silly to put it on this forum when many more parents don't have kids in elem./middle school AAP, yet have plenty of kids who take advanced classes in high school - when GPA is even calculated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this in the AAP forum?

Honors, AP and IB classes are all AAP.

No, they're not. Honors, AP, and IB are open enrollment for any student interested. They are not part of elementary/middle AAP.

AAP= advanced academic curriculum and AP, IB and Honors are part of that definition. While this forum is primarily for FCPS AAP formal program, it is not exclusively for it.

No, specifically AAP= is in fact and specifically The Advanced Academic Program offered only in grades 3-8th. That is the title/name of the specific program and not an umbrella term referring to all advanced academic programs offered by Fairfax County. Yet , you are correct in that the counties advance Academic programs are described on the district web page under the title of Advanced Academic Programs. AAP, AP, IB , and Honors all fall under advanced academic programs..... There for this question is definitely in the wrong forum.

+1
It's ridiculous that this thread is in the AAP forum, when it's specifically referencing GPA. GPA doesn't even come into play until high school (with very few middle school classes counting toward it). So if we're talking about high school, Honors, AP, IB, etc. - these classes are open to everyone. "AAP" doesn't have anything to do with it.

AP, IB, honors, etc. are all part of Advanced Academic Programs. The "bump" for high school grade points is related to advanced academic programs. GPA in general is not.

Yes, but the point is that this question would get a lot more traffic if it was on the VA Schools forum, since all kids can take Honors, AP, and IB in high school. It's silly to put it on this forum when many more parents don't have kids in elem./middle school AAP, yet have plenty of kids who take advanced classes in high school - when GPA is even calculated.

Probably best to post on the Off Topic board as that one sems to have the most traffic.