Pass/Fail courses during the school year - TJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't colleges want to see kids excelling at foreign languages?

What if they do P/F for Spanish 1, 2 and 3; For AP spanish they do for grade and get an A.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't colleges want to see kids excelling at foreign languages?

What if they do P/F for Spanish 1, 2 and 3; For AP spanish they do for grade and get an A.

I wouldn't view them as favorably as someone who got all As in those four classes. I think P/F for PE or band is fine. While language is treated as an elective, is really viewed as a required academic class by colleges.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, the students I know who switch to pass/fail are because they are trying to avoid Ds on their transcript. I have no idea how it is viewed by college admissions or if any do this to boost GPAs.

[Anonymous]

College do not like to see P/F on transcript except maybe for PE according to a friend working in admission. If you have an A, it's just better to show a letter grade and maybe take a decrease in GPA. Admission officers know all these tricks to make Gpa look better

[Anonymous]

If my child is not good athletically, would it be better for him to take PE Pass/Fail? How difficult is it to get an A in PE in high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If my child is not good athletically, would it be better for him to take PE Pass/Fail? How difficult is it to get an A in PE in high school?

No matter how good he is, it's best to take it pass/fail as long as you expect a W GPA above 4

[Anonymous]

An AO mentioned that P/F does not look good ever.

Either

1) You are a student at the very top of your HS and taking P/F looks like you are trying to game the system and it seems that you are more interested in grades and less in learning for its own sake.

or

2) You are getting a poor grade or weak in that subject and want to avoid that by taking it P/F.

So it looks bad either way to top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An AO mentioned that P/F does not look good ever.

Either

1) You are a student at the very top of your HS and taking P/F looks like you are trying to game the system and it seems that you are more interested in grades and less in learning for its own sake.

or

2) You are getting a poor grade or weak in that subject and want to avoid that by taking it P/F.

So it looks bad either way to top schools.

Even if it’s just PE??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An AO mentioned that P/F does not look good ever.

Either

1) You are a student at the very top of your HS and taking P/F looks like you are trying to game the system and it seems that you are more interested in grades and less in learning for its own sake.

or

2) You are getting a poor grade or weak in that subject and want to avoid that by taking it P/F.

So it looks bad either way to top schools.

Even if it’s just PE??

PE especially looks like all you care about is GPA. Which is true, right?

[Anonymous]

It’s not just GPA.

The number of classes you can take per year and fulfill certain criteria (say for instance band and you want to take X number of APs) makes it impossible to also take gym during the school year so you take gym over the summer.

So you take it pass/fail to avoid any kind of issues over the summer.

We did EPF this past summer PF and plan on doing gym over the summer next year. It’s not GPA- DC wants to take a certain set of courses that make it impossible to do otherwise.

I will say gaming the system is a thing. But I also think colleges are smart enough to see through it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my child is not good athletically, would it be better for him to take PE Pass/Fail? How difficult is it to get an A in PE in high school?

No matter how good he is, it's best to take it pass/fail as long as you expect a W GPA above 4

I don't think that's true at most highly selective colleges.
I think they are a bit more sophisticated than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An AO mentioned that P/F does not look good ever.

Either

1) You are a student at the very top of your HS and taking P/F looks like you are trying to game the system and it seems that you are more interested in grades and less in learning for its own sake.

or

2) You are getting a poor grade or weak in that subject and want to avoid that by taking it P/F.

So it looks bad either way to top schools.

Even if it’s just PE??

PE especially looks like all you care about is GPA. Which is true, right?

Well he makes straight As in all other classes and we don’t want to risk not getting an A in PE - so in that sense, yes. We wouldn’t want anything less than an A in PE. And he’s not athletic.

[Anonymous]

P/F in PE seems fine and no I can’t fathom colleges caring about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:P/F in PE seems fine and no I can’t fathom colleges caring about that.

I also cannot fathom not getting an A in PE. You don't have to be athletic, you just have to do the stuff. I guess if you skip class every day, you might not get an A in PE. But is your all-A kid going to do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:P/F in PE seems fine and no I can’t fathom colleges caring about that.

I also cannot fathom not getting an A in PE. You don't have to be athletic, you just have to do the stuff. I guess if you skip class every day, you might not get an A in PE. But is your all-A kid going to do that?

Getting an A in PE is usually about attitude not ability.