TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone seen the SOL trend for TJHSST for Geometery, Algebra 2, and Biology for the Pass Advanced category? Oh I forgot, only the unproctored and unverified TJHSST essay/SIS can identify in-nate talents

More likely than giving a protored exam where some students had access to the questions in advance...

To be fair, the process for picking finalists from the semifinalist pool was holistic and did not overly rely on the test scores. Kids got in who had excellent grades, excellent essays, stellar teacher recommendations, and long lists of achievements. They had a fairly comprehensive process that did find the top talents in the area. Kids who merely had high test scores and did not have a profile consistent with those test scores weren't generally admitted.

The biggest flaw with the tests was that they were gatekeepers for landing in the semifinalist pool. Thanks to prep and the Quant Q issues, the correct kids didn't necessarily land in the semifinalist pool.

Suggesting that unproctored essays have any merit whatsoever in finding talent makes you look pretty insane. It also shows just how ignorant you are of the way the old process worked. It was flat out not possible for a kid to buy TJ admissions, even if they were given all of the test answers. It was only possible to buy semifinalist status, and then the kid wouldn't get picked from there since the kid wouldn't have the recommendations, grades, and achievements consistent with a 99th percentile kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone seen the SOL trend for TJHSST for Geometery, Algebra 2, and Biology for the Pass Advanced category? Oh I forgot, only the unproctored and unverified TJHSST essay/SIS can identify in-nate talents

More likely than giving a protored exam where some students had access to the questions in advance...

To be fair, the process for picking finalists from the semifinalist pool was holistic and did not overly rely on the test scores. Kids got in who had excellent grades, excellent essays, stellar teacher recommendations, and long lists of achievements. They had a fairly comprehensive process that did find the top talents in the area. Kids who merely had high test scores and did not have a profile consistent with those test scores weren't generally admitted.

The biggest flaw with the tests was that they were gatekeepers for landing in the semifinalist pool. Thanks to prep and the Quant Q issues, the correct kids didn't necessarily land in the semifinalist pool.

Suggesting that unproctored essays have any merit whatsoever in finding talent makes you look pretty insane. It also shows just how ignorant you are of the way the old process worked. It was flat out not possible for a kid to buy TJ admissions, even if they were given all of the test answers. It was only possible to buy semifinalist status, and then the kid wouldn't get picked from there since the kid wouldn't have the recommendations, grades, and achievements consistent with a 99th percentile kid.

Oh no, you misunderstood. I don't think unproctored essays have value. They're as worthless as a test that some wealthy students can buy access to in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone seen the SOL trend for TJHSST for Geometery, Algebra 2, and Biology for the Pass Advanced category? Oh I forgot, only the unproctored and unverified TJHSST essay/SIS can identify in-nate talents

More likely than giving a protored exam where some students had access to the questions in advance...

To be fair, the process for picking finalists from the semifinalist pool was holistic and did not overly rely on the test scores. Kids got in who had excellent grades, excellent essays, stellar teacher recommendations, and long lists of achievements. They had a fairly comprehensive process that did find the top talents in the area. Kids who merely had high test scores and did not have a profile consistent with those test scores weren't generally admitted.

The biggest flaw with the tests was that they were gatekeepers for landing in the semifinalist pool. Thanks to prep and the Quant Q issues, the correct kids didn't necessarily land in the semifinalist pool.

Suggesting that unproctored essays have any merit whatsoever in finding talent makes you look pretty insane. It also shows just how ignorant you are of the way the old process worked. It was flat out not possible for a kid to buy TJ admissions, even if they were given all of the test answers. It was only possible to buy semifinalist status, and then the kid wouldn't get picked from there since the kid wouldn't have the recommendations, grades, and achievements consistent with a 99th percentile kid.

DP. When you look at the deltas between the average exam scores of the semifinalists and the average exam scores of the admitted students in those years where the Quant-Q was administered, it strains credibility to assert that the exam scores weren't a huge factor. And indeed, the biggest delta was on the Quant-Q.

I don't think it's a great thing that the admissions office shared that data publicly during their information sessions, but they did. Remember, semifinalist status was achieved pretty much entirely through meeting bare minimums on the respective exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise the Algebra requirement to Geometry and you have the best, commonly available measure.

Not enough minorities are taking geometry by 8th grade. Taking that would require doing well on a 5th grade test, and you can't be deciding high school admissions in 5th grade.

Where do you get this info that not enough minorities take Geometry? Is this just your assumption or do you have an actual source.

This was the argument given for LCPS when they changed Academies of Loudoun admissions and dropped the geometry requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise the Algebra requirement to Geometry and you have the best, commonly available measure.

Not enough minorities are taking geometry by 8th grade. Taking that would require doing well on a 5th grade test, and you can't be deciding high school admissions in 5th grade.

The IAAT is in 6th, not 5th. And there are fewer Hispanic and Black students in AAP and Advanced Math, which decreases the number of Hispanic and Black students that might be able to take Geometry in 8th.

You get tracked based on results in 5th grade, for prealgebra. There appears to be some room to advance to a higher track.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

And the questions for the test were selected by students (NOTE: They did not have to "buy" the test. It was free)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

And the questions for the test were selected by students (NOTE: They did not have to "buy" the test. It was free)

I read that many students who took the admission test claim they had seen the same questions previously at a prep center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

And the questions for the test were selected by students (NOTE: They did not have to "buy" the test. It was free)

I read that many students who took the admission test claim they had seen the same questions previously at a prep center.

TJ students confirmed this back in August of 2020.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

And the questions for the test were selected by students (NOTE: They did not have to "buy" the test. It was free)

I read that many students who took the admission test claim they had seen the same questions previously at a prep center.

TJ students confirmed this back in August of 2020.

The admission changes may be imperfect but at least they put an end to that nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

And the questions for the test were selected by students (NOTE: They did not have to "buy" the test. It was free)

I read that many students who took the admission test claim they had seen the same questions previously at a prep center.

TJ students confirmed this back in August of 2020.

The admission changes may be imperfect but at least they put an end to that nonsense.

Yep. Curie will still get tons of kids into TJ because they have the market cornered on Indian families in Western Fairfax and Loudoun, and because Indian families are disproportionately interested in TJ. But at least they won’t be getting in because of artificially inflated scores that bump others out of the admissions process entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

And the questions for the test were selected by students (NOTE: They did not have to "buy" the test. It was free)

I read that many students who took the admission test claim they had seen the same questions previously at a prep center.

TJ students confirmed this back in August of 2020.

The admission changes may be imperfect but at least they put an end to that nonsense.

Yep. Curie will still get tons of kids into TJ because they have the market cornered on Indian families in Western Fairfax and Loudoun, and because Indian families are disproportionately interested in TJ. But at least they won’t be getting in because of artificially inflated scores that bump others out of the admissions process entirely.

Anything short of a strict lottery can be gamed.

And if there is in fact a way to game a lottery, I’m certain the prep companies will quickly identify it just as they did with the “ reforms”. See free meals bump, unproctured essays and renting to switch middle schools for 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

And the questions for the test were selected by students (NOTE: They did not have to "buy" the test. It was free)

I read that many students who took the admission test claim they had seen the same questions previously at a prep center.

TJ students confirmed this back in August of 2020.

The admission changes may be imperfect but at least they put an end to that nonsense.

Yep. Curie will still get tons of kids into TJ because they have the market cornered on Indian families in Western Fairfax and Loudoun, and because Indian families are disproportionately interested in TJ. But at least they won’t be getting in because of artificially inflated scores that bump others out of the admissions process entirely.

Anything short of a strict lottery can be gamed.

And if there is in fact a way to game a lottery, I’m certain the prep companies will quickly identify it just as they did with the “ reforms”. See free meals bump, unproctured essays and renting to switch middle schools for 8th grade.

What would be great is if the Admissions Office could just be allowed to do its job free from a rubric or a publicly accessible "points system". Making TJ Admissions as difficult to game as elite college admissions would be acceptable for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone seen the SOL trend for TJHSST for Geometery, Algebra 2, and Biology for the Pass Advanced category? Oh I forgot, only the unproctored and unverified TJHSST essay/SIS can identify in-nate talents

More likely than giving a protored exam where some students had access to the questions in advance...

To be fair, the process for picking finalists from the semifinalist pool was holistic and did not overly rely on the test scores. Kids got in who had excellent grades, excellent essays, stellar teacher recommendations, and long lists of achievements. They had a fairly comprehensive process that did find the top talents in the area. Kids who merely had high test scores and did not have a profile consistent with those test scores weren't generally admitted.

The biggest flaw with the tests was that they were gatekeepers for landing in the semifinalist pool. Thanks to prep and the Quant Q issues, the correct kids didn't necessarily land in the semifinalist pool.

Suggesting that unproctored essays have any merit whatsoever in finding talent makes you look pretty insane. It also shows just how ignorant you are of the way the old process worked. It was flat out not possible for a kid to buy TJ admissions, even if they were given all of the test answers. It was only possible to buy semifinalist status, and then the kid wouldn't get picked from there since the kid wouldn't have the recommendations, grades, and achievements consistent with a 99th percentile kid.

Oh no, you misunderstood. I don't think unproctored essays have value. They're as worthless as a test that some wealthy students can buy access to in advance.

#fakenews

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps people want to blame COVID, but students did not do well in Math 4, to the point that the teachers sent a letter to the kids complaining about it. They were doing poorly despite an easier test, and not showing up for tutoring in 8th block.

And the questions for the test were selected by students (NOTE: They did not have to "buy" the test. It was free)

I read that many students who took the admission test claim they had seen the same questions previously at a prep center.

TJ students confirmed this back in August of 2020.

The admission changes may be imperfect but at least they put an end to that nonsense.

Yep. Curie will still get tons of kids into TJ because they have the market cornered on Indian families in Western Fairfax and Loudoun, and because Indian families are disproportionately interested in TJ. But at least they won’t be getting in because of artificially inflated scores that bump others out of the admissions process entirely.

Anything short of a strict lottery can be gamed.

And if there is in fact a way to game a lottery, I’m certain the prep companies will quickly identify it just as they did with the “ reforms”. See free meals bump, unproctured essays and renting to switch middle schools for 8th grade.

What would be great is if the Admissions Office could just be allowed to do its job free from a rubric or a publicly accessible "points system". Making TJ Admissions as difficult to game as elite college admissions would be acceptable for me.

A really hard standardized exam would be a good idea.