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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

dp.. our DC tells us. DC shares with us those details. They actually like talking to us about college. I feel sorry for parents whose kids don't talk to them.

[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.

+2 - I have a freshman at a T5 school and it turns out, this is true. Don't sweat it.

[Anonymous]

Well I hope college admissions know which high schools have these retesting and extra credit policies and which ones do not!
My kid has never been allowed any extra credit (let alone a retest) even when they have babes a test!

[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.

+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.

+2 - I have a freshman at a T5 school and it turns out, this is true. Don't sweat it.

It all depends on the school, some schools like Harvard and Stanford have grade inflation and you can drop the course at the very last minute and a B is a minimum. Some schools are much tougher and there is less extra credit available. Also, it is different for STEM versus non STEM majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

dp.. our DC tells us. DC shares with us those details. They actually like talking to us about college. I feel sorry for parents whose kids don't talk to them.

Seriously. I'll never understand the DCUM posters who criticize parents who know anything about their teen's lives. I mean, what do you talk to your kids' about? The weather?
I honestly think these comments are made out of jealousy.

[Anonymous]

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

Also the curve is crazy.

It will be fine.

I would not assume this is the case. At all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP. I know because my kid voluntarily talks to me about how he’s doing. He wants to share his excitement when he’s doing well, and talk through his concern when something didn’t go as well as he’d hoped. When something didn’t turn out great, he’ll say something like, “but it’s ok because I have a 98 average otherwise” or “but I can drop one quiz grade” or “quizzes are only 20% of my grade” etc. I occasionally offer “maybe you should talk to your prof” level advice but my main role is to listen. I’d be sad if he didn’t want to talk to me at all about how he was doing.

[Anonymous]

These poor kids in public school are getting screwed with these testing policies. Feeling so fortunate we chose private. My first kid breezed through his elite college. Was very prepared. Second one still in HS is working her butt off with no second chances and I am certain she will also do well. Hoping for pre med for her.

[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.

Sure. And you live with the C your errors result in.

[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.

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

Like I said, I would never allow it. My children are in private.

[Anonymous]

I was concerned about my son’s grades/study habits in college because he didn’t always put a 100% into HS studying. First semester he has 4 As and a B+ so far (so he says anyway). Didn’t really get retakes in HS from what I recall. When they get to college, sometimes it really “clicks” and they begin to take full ownership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These poor kids in public school are getting screwed with these testing policies. Feeling so fortunate we chose private. My first kid breezed through his elite college. Was very prepared. Second one still in HS is working her butt off with no second chances and I am certain she will also do well. Hoping for pre med for her.

Hey, my public school kids are doing just fine in college — thank you for your concern!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These poor kids in public school are getting screwed with these testing policies. Feeling so fortunate we chose private. My first kid breezed through his elite college. Was very prepared. Second one still in HS is working her butt off with no second chances and I am certain she will also do well. Hoping for pre med for her.

Hey, my public school kids are doing just fine in college — thank you for your concern!

+100. Same here

[Anonymous]

The re-test culture is not preparing students for college. But, not all students do re-takes. So, those students have figured out how to prepare for tests and assignments adequately the first time. The students with time management issues and study problems in high school will have to figure that out in college. Yes, students are on probation in college. Yes, students struggle in college. Yes, students fail. Each individual has to figure this out for themselves. Some freshman sink their first year and then swim out of their hole the next three years. The re-test, extra credit culture is not common in college at all. —college professor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I hope college admissions know which high schools have these retesting and extra credit policies and which ones do not!
My kid has never been allowed any extra credit (let alone a retest) even when they have babes a test!

Kids are assessed in the context of their own high school.