If your junior had a significant improvement in grade this year...

[Anonymous]

I think the op touched a nerve in someone who is 100% hoping for elite admissions without test scores.

[Anonymous]

Test Optional means optional. For those of you who are having trouble with the concept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any evidence that there are lots of kids who “significantly” improved their grades because of virtual learning?

Also, this class had half of their 6 semesters virtual. Hard to know whether they would have improved anyway. And agree that test scores should be submitted.

I have a friend who made it her full time job to do her junior’s homework and tests. No joke. This kid has straight As and didn’t do a thing.

In my daughter’s experience, a lot of friends were cheating by using facetime and texting during tests. One friend got caught cheating on tests, submitting the same paper as a friend twice, etc and still got an A. The regular level classes made it very easy to cheat because they give standard multiple choice tests, but in the IB classes, every test given is an essay test and there is really no way to cheat, so grades were pretty normal.

yep. I know a lot (a half dozen plus?) parents who checked and corrected every.single.one of their high schoolers assignments this year (and/or did many of them outright).

How can you be friends with people like this. I am serious. Their values seem SO messed up.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s clear someone is trying their best to discredit kids who were virtual this year. The insecurity is so pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any evidence that there are lots of kids who “significantly” improved their grades because of virtual learning?

Also, this class had half of their 6 semesters virtual. Hard to know whether they would have improved anyway. And agree that test scores should be submitted.

I have a friend who made it her full time job to do her junior’s homework and tests. No joke. This kid has straight As and didn’t do a thing.

In my daughter’s experience, a lot of friends were cheating by using facetime and texting during tests. One friend got caught cheating on tests, submitting the same paper as a friend twice, etc and still got an A. The regular level classes made it very easy to cheat because they give standard multiple choice tests, but in the IB classes, every test given is an essay test and there is really no way to cheat, so grades were pretty normal.

yep. I know a lot (a half dozen plus?) parents who checked and corrected every.single.one of their high schoolers assignments this year (and/or did many of them outright).

How can you be friends with people like this. I am serious. Their values seem SO messed up.

Pp here. I use the term friend loosely. Neighbor who talks too much might be more accurate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s clear someone is trying their best to discredit kids who were virtual this year. The insecurity is so pathetic.

feeling guilty?

[Anonymous]

Don't colleges just look at overall GPA? I don't think they have time to weed through every detail from 9th on...
I believe every school has a minimum GPA and if you have it you have a chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test Optional means optional. For those of you who are having trouble with the concept.

Get real. 2020 was one thing. Kids legit could not get tests. For 2021, test optional means that schools can admit athletes, URM, First Gen, etc without their SAT scores counting against the school’s average. Not only is it optional for those kids, but if it isn’t strong, the school would prefer you not send it, so it doesn’t end up in the schools average. 3.9UW URM from rural Kansas? You are test optional.

Test optional is not optional for UMC white and Asian kids from the DMV. They expected to post stellar scores. And if they don’t, there are other kids with a similar profile to your kid who did. These are the scores schools rely on to have impressive looking SAT/ACT averages.


Everyone bring something to the table that impacts the bottom line. A URM first Gen brings diversity to the schools admit number. UMC white and Asian kids from the DamV bring string scores and the ability to be full pay or close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test Optional means optional. For those of you who are having trouble with the concept.

Like the WM interview and supplemental essay are “optional” for UMC kids from NOVA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't colleges just look at overall GPA? I don't think they have time to weed through every detail from 9th on...
I believe every school has a minimum GPA and if you have it you have a chance.

You believe wrong. And the transcript lays it out by subject:

Math:
A1: A
Geometry: B
A2: A
pre-Calc: A
Calc AB: in progress

Etc.

It also calculates GPA by year. And most school use a special formula to recalculate. Some front add 9th grade grades at all, some don’t include PE and fine arts, some bump for HN and AP, some do not, some county the number of APs and the number of subjects APs were taken in... almost all look for upward trend, with junior grades (and Semester 1 senior for RD) being the most important)

Read Who Gets in and Why by Jeffery Selingo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't colleges just look at overall GPA? I don't think they have time to weed through every detail from 9th on...
I believe every school has a minimum GPA and if you have it you have a chance.

Not at all. The courses taken and grades received are very important.
A kid with 10 APs and a 4.0uw and a kid with regular classes and as many electives as possible and a 4.0uw are not going to end up at the same schools, even if they have the same test score.
This is why you see so many people on here whining that their straight A student was rejected from Virginia Tech and they just don’t know why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test Optional means optional. For those of you who are having trouble with the concept.

Test optional does not mean test blind.

Test optional means send it if you want us to consider it. Test blind means even if you send it, we won’t consider it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't colleges just look at overall GPA? I don't think they have time to weed through every detail from 9th on...
I believe every school has a minimum GPA and if you have it you have a chance.

You believe wrong. And the transcript lays it out by subject:

Math:
A1: A
Geometry: B
A2: A
pre-Calc: A
Calc AB: in progress

Etc.

It also calculates GPA by year. And most school use a special formula to recalculate. Some front add 9th grade grades at all, some don’t include PE and fine arts, some bump for HN and AP, some do not, some county the number of APs and the number of subjects APs were taken in... almost all look for upward trend, with junior grades (and Semester 1 senior for RD) being the most important)

Read Who Gets in and Why by Jeffery Selingo.

I appreciate this. It was hopeful thinking on my part! DD - AA with upward trend. 9th grade a disaster and 10th & 11th great. 9th grade lowered her GPA to 3.3 and without 9th grade GPA is something like 3.6 (failed one class a foreign language and now she has a A in it after her third year). DC private school and almost pulled her out after 9th grade. Will take SAT in the fall but did well on PSAT (I think freshman year she took it).

[Anonymous]

Everyone bring something to the table that impacts the bottom line. A URM first Gen brings diversity to the schools admit number. UMC white and Asian kids from the DamV bring string scores and the ability to be full pay or close.

Do you even see your assumptions and bias in this statement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any evidence that there are lots of kids who “significantly” improved their grades because of virtual learning?

Also, this class had half of their 6 semesters virtual. Hard to know whether they would have improved anyway. And agree that test scores should be submitted.

I have a friend who made it her full time job to do her junior’s homework and tests. No joke. This kid has straight As and didn’t do a thing.

In my daughter’s experience, a lot of friends were cheating by using facetime and texting during tests. One friend got caught cheating on tests, submitting the same paper as a friend twice, etc and still got an A. The regular level classes made it very easy to cheat because they give standard multiple choice tests, but in the IB classes, every test given is an essay test and there is really no way to cheat, so grades were pretty normal.

Your “friend” sounds like an outlier. My kid has been working her butt off all year in virtual classes. She has a mix of grades and earned every one of them, including the As.

Really sick of this insinuation that kids with As must have cheated. Perhaps yours did. That’s all you need to worry about.

PP - I don't ever get the sense that people are insinuating that everyone with A's cheated at all. And I say this as a parent of a HS student who gets A's and works hard - both in person and virtual.

But I do think it's true (based on my DC's comments) that there has been more cheating in virtual world and sadly, more parent involvement. I think teachers have tried to adjust their tests to try to minimize cheating or parental involvement but there's only so much you can do.

This person noted above who did her junior's work all year is so off charts bad (and nuts?!). How must that make her child feel about themselves? And what is it teaching this child in terms of life lessons? What's important the work? the learning? the grade? It's just really over the top, bad parenting. But I suspect this same parent may have been involved pre-COVID to do things like heavily edit papers and/or feed paper ideas (or even write papers?) for her child.

Let's face it some parents are heavily involved in their child's school work, while other kids do it all on their own and never even show their parents.

My kid sees it happen, but just keeps their head down and doesn't worry about the others. You can only control how you live your own life in these situations.