GDS just dropped AP testing

[Anonymous]

Not only to kids have to find other places to take the AP exams - since they are during the school day - it will also be harder for them to keep up with the classes they are missing.

I suspect in the past that GDS (like our school) gave juniors off the mornings of the AP English and AP History exams. Other students missed class for different AP exam, but at least they were physically at school so they could attend morning classes and take an afternoon exam (or vice versa). It was also the case that teachers would help students out in telling them what they might need to supplement to coursework to be prepared for AP exam. I suspect GDS teachers will be less willing to do this moving forward.

This is a bad move for GDS. I hope they change it (we are not at GDS currently - it makes me want to remove them from consideration for my MS children)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not only to kids have to find other places to take the AP exams - since they are during the school day - it will also be harder for them to keep up with the classes they are missing.

I suspect in the past that GDS (like our school) gave juniors off the mornings of the AP English and AP History exams. Other students missed class for different AP exam, but at least they were physically at school so they could attend morning classes and take an afternoon exam (or vice versa). It was also the case that teachers would help students out in telling them what they might need to supplement to coursework to be prepared for AP exam. I suspect GDS teachers will be less willing to do this moving forward.

This is a bad move for GDS. I hope they change it (we are not at GDS currently - it makes me want to remove them from consideration for my MS children)

You say your kids aren’t at GDS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They had dropped the AP courses a few years ago (collusion case successfully brought by DOJ as a result of this as we all remember).

Now GDS just announced that they are dropping AP testing

"Over the last year, our team has been in conversation with dozens of college admissions offices from small liberal arts colleges to large flagship state institutions. In each of these conversations, we have confirmed what we shared with families when GDS moved away from AP courses: For college admissions, there is no advantage to taking AP tests if you attend a high school that does not offer that coursework."

Is this statement true? How about the increasing # of kids who have been applying and matriculating at UK/Ireland/Canadian schools? How about schools like NYU that actually take AP testing in lieu of SAT/ACT (optional of course).

Something about this decision sits wrong with me...they are making it even harder for the subset of students who dont want to go to SLACs.

Also what about the college credit that some schools - esp. state flagships still offer for AP tests 4+

How's that for GDS equity mission?

Did they replace the AP classes/curriculum with something else?

I know that schools abroad weigh heavily in the Honors/AP camps and don't really care about US school created curriculums that replace AP offerings. Ask me how I know.

[Anonymous]

I’m curious about the other schools that dropped APs. Do they (Sidwell, Maret, etc) still offer the AP exam at the school? Or is what is happening at GDS happening at all the independents that dropped APs (students have to take the exam elsewhere)?

[Anonymous]

I believe all the other schools still offer the tests on site. So did GDS until this year (and the change was disclosed right before school started).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not only to kids have to find other places to take the AP exams - since they are during the school day - it will also be harder for them to keep up with the classes they are missing.

I suspect in the past that GDS (like our school) gave juniors off the mornings of the AP English and AP History exams. Other students missed class for different AP exam, but at least they were physically at school so they could attend morning classes and take an afternoon exam (or vice versa). It was also the case that teachers would help students out in telling them what they might need to supplement to coursework to be prepared for AP exam. I suspect GDS teachers will be less willing to do this moving forward.

This is a bad move for GDS. I hope they change it (we are not at GDS currently - it makes me want to remove them from consideration for my MS children)

You say your kids aren’t at GDS?

Yes - mine are at a different school that has the tests on campus - so I know how VERY inconvenient it would be to have to take these tests outside of school. I can't say for sure whether GDS let Juniors out of class during English/History AP - or whether they helped fill in the AP gaps with respect to the course vs test...so those are speculation. It's a bad move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious about the other schools that dropped APs. Do they (Sidwell, Maret, etc) still offer the AP exam at the school? Or is what is happening at GDS happening at all the independents that dropped APs (students have to take the exam elsewhere)?

My children attend Sidwell, and they sent out the AP exam registration email a few days ago. As far as I can tell, Sidwell offers all of the AP exams.

[Anonymous]

If you are a GDS parent and your kid wants to sit for an AP test in May, time is running out. High schools need to submit to college board by November 15 to order the tests. This is the crunch time. moco publics have already put in their order.

Call the college office ant Gds now and insist they help you find a high school that can accommodate your child. Be pushy and insistent. Call the head of the high school or head of school if this gets you nowhere.

I know a parent who did this and reluctantly got a name of a public school in Moco who took non student county residents. It took arm twisting, pushing, everything. Not the way you want to be talking to the person who has to write a letter for your kid in a year or two.

It’s a freakin cluster and entirely created by Emily who runs that college office. There is no sane reason for them to drop testing. My kid tells me several of the veteran teachers are complaining about it too.

I think 20 percent of GDS kids applied to a non US college last year and around 5 are overseas now from last years senior class.

All / most of those schools require APs. The UK schools require 3-5 AP tests and you really don’t want to take these senior year. So this is really impacting 10th and 11th graders and some parents aren’t even aware yet.

Even putting aside course credit and advancing past 101 classes as freshman, this decision harms a much bigger portion of the gds applicant pool than they are admitting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are a GDS parent and your kid wants to sit for an AP test in May, time is running out. High schools need to submit to college board by November 15 to order the tests. This is the crunch time. moco publics have already put in their order.

Call the college office ant Gds now and insist they help you find a high school that can accommodate your child. Be pushy and insistent. Call the head of the high school or head of school if this gets you nowhere.

I know a parent who did this and reluctantly got a name of a public school in Moco who took non student county residents. It took arm twisting, pushing, everything. Not the way you want to be talking to the person who has to write a letter for your kid in a year or two.

It’s a freakin cluster and entirely created by Emily who runs that college office. There is no sane reason for them to drop testing. My kid tells me several of the veteran teachers are complaining about it too.

I think 20 percent of GDS kids applied to a non US college last year and around 5 are overseas now from last years senior class.

All / most of those schools require APs. The UK schools require 3-5 AP tests and you really don’t want to take these senior year. So this is really impacting 10th and 11th graders and some parents aren’t even aware yet.

Even putting aside course credit and advancing past 101 classes as freshman, this decision harms a much bigger portion of the gds applicant pool than they are admitting.

And don’t forget the students on a budget for college. Getting course credit via AP tests can be a big help with tuition.

That’s if there are students at your school who are concerned with being able to afford college. Does GDS not care about these students? Or do they not need to because such students don’t exist at GDS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They had dropped the AP courses a few years ago (collusion case successfully brought by DOJ as a result of this as we all remember).

Now GDS just announced that they are dropping AP testing

"Over the last year, our team has been in conversation with dozens of college admissions offices from small liberal arts colleges to large flagship state institutions. In each of these conversations, we have confirmed what we shared with families when GDS moved away from AP courses: For college admissions, there is no advantage to taking AP tests if you attend a high school that does not offer that coursework."

Is this statement true? How about the increasing # of kids who have been applying and matriculating at UK/Ireland/Canadian schools? How about schools like NYU that actually take AP testing in lieu of SAT/ACT (optional of course).

Something about this decision sits wrong with me...they are making it even harder for the subset of students who dont want to go to SLACs.

Also what about the college credit that some schools - esp. state flagships still offer for AP tests 4+

How's that for GDS equity mission?

Did they replace the AP classes/curriculum with something else?

I know that schools abroad weigh heavily in the Honors/AP camps and don't really care about US school created curriculums that replace AP offerings. Ask me how I know.

Yes, they replaced them with designated "upper level" classes. There's no grade weighting (there never was) but for schools that care about "most rigorous curriculum" there are clearly marked classes that are above others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are a GDS parent and your kid wants to sit for an AP test in May, time is running out. High schools need to submit to college board by November 15 to order the tests. This is the crunch time. moco publics have already put in their order.

Call the college office ant Gds now and insist they help you find a high school that can accommodate your child. Be pushy and insistent. Call the head of the high school or head of school if this gets you nowhere.

I know a parent who did this and reluctantly got a name of a public school in Moco who took non student county residents. It took arm twisting, pushing, everything. Not the way you want to be talking to the person who has to write a letter for your kid in a year or two.

It’s a freakin cluster and entirely created by Emily who runs that college office. There is no sane reason for them to drop testing. My kid tells me several of the veteran teachers are complaining about it too.

I think 20 percent of GDS kids applied to a non US college last year and around 5 are overseas now from last years senior class.

All / most of those schools require APs. The UK schools require 3-5 AP tests and you really don’t want to take these senior year. So this is really impacting 10th and 11th graders and some parents aren’t even aware yet.

Even putting aside course credit and advancing past 101 classes as freshman, this decision harms a much bigger portion of the gds applicant pool than they are admitting.

It’s worth adding that some UK universities accept college level classes instead of APs. However, for example, if they require a 5 in a specific subject like physics, they say the equivalent would be an A+. I don’t know about GDS but it sounds like some private schools never or rarely give an A+.

[Anonymous]

It’s worth adding that some UK universities accept college level classes instead of APs. However, for example, if they require a 5 in a specific subject like physics, they say the equivalent would be an A+. I don’t know about GDS but it sounds like some private schools never or rarely give an A+.

My older kids at GDS who got 5s on all their exams never got an A+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They had dropped the AP courses a few years ago (collusion case successfully brought by DOJ as a result of this as we all remember).

Now GDS just announced that they are dropping AP testing

"Over the last year, our team has been in conversation with dozens of college admissions offices from small liberal arts colleges to large flagship state institutions. In each of these conversations, we have confirmed what we shared with families when GDS moved away from AP courses: For college admissions, there is no advantage to taking AP tests if you attend a high school that does not offer that coursework."

Is this statement true? How about the increasing # of kids who have been applying and matriculating at UK/Ireland/Canadian schools? How about schools like NYU that actually take AP testing in lieu of SAT/ACT (optional of course).

Something about this decision sits wrong with me...they are making it even harder for the subset of students who dont want to go to SLACs.

Also what about the college credit that some schools - esp. state flagships still offer for AP tests 4+

How's that for GDS equity mission?

Did they replace the AP classes/curriculum with something else?

I know that schools abroad weigh heavily in the Honors/AP camps and don't really care about US school created curriculums that replace AP offerings. Ask me how I know.

It’s replaced with more gds mission-related units.

[Anonymous]

Anyone else wondering why it makes sense to invest in an education at GDS?

AP courses and testing are the norm and expected.

Can anyone explain why this is okay? Why continue to pay for this when better options exist?

Or has the world gone mad and test scores and measurable achievement no longer matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else wondering why it makes sense to invest in an education at GDS?

AP courses and testing are the norm and expected.

Can anyone explain why this is okay? Why continue to pay for this when better options exist?

Or has the world gone mad and test scores and measurable achievement no longer matter?

We are an international family and word has certainly spread within our community of people who work at the international organisations not to bother with GDS if looking at international universities. I’m sure that won’t bother the school as they have plenty of other applicants.