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

[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!

My kid’s public school (not in DMV) doesn’t allow retesting either. Extra credit is a teacher-by-teacher basis, but AP teachers will generally not allow it. Gen Ed teachers may. I actually don’t think colleges know this granular level of detail about schools. They can see what percent of students have the highest GPA on the School Profile, and that’s where tougher schools stand out.

[Anonymous]

The only re-test I have seen or heard of in college was when i was in grad school and every student in the class failed the mid-term. The prof re-taught the material and gave a re-test. It was the only B (final grade) i ever got in grad school.

[Anonymous]

I’m in awe of this idea of retest. how does it work? Do they take the average of the two tests? How many times can you retest?

[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.

Not PP but is it normal your kids don't talk to you? I find out lots of detail through texts or phone calls about what DS is working on (retest or extra credit) or how DS's classes are going. Sometimes we talk about nothing bit sometimes we talk about school. Sorry your kid doesn't talk you you.

[Anonymous]

My kid had retest in HS and always took advantage. Some HS classes did not allow retest at all. Some only allowed retest if you scored below 80 and you could only get up to 80 (she only scored below 80 once and she retested). Some classes you could could retest and they'd take highest score. She always took advantage even if she got a 98. She wanted the best grade possible.

She's at UPenn now. Just like in HS, some classes allow redo of assignments and some don't. There are no retest that she has had access to but some classes allow extra credit and some drop lowest grade. Most her classes have a curve. Like anything, kids adapt to the circumstances. If there is no retake so be it. If there was, she'd do it.

[Anonymous]

OP be happy that your child got a solid education instead of abandoning material they scored poorly on the first time. It gives them a foundation or college success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m in awe of this idea of retest. how does it work? Do they take the average of the two tests? How many times can you retest?

If you make below an 80 on a test, you get to retake the test once — but the most you can get on the retake is an 80. The intention is to encourage students to learn the material they missed, because the point of school is to learn — this is particularly important in classes like math, where content builds on previous content. Not all students will opt to do the retake. I, for one, think this is a good idea. Most kids who need to do retakes aren’t going to be competing against those kids with 5.45 GPAs. Many kids make the transition to college very well, so the idea that retakes are ruining our kids is false, IMO — for my kids, they entered college with a really good foundation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My senior is generally a good student, but definitely takes advantage of APS's re-test policy. I've warned him several times that in college that isn't going to be possible. Your first test grade is your grade. For those who have kids in college now, how was the transition? Did they adjust quickly to the new expectations, or was it a real struggle?

It wasn’t a big deal. I told them the same thing so they were prepared.

Mine really turned it up with the studying.