Bad News for Test Prep Parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Touche

it's true; you need both. But it can just as easily go the other way, low SAT and good grades won't get you there either.

More nonsense, I know 3 published students with good grades and low SAT scores who went to Harvard. If they were not published (unique) they probably would not have gotten in -- even with good grades and high SATs. Many applicants are nothing special therefore you had better have high GPAs and high SATs scores if you want to clear the 5% cut. Even then, it's a crap shoot.

I understand why you may wish to counsel other childern not to prepare for the SAT but for God's sake don't give your own children that advice.

how low were the SATs and when was this?

[Anonymous]

over last 15 years

500 to 600 range

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The bottom line is that the scores of these AAP identification tests are affected when kids have been practicing with materials that replicate past tests. Some people know this and have decided to make some money off this fact. The more they can convince young parents that:
a: a child's intelligence is dependent on how many of this business's worksheets the child does and,
b: that there is no good education available in FCPS except in AAP and,
c: the best way to get a child into AAP is to use our services/products,
the more money they will make.

They do not want the school to know that kids have been prepped, because they know that the scores would then be taken less seriously. It would certainly be bad for business for the schools to know which second graders have been doing practice questions from old tests at camps or classes or clubs or just at home with a parent. Even the idea that teachers might be asking kids at school if they have seen questions like these before could be bad for business. Parents may hesitate to buy into test prep programs or materials if they hear that the schools might not use test results from kids who say they have seen questions like this before.

Most of these businesses sell other types of tutoring and test prep so they will not lose their shirts if FCPS were to stop using these tests or drop the AAP.
But it would eat into their profits to a certain extent.

This post get to the crux of the thread topic.

This post is most likely the reason for the anti-FCPS screeds. Some people just do not like it when other people disagree with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I know several people with good grades and low SATs at NOVA. So we can go around and around on this all day

Yes, we are well aware these 3 people are part of your household.

ooh. ouch. No my AAP kid is still too young but to avoid this sad fate I tell DC to take the standardized tests seriously and prep if you have to to get the scores up into respectable territory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:over last 15 years

500 to 600 range

more war stories from 15 years ago. As I suspected.

[Anonymous]

A seasoned college interviewer one can pick out true gems (future movers and shakers) without looking at transcripts or SAT scores! In these cases, teh numbers don't matter

Unfortunately, God doesn't hand this trait out like candy for self esteem reasons so students had better take care of what they have control over.

[Anonymous]

Important lessons emanate from war stories (historical precedent)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The 12 year-old is well en route with 700 on Math for the Duke TIP talent search (you will surprised to learn that there are well over 1000 twelve year-olds capable of this (no sweat) looking at the yearly performances on the various talent searches around the country (CTY, NMATS etc)

This doesn't surprise me at all. We are still getting tons of advertising at my house from CTY because of my own child's scores at that age. The math part is the easiest to prep for and it is not wildly unusual for middle school kids to get high scores.

Especially when the middle schoolers are taking Algebra I or geometry. This puts them right in the midst of the subjects the math sections cover.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely, with middle school students breathing down their necks (I know a few elemetary school students with 700 in SAT math) why would 11th and 12th graders blow off the SAT when applying to selective colleges and universities.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely, with middle school students breathing down their necks (I know a few elemetary school students with 700 in SAT math) why would 11th and 12th graders blow off the SAT when applying to selective colleges and universities.

And for some of these high school students (in BC Calculus, AP Statistics and Discrete Math) 3 or 4 years removed from prealgebra, algebra and geometry it may be important to go back and review and refresh middle school math!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The Washington Post article above (21:32) is about a young man with a 2270 SAT score who did not get accepted at JMU. Unfortunately, he had a 3.4 GPA. Even considering that this happened back before FCPS had changed its grading policies, a high SAT score just can not make up for a lower GPA.

it's true; you need both. But it can just as easily go the other way, low SAT and good grades won't get you there either.

Lots of schools make the SAT or ACT optional. If you went to a high school (as opposed to homeschooling), you need to send in your transcript. It is not optional. A transcript that shows great grades in a highly challenging curriculum is what colleges see as the most important aspect of an application.

[Anonymous]

Lots of schools make the SAT or ACT optional. If you went to a high school (as opposed to homeschooling), you need to send in your transcript. It is not optional. A transcript that shows great grades in a highly challenging curriculum is what colleges see as the most important aspect of an application.

Optional means optional and not necessarily preferred. However taking the option for certain schools yields extra credit for high fliers ... and possibly demerits for low performance!

Most high performers who know they can hit this ball out of the park will use the option and hit it out of the park. If a home run is not in the making they will not send in the scores!

Rational behavior.

[Anonymous]

What was meant by "published" ?

[Anonymous]

11/1/2013 at 8:50 a.m the term "published" was used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The Washington Post article above (21:32) is about a young man with a 2270 SAT score who did not get accepted at JMU. Unfortunately, he had a 3.4 GPA. Even considering that this happened back before FCPS had changed its grading policies, a high SAT score just can not make up for a lower GPA.

it's true; you need both. But it can just as easily go the other way, low SAT and good grades won't get you there either.

Lots of schools make the SAT or ACT optional. If you went to a high school (as opposed to homeschooling), you need to send in your transcript. It is not optional. A transcript that shows great grades in a highly challenging curriculum is what colleges see as the most important aspect of an application.

I have looked at a list of these schools. They are not impressive. All of the good ones still require it. Maybe (hopefully) they will drop it, but that appears to be aways off in the future. BTW, the ACT is regarded as a fairer test. These are needed to give a more complete picture than grades, since some schools hand those out like candy and are not always demanding enough to predict success in college.