This should be an eye opener !!

[Anonymous]

^^^and now I see that this thread is 5 years old.

[Anonymous]

The exams for the class of 2015 were made very easy for whatever reason. The result was a lot of eligible kids werent selected and majority of those who got selected needed remedial classes or returned back to base schools.

[Anonymous]

They were trying to increase URM admissions, so reduced the emphasis on math during the intake, and attempted to "include a wide variety of factors, such as race, ethnicity, gender, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), geography, poverty, prior school and cultural experiences, and other unique skills and experiences.”.

As a result of this, TJ rejected over one-quarter of the applicants with scores in the top five percent on the AMC 8, a highly competitive national math exam, and rejected more than 100 of the 376 applicants with scores of 47 or higher on the math portion of the admissions test, which has a maximum score of 50.

There was a hue and cry over this, and they then course-corrected back to emphasizing math.

[Anonymous]

Can someone email TJ and ask if they are going to update the TJ class of 2024 admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As a result of this, TJ rejected over one-quarter of the applicants with scores in the top five percent on the AMC 8, a highly competitive national math exam,.

Sorry, but this isn't that special. Fairfax County has 4th and 5th graders who make it on the top 5% honor roll on AMC 8. Doing so as a 7th or 8th grader is a rather pedestrian achievement suggesting that the kid doesn't need anything beyond the local high school. Most of the FCPS kids who make the top 5% honor roll do so because they're privileged kids who attend a strong middle school with a strong math coaching program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As a result of this, TJ rejected over one-quarter of the applicants with scores in the top five percent on the AMC 8, a highly competitive national math exam,.

Sorry, but this isn't that special. Fairfax County has 4th and 5th graders who make it on the top 5% honor roll on AMC 8. Doing so as a 7th or 8th grader is a rather pedestrian achievement suggesting that the kid doesn't need anything beyond the local high school. Most of the FCPS kids who make the top 5% honor roll do so because they're privileged kids who attend a strong middle school with a strong math coaching program.

Bull.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As a result of this, TJ rejected over one-quarter of the applicants with scores in the top five percent on the AMC 8, a highly competitive national math exam,.

Sorry, but this isn't that special. Fairfax County has 4th and 5th graders who make it on the top 5% honor roll on AMC 8. Doing so as a 7th or 8th grader is a rather pedestrian achievement suggesting that the kid doesn't need anything beyond the local high school. Most of the FCPS kids who make the top 5% honor roll do so because they're privileged kids who attend a strong middle school with a strong math coaching program.

Bull.

Just no. Longfellow has 56 kids listed on the honor roll + distinguished honor roll last year. Most of them are bright, privileged kids and not super geniuses. It's not a great travesty if 1/4 of them don't qualify for TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As a result of this, TJ rejected over one-quarter of the applicants with scores in the top five percent on the AMC 8, a highly competitive national math exam,.

Sorry, but this isn't that special. Fairfax County has 4th and 5th graders who make it on the top 5% honor roll on AMC 8. Doing so as a 7th or 8th grader is a rather pedestrian achievement suggesting that the kid doesn't need anything beyond the local high school. Most of the FCPS kids who make the top 5% honor roll do so because they're privileged kids who attend a strong middle school with a strong math coaching program.

Bull.

My AAP center had a 4th, 5th, and 6th grader scoring in the top five percent on AMC 8 last year. Not many elementary AAP centers even participate, but if they did, there would probably be at least 20 4th and 5th graders across FCPS who reach the top 5% honor roll. It's really not that big of a deal for an 8th grader, especially from Longfellow, Carson, or Rocky Run, to make the AMC honor roll. Any bright kid with good coaching should be able to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As a result of this, TJ rejected over one-quarter of the applicants with scores in the top five percent on the AMC 8, a highly competitive national math exam,.

Sorry, but this isn't that special. Fairfax County has 4th and 5th graders who make it on the top 5% honor roll on AMC 8. Doing so as a 7th or 8th grader is a rather pedestrian achievement suggesting that the kid doesn't need anything beyond the local high school. Most of the FCPS kids who make the top 5% honor roll do so because they're privileged kids who attend a strong middle school with a strong math coaching program.

Bull.

My AAP center had a 4th, 5th, and 6th grader scoring in the top five percent on AMC 8 last year. Not many elementary AAP centers even participate, but if they did, there would probably be at least 20 4th and 5th graders across FCPS who reach the top 5% honor roll. It's really not that big of a deal for an 8th grader, especially from Longfellow, Carson, or Rocky Run, to make the AMC honor roll. Any bright kid with good coaching should be able to do so.

Oh, you mean TJ rejected the top 5% of the AMC8 in favor of these kids who were so awesome at math that they needed extra tutoring just to keep up with their cohort? You don't seem to understand how to formulate an argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, you mean TJ rejected the top 5% of the AMC8 in favor of these kids who were so awesome at math that they needed extra tutoring just to keep up with their cohort? You don't seem to understand how to formulate an argument.

TJ didn't reject the top 5% of the AMC 8. They rejected 1/4 of the kids who landed within the top 5% of the AMC 8 and presumably accepted the other 3/4. That sounds about right to me. If every FCPS middle school offered Longfellow levels of coaching and the AMC 8 to all honors students, there would be more top 5% honor roll students than there are TJ slots. AMC 8 isn't nearly as big of a deal as AMC 10/AIME or Mathcounts. It certainly shouldn't be the end all and be all of TJ admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, you mean TJ rejected the top 5% of the AMC8 in favor of these kids who were so awesome at math that they needed extra tutoring just to keep up with their cohort? You don't seem to understand how to formulate an argument.

TJ didn't reject the top 5% of the AMC 8. They rejected 1/4 of the kids who landed within the top 5% of the AMC 8 and presumably accepted the other 3/4. That sounds about right to me. If every FCPS middle school offered Longfellow levels of coaching and the AMC 8 to all honors students, there would be more top 5% honor roll students than there are TJ slots. AMC 8 isn't nearly as big of a deal as AMC 10/AIME or Mathcounts. It certainly shouldn't be the end all and be all of TJ admissions.

Please read - "they rejected more than 100 of the 376 applicants with scores of 47 or higher on the math portion of the admissions test, which has a maximum score of 50. "

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, you mean TJ rejected the top 5% of the AMC8 in favor of these kids who were so awesome at math that they needed extra tutoring just to keep up with their cohort? You don't seem to understand how to formulate an argument.

TJ didn't reject the top 5% of the AMC 8. They rejected 1/4 of the kids who landed within the top 5% of the AMC 8 and presumably accepted the other 3/4. That sounds about right to me. If every FCPS middle school offered Longfellow levels of coaching and the AMC 8 to all honors students, there would be more top 5% honor roll students than there are TJ slots. AMC 8 isn't nearly as big of a deal as AMC 10/AIME or Mathcounts. It certainly shouldn't be the end all and be all of TJ admissions.

This is correct. The AMC 8 is not a difficult test; nothing compared to AMC 10, 12, and other high school contests. This is signified by the hundreds of students who obtain perfect scores (25/25) each year. Compare that with less than 10 or so obtaining perfect scores in the other above contests (some years almost nobody on AMC 12 or HMMT).

Top 5% on AMC 8 is usually around 17-19 questions out of 25. Certainly challenging for the average kid in AAP, but within reach of many kids if they practice on a math team, or on their own with all the available past exams.

For middle school Mathcounts *can* also be a more difficult contest, mainly due to the extremely limited time given. In particular, the state and national mathcounts rounds are a lot harder than the school and chapter levels; it's much harder on those levels to get perfect scores as compared to the AMC 8. This also explains why there are no prizes given at all for the AMC 8, nor is there any "next round" like there is for the high school versions in amc 10/12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, you mean TJ rejected the top 5% of the AMC8 in favor of these kids who were so awesome at math that they needed extra tutoring just to keep up with their cohort? You don't seem to understand how to formulate an argument.

TJ didn't reject the top 5% of the AMC 8. They rejected 1/4 of the kids who landed within the top 5% of the AMC 8 and presumably accepted the other 3/4. That sounds about right to me. If every FCPS middle school offered Longfellow levels of coaching and the AMC 8 to all honors students, there would be more top 5% honor roll students than there are TJ slots. AMC 8 isn't nearly as big of a deal as AMC 10/AIME or Mathcounts. It certainly shouldn't be the end all and be all of TJ admissions.

This is correct. The AMC 8 is not a difficult test; nothing compared to AMC 10, 12, and other high school contests. This is signified by the hundreds of students who obtain perfect scores (25/25) each year. Compare that with less than 10 or so obtaining perfect scores in the other above contests (some years almost nobody on AMC 12 or HMMT).

I'm guessing that PP's kid is one of the ones who barely squeaked onto the AMC 8 honor roll, and PP is desperately hoping that it will be some sort of golden ticket to TJ. Or PP's kid is one of the ones rejected from the AMC 8 honor roll. PP seems desperate to make the AMC 8 into an elite test. I know of a 9 year old who made AMC 8 honor roll last year. It doesn't seem that impressive for a 13-14 year old to do the same thing.

TJ might care somewhat about AMC 8 scores, but only if they're accompanied by high AMC 10 scores and good Mathcounts performance. An AMC 8 score in isolation is worth nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, you mean TJ rejected the top 5% of the AMC8 in favor of these kids who were so awesome at math that they needed extra tutoring just to keep up with their cohort? You don't seem to understand how to formulate an argument.

TJ didn't reject the top 5% of the AMC 8. They rejected 1/4 of the kids who landed within the top 5% of the AMC 8 and presumably accepted the other 3/4. That sounds about right to me. If every FCPS middle school offered Longfellow levels of coaching and the AMC 8 to all honors students, there would be more top 5% honor roll students than there are TJ slots. AMC 8 isn't nearly as big of a deal as AMC 10/AIME or Mathcounts. It certainly shouldn't be the end all and be all of TJ admissions.

This is correct. The AMC 8 is not a difficult test; nothing compared to AMC 10, 12, and other high school contests. This is signified by the hundreds of students who obtain perfect scores (25/25) each year. Compare that with less than 10 or so obtaining perfect scores in the other above contests (some years almost nobody on AMC 12 or HMMT).

I'm guessing that PP's kid is one of the ones who barely squeaked onto the AMC 8 honor roll, and PP is desperately hoping that it will be some sort of golden ticket to TJ. Or PP's kid is one of the ones rejected from the AMC 8 honor roll. PP seems desperate to make the AMC 8 into an elite test. I know of a 9 year old who made AMC 8 honor roll last year. It doesn't seem that impressive for a 13-14 year old to do the same thing.

TJ might care somewhat about AMC 8 scores, but only if they're accompanied by high AMC 10 scores and good Mathcounts performance. An AMC 8 score in isolation is worth nothing.

Please read - "they rejected more than 100 of the 376 applicants with scores of 47 or higher on the math portion of the admissions test, which has a maximum score of 50. " They rejected students who scored well on their math admissions test because they didn't meet some imaginary diversity criteria - it's obvious that some students in the resultant class would struggle with math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone email TJ and ask if they are going to update the TJ class of 2024 admissions?

CAN SOMEONE ANSWER PLEASEEEEEE!!!!!!!!