Middle school hs credits?

[Anonymous]

My DC is going to hs with 5 classes, 2 As, 2 Bs, and 1 B+. Should I drop one or both Bs to bring up his gpa? The Bs are in geometry and world geography. As are in algebra and language, with B+ in language as well. He should have had 4 As, but we had to take out of school to travel for one week because of family emergency. He simple couldn't bridge the gap is such short turn around time. The school sent the letter home asking for a decision..

[Anonymous]

My opinion -- I would drop both Bs as neither of those courses are expected when starting out in high school. Retake Geometry and World Geography as a freshman (at honors level for the .5 bump?).

[Anonymous]

He gets credit for geometry even if it's not on his transcript, right? I don't see why you'd have him retake unless his teacher recommends it. Colleges will see that he's taken calculus in 11th grade (that's what he's on track for, anyway); I don't see why they'd worry about what happened in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Are you so confident that he will never get anything less than a B in high school? Those grades could end up helping his GPA.

[Anonymous]

Interesting question. My DC's counselor told us story about a kid whose parents turned down an A in MS Algebra as they figured it would pull down his GPA from all the AP he would take in HS. Supposedly, the kid flamed out in college. The same DC got a B+ in intensified Algebra in the 8th grade and we accepted the credit. He's a very smart kid, but Math is not really his thing and we figured it was only one grade.

With that many B's, I'm not sure I'd accept all of them. You may actually want to talk to a HS counselor and see what their thoughts are. I think most colleges, at least the ones that get a lot of applications from this area, are familiar enough with the typical course progression to realize there must have been a performance issue in 8th grade when they see those classes missing from a transcript. I'd probably want think long and hard bout the Math track he's on due to the B in Geometry. Missing 1 week of school doesn't seem like the only reason to get a B for the year if it's the appropriate class. What's the end game AP Calc BC as a Junior? Why? I've seen a number of my DC's friends that were on that track slow it down in their sophomore or junior years and take AP CalC AB their Senior years in spite of taking Geometry in the 8th grade. (These are kids interested in studying Computer Science or Engineering at top schools who realized that the Math ultra fast track wasn't necessarily the best option.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is going to hs with 5 classes, 2 As, 2 Bs, and 1 B+. Should I drop one or both Bs to bring up his gpa? The Bs are in geometry and world geography. As are in algebra and language, with B+ in language as well. He should have had 4 As, but we had to take out of school to travel for one week because of family emergency. He simple couldn't bridge the gap is such short turn around time. The school sent the letter home asking for a decision..

how is this possible? What district are you in?

The only HS level classes in FCPS are Foreign Lang. I, Algebra, and Geometry. That makes three credits. There are a few -- very few--- who take Alg. in 6th grade and then would have Alg. 2 during MS... but those would be kids who get A's typically.

So what classes are these? Five HS credits coming out of MS is very unusual.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP but in Arlington, you can have easily have 2 years of foreign language (7th and 8th), 2 years of math if you do Algebra in 7th and Geometry in 8th (not that common, but Algebra in 8th is very common) and World Geography in 8th which is standard and a HS social sciences credit. I think there are also a couple of Computer Science classes (definitely Robotics and possibly Coding) that can be taken in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP but in Arlington, you can have easily have 2 years of foreign language (7th and 8th), 2 years of math if you do Algebra in 7th and Geometry in 8th (not that common, but Algebra in 8th is very common) and World Geography in 8th which is standard and a HS social sciences credit. I think there are also a couple of Computer Science classes (definitely Robotics and possibly Coding) that can be taken in 8th grade.

+1. My son just finished 8th in Arlington and has 5 HS credits. A mix of As and Bs. We kept all the grades. Given his past performance I expect a mix of As and Bs in rigorous courses will be what he ends up with in HS anyway.

[Anonymous]

They have on track to take AP calculus in 10th grade. Geometry was by far the hardest of the maths for him. He is very partial to algebra. Supposedly, he took an assessment that put him at the 12 grade level. Even though he got a B for geometry, she marked him as surpassing expectations. One simester he got an A in it. He missed a test and a quizze when we were a way for a week and the teacher would let him make it up. Test and quizzes are 75% of total grAdes. The other B and B+ could have easily been As. They are not for justifiable reasons. They are classes that are part of the immersion curriculum and they were Bs are actually quite good from where he started when he first got into the program. It was expected.


Based on his background, his counselor is confident that he will be fine with the future schedule, which include 7 APs by the end of 11th grade. I ask him if he was ok with it he said yes. I spoke to his pediatrician about it, she said he is already very intense don't feel we have to go through it - she predicted that he would do very well at school when he was 4. With all that being said, I just need to figure out if I should drop the world geography B and the geometry B and keep the two As and B+..

[Anonymous]

Given all of that, I'd probably keep them all as he'll have more than enough AP to make up for them and still have over a 4.0. I would think that colleges would know that he had to have taken those classes in MS and wonder why they weren't on the transcript. Absent a grade and a credit showing up, they could assume something worse than a B. It's kind of crazy that 12 - 13 year olds have to be worried about their grades for college already. But, it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have on track to take AP calculus in 10th grade. Geometry was by far the hardest of the maths for him. He is very partial to algebra. Supposedly, he took an assessment that put him at the 12 grade level. Even though he got a B for geometry, she marked him as surpassing expectations. One simester he got an A in it. He missed a test and a quizze when we were a way for a week and the teacher would let him make it up. Test and quizzes are 75% of total grAdes. The other B and B+ could have easily been As. They are not for justifiable reasons. They are classes that are part of the immersion curriculum and they were Bs are actually quite good from where he started when he first got into the program. It was expected.


Based on his background, his counselor is confident that he will be fine with the future schedule, which include 7 APs by the end of 11th grade. I ask him if he was ok with it he said yes. I spoke to his pediatrician about it, she said he is already very intense don't feel we have to go through it - she predicted that he would do very well at school when he was 4. With all that being said, I just need to figure out if I should drop the world geography B and the geometry B and keep the two As and B+..

I have a feeling you're going to do what you're going to do, and the only advice you'll listen to is the stuff telling you to push for more, faster.

That means his 8th grade grades are the least of his problems.

[Anonymous]

Has grade inflation gotten so crazy that a B is something to be concerned about?

30 years ago when I graduated HS, (yes, I know I'm old), a B was considered respectable. What's happened?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has grade inflation gotten so crazy that a B is something to be concerned about?

30 years ago when I graduated HS, (yes, I know I'm old), a B was considered respectable. What's happened?

IKR? I'm grateful colleges didn't judge me on my grades in junior high. Sheesh.

[Anonymous]

I know! Let kids be kids. The pressure they face these days is terrible.

If my kids don't get into TJ or an Ivy, so be it. I'm looking to raise decent, kind, responsible kids. I want them to have decent jobs doing something they love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He gets credit for geometry even if it's not on his transcript, right? I don't see why you'd have him retake unless his teacher recommends it. Colleges will see that he's taken calculus in 11th grade (that's what he's on track for, anyway); I don't see why they'd worry about what happened in 8th grade.

Stands to reason they'd care more about calc in 11th than a misstep in 8th.

If you are in Arlington, there's no hurry. For all you know, your kid will want those credits one day. You might not be able to get rid of all of them because you might need the SOL.