GDS just dropped AP testing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot understand what college applications are based on any more. How will they compare without relying heavily on essays and CVs?

Bribes to the school and teachers. SSP they rec your kid and exaggerate on their write ups

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to prove that a 3.65 at GDS is equivalent to an unweighted 3.98 at a public school, have the kids prove it. Take the AP exams.

That’s what many students have been doing. The school just made it even harder for them.

A lot do families with only one kid or who were new to the school, and believe the “let the student plan and advocate everything,” don’t even know what’s going on at the school. They just trust and believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS charges for the exams. It’s a passthrough expense, so they don’t make money. But these tests are given on school days and are proctored by teachers, who don’t mind a breather in lesson planning and grading.

IOW, it’s a win or a wash. So why get rid of the tests?

The tests aren't proctored by teachers. They bring in people to proctor them so teachers don't have to miss class. It's the wrong decision to stop offering the tests, but this has nothing to do with it and is inaccurate.

Maybe the neighborhood AMC or whatever won’t let the AP proctors park or on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS seems to be interested in maintaining its equity first, woke reputation at all costs. It’s shocking to me that parents pay to have their children indoctrinated there.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wording is key.

It’s true, there is no negative effect if a school does not have any AP classes to offer. The problem here is that is meant for schools in poorer districts that cannot afford to have AP programs and teachers got those classes or where there is very little interest by the majority of the student body.

A ‘top’ private, that charges $$$$, and has a mostly wealthy and privileged clientele that decides no more APs or AP exams is a red flag that’s obviously trying to game the system and rely solely on reputation. They know their students can’t compete with the public school kids in this area.

yep. Jackson Reed (DCPS) is next door and kids start cranking out APs in 10th grade there. Top kids will take 15+ but their pass rate (scores of 3+) on most is in the teens. My neighbor's kid was in 2 APs last year that didn't have teachers for 6+ months. So the kids just all got As for doing nothing (they couldn't grade them as there were no teachers to give any assignments).

The JR pass rate is actually around 58%. Not saying that is anything amazing, but why make up s**t.

Uh, no it's not.
Please find me the source for that 58%.
You're the one making s%^t up.

I guess you are such a dumbf**k you can't use google. You are actually correct...the pass rate is 63%. See the link: https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/ap-score-data-sets

What is actually surprising is that DCPS as a WHOLE has a pass rate of 43% which is heavily skewed by Walls and JR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS seems to be interested in maintaining its equity first, woke reputation at all costs. It’s shocking to me that parents pay to have their children indoctrinated there.

+1000

But how does this policy play into this? Seriously asking. My other question with GDS is every time their new policies come up on this board, parents are really mad. Why is there such a disconnect between the school’s choices and what the parents want? I can’t make sense of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, what GDS is saying is something that I’ve always known to be true and the college admissions counselors have said over and over again is true but that DCUM simply refuses to accept: AP scores don’t matter for college admissions. They just don’t. They only matter for college credit. What’s important to college admissions officials at the top colleges is that you generally take the toughest courses available to you in high school, and in public schools and many privates those courses are AP. But it’s the courses that count, not the scores on the AP exams. After all, most students take more AP courses their senior year than any other year, and colleges won’t even see the AP exam scores into after they have already made their admissions decisions.

Every time I see a “chance my kid” post here where somebody talks about their kid having all 5s I roll my eyes for this reason. They just don’t get it.

I think it’s safe to assume that a school as prestigious and successful in college admissions as GDS knows better about what is important to college admissions than the likes of you.

NYU at least will accept 3 AP scores in lieu of SATs or ACTs

https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/how-to-apply/standardized-tests.html

BC uses them in admission

https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/admission/apply/test-optional.html

Same with CWU

https://case.edu/admission/apply/requirements-enhancements

and Dartmouth

https://admissions.dartmouth.edu/glossary-question/2028-applicants-what-does-test-optional-class-2028-mean

Duke make be most explicit
"We value those scores when available as demonstrations of subject mastery to complement your academic transcripts. You should self-report these scores in your application."
https://admissions.duke.edu/faqs/

Rice is similar to Duke

https://admission.rice.edu/apply/first-year-domestic-applicants

Hopkins wants them

https://apply.jhu.edu/how-to-apply/application-deadlines-requirements/standardized-testing/

Swarthmore warns that they can help or hurt
"AP, IB, and other examination scores are optional in our process. Please think carefully on whether you want to share these results with us in your application. You will not have the option to suppress AP, IB, and other examination scores, so if you submit them, we may use them in our review process."
https://www.swarthmore.edu/admissions-aid/standardized-testing-policy

So while PP is correct that some schools don't use them, plenty do

I’m not gonna look at all of these links, but I did look at one - BC’s - and it recommends AP scores only for home-schooled applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wording is key.

It’s true, there is no negative effect if a school does not have any AP classes to offer. The problem here is that is meant for schools in poorer districts that cannot afford to have AP programs and teachers got those classes or where there is very little interest by the majority of the student body.

A ‘top’ private, that charges $$$$, and has a mostly wealthy and privileged clientele that decides no more APs or AP exams is a red flag that’s obviously trying to game the system and rely solely on reputation. They know their students can’t compete with the public school kids in this area.

yep. Jackson Reed (DCPS) is next door and kids start cranking out APs in 10th grade there. Top kids will take 15+ but their pass rate (scores of 3+) on most is in the teens. My neighbor's kid was in 2 APs last year that didn't have teachers for 6+ months. So the kids just all got As for doing nothing (they couldn't grade them as there were no teachers to give any assignments).

The JR pass rate is actually around 58%. Not saying that is anything amazing, but why make up s**t.

Uh, no it's not.
Please find me the source for that 58%.
You're the one making s%^t up.

I guess you are such a dumbf**k you can't use google. You are actually correct...the pass rate is 63%. See the link: https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/ap-score-data-sets

What is actually surprising is that DCPS as a WHOLE has a pass rate of 43% which is heavily skewed by Walls and JR.

No you are the MORON of all morons.
Read your own table.

63% is the percentage of STUDENTS WITH AT LEAST ONE SCORE OF 3+.

Quite a bit different that a passing rate of 63%.

Dumb F%&k indeed. You must be a product of Jackson Reed.

[Anonymous]

I guess we are grateful for being waitlisted by GDS for 9th grade admission, then .... DC is planning on applying to UK and potentially European universities so AP scores will be important. Fortunately they are at a local private that offers a (somewhat limited) number of AP classes as well as administers the tests -- they will be taking two as a junior, and planning on another two as a senior.

[Anonymous]

I have zero sympathy for anyone who voluntarily spends tens of thousands of dollars a year to send their kids to elite and exclusive private schools with the full understanding that those schools don’t offer AP classes - then whine when the school doesn’t offer to proctor AP exams either. Why would they? Why should they? They make clear that their curriculum doesn’t include APs. Like with any other school, if you want something that yours doesn’t offer, you go somewhere else to get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wording is key.

It’s true, there is no negative effect if a school does not have any AP classes to offer. The problem here is that is meant for schools in poorer districts that cannot afford to have AP programs and teachers got those classes or where there is very little interest by the majority of the student body.

A ‘top’ private, that charges $$$$, and has a mostly wealthy and privileged clientele that decides no more APs or AP exams is a red flag that’s obviously trying to game the system and rely solely on reputation. They know their students can’t compete with the public school kids in this area.

yep. Jackson Reed (DCPS) is next door and kids start cranking out APs in 10th grade there. Top kids will take 15+ but their pass rate (scores of 3+) on most is in the teens. My neighbor's kid was in 2 APs last year that didn't have teachers for 6+ months. So the kids just all got As for doing nothing (they couldn't grade them as there were no teachers to give any assignments).

The JR pass rate is actually around 58%. Not saying that is anything amazing, but why make up s**t.

Uh, no it's not.
Please find me the source for that 58%.
You're the one making s%^t up.

I guess you are such a dumbf**k you can't use google. You are actually correct...the pass rate is 63%. See the link: https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/ap-score-data-sets

What is actually surprising is that DCPS as a WHOLE has a pass rate of 43% which is heavily skewed by Walls and JR.

No you are the MORON of all morons.
Read your own table.

63% is the percentage of STUDENTS WITH AT LEAST ONE SCORE OF 3+.

Quite a bit different that a passing rate of 63%.

Dumb F%&k indeed. You must be a product of Jackson Reed.

Look at the passing rates for each test and look at the numbers. There is not 1 AP test in the entirety of DCPS that has only a 17% pass rate. The lowest is chinese language at 31%. The overall pass rate on all tests is 45%.

So, where is any data to back-up your baseless claim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS seems to be interested in maintaining its equity first, woke reputation at all costs. It’s shocking to me that parents pay to have their children indoctrinated there.

+1000

But how does this policy play into this? Seriously asking. My other question with GDS is every time their new policies come up on this board, parents are really mad. Why is there such a disconnect between the school’s choices and what the parents want? I can’t make sense of this.

Exactly. Parents need to be complying and advocating to the school. Complaining here doesn't help. You know this is what the school is like when you choose it.

[Anonymous]

This is was not known at all when current students applied. The school continued to offer the exams even after stopping the courses. (And before that, it offered AP English exams even though AP English was never taught). This is the first year they aren’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is was not known at all when current students applied. The school continued to offer the exams even after stopping the courses. (And before that, it offered AP English exams even though AP English was never taught). This is the first year they aren’t.

Oh well. They’ll live. The kids aren’t exactly underprivileged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Strange. I was told with inflated GPAs these days Kids scoring 5s are looked at preferentially.

I was also told by AOs abs college counselor that part of a HS rigor is the profile of AP scores from the college board.

I am college counselor for 15 years and couldn’t agree more. GDS parents please take steps to do this on your own if school won’t.