APEX writing prompt: what kind of question?

[Anonymous]

Just wondering if anyone on here knows. Walter Johnson high school has a test-in AP program called APEX, and part of the test is an essay with a prompt.
What kind of question did your child have? How much of a developed essay are they looking for?
And yes, I will ask the APEX organizers too, but I also wanted feedback from students or their parents.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

My DC is a current APEX student, junior year. The test is highly competitive, recently the number of slots increased from 50-55 to 80ish. The essay topic is given at the time of testing. As per my understanding the student is evaluated for how much analytical thinking and technical information is applied while writing the essay. This plus grades and recommendations are considered for selection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is a current APEX student, junior year. The test is highly competitive, recently the number of slots increased from 50-55 to 80ish. The essay topic is given at the time of testing. As per my understanding the student is evaluated for how much analytical thinking and technical information is applied while writing the essay. This plus grades and recommendations are considered for selection.

OP here. Thanks.
So, it's an essay on a real-life topic where you have to take and defend a position, and draw on your own knowledge?
As opposed to, say, a narrative?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is a current APEX student, junior year. The test is highly competitive, recently the number of slots increased from 50-55 to 80ish. The essay topic is given at the time of testing. As per my understanding the student is evaluated for how much analytical thinking and technical information is applied while writing the essay. This plus grades and recommendations are considered for selection.

OP here. Thanks.
So, it's an essay on a real-life topic where you have to take and defend a position, and draw on your own knowledge?
As opposed to, say, a narrative?

Kind of right, for example, the essay could be to analyze the speech of a leader- say e. g. Martin Luther King’s Speech or some noble laureate’s speech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is a current APEX student, junior year. The test is highly competitive, recently the number of slots increased from 50-55 to 80ish. The essay topic is given at the time of testing. As per my understanding the student is evaluated for how much analytical thinking and technical information is applied while writing the essay. This plus grades and recommendations are considered for selection.

OP here. Thanks.
So, it's an essay on a real-life topic where you have to take and defend a position, and draw on your own knowledge?
As opposed to, say, a narrative?

Kind of right, for example, the essay could be to analyze the speech of a leader- say e. g. Martin Luther King’s Speech or some noble laureate’s speech.

So, from what I understand from last night and from what PP has said, the student will need to read something and then provide analysis that shows critical thinking and links back to the text. The student will not need to bring in other content-based knowledge, but will need to know how to critically analyze a piece of writing and support their analysis with reference to the text. If they fail to provide concrete examples from text, that will ding them. If they fail to "go deep" with their analysis, that will ding them. If their writing mechanics and structure (i.e. no thesis sentence, writing is stream of consciousness) are awful, that will ding them (though I doubt small grammar and spelling errors will ding too much given the timed nature of the exam).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is a current APEX student, junior year. The test is highly competitive, recently the number of slots increased from 50-55 to 80ish. The essay topic is given at the time of testing. As per my understanding the student is evaluated for how much analytical thinking and technical information is applied while writing the essay. This plus grades and recommendations are considered for selection.

Wow that is a huge increase - more than 50% increase

[Anonymous]

Have you seen the enrollment numbers and projections at WJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen the enrollment numbers and projections at WJ?

I just looked up the enrollment numbers.
Senior class size 535 and APEX program has 55 students
Freshman class size 708 and the APEX program has 87 students

[Anonymous]

Projection was even higher when they announced the increase in APEX slots -- a bunch of kids went to private school (in part because of overcrowding)