DC New to MCPS- Honors Algebra II MidTerm Exam

[Anonymous]

Please help me understand. My DC will have an honors Algebra II exam on Wednesday- but teacher did not provide study guide. Teacher told kids didn't know what was on exam because it was written by the county.

This seems crazy.

[Anonymous]

My kid never had a study guide for any middle school class because the teacher said that they should have been paying attention during class. Frankly, that was the way school was when I was a kid, so it's what I've always told my own children. If your DC took notes and looks over the first half of the textbook that was covered, they'll do fine.

[Anonymous]

I have a child with special needs who is allowed study guides/notes on his IEP. In his MCPS middle school, every core teacher works with study guides. Thanks for pointing out that in high school he may want to be proactive and explain his needs to every teacher at the beginning of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid never had a study guide for any middle school class because the teacher said that they should have been paying attention during class. Frankly, that was the way school was when I was a kid, so it's what I've always told my own children. If your DC took notes and looks over the first half of the textbook that was covered, they'll do fine.

Tectbook!!?? LOLOLOLOLOL

Our MCPS HS student has had 1 textbook so far (History.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid never had a study guide for any middle school class because the teacher said that they should have been paying attention during class. Frankly, that was the way school was when I was a kid, so it's what I've always told my own children. If your DC took notes and looks over the first half of the textbook that was covered, they'll do fine.

Tectbook!!?? LOLOLOLOLOL

Our MCPS HS student has had 1 textbook so far (History.)

Yep, MCPS teaches algebra without books, urgh.

[Anonymous]

I was always troubled by the study guide. It was like a draft of the exam...don't bother with chapter 3...or any dates.

[Anonymous]

Interesting that my dd had the same (Algebra II county exam) last week. (I'd assume they'd schedule on the same week, county-wide.)

I think the idea is to ensure that teachers cover the relevant material so on this one exam, teachers can't write their own test.

You should have your dc study all of the material from this quarter -- the test will go all the way back to the beginning, which makes it difficult since they haven't seen that material in a few months.

My dd does very well in math, but this was her lowest grade this term. I think it's because she didn't study (since she has a high A and this couldn't compromise the grade). But I was surprised by her low score considering her strength in math, even if she didn't study. (So have your dc study!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that my dd had the same (Algebra II county exam) last week. (I'd assume they'd schedule on the same week, county-wide.)

I think the idea is to ensure that teachers cover the relevant material so on this one exam, teachers can't write their own test.

You should have your dc study all of the material from this quarter -- the test will go all the way back to the beginning, which makes it difficult since they haven't seen that material in a few months.

My dd does very well in math, but this was her lowest grade this term. I think it's because she didn't study (since she has a high A and this couldn't compromise the grade). But I was surprised by her low score considering her strength in math, even if she didn't study. (So have your dc study!)

I wouldn't be so quick to say it was your daughter's fault. My middle school kid took a county math exam last semester and it was also his lowest score (also high A and does very well in math). The teacher told the kids that she didn't know what was on the test and it was a computer version. We asked to see my son's test in person and was surprised by how poorly the exam was written. My husband, a statistician, pointed out numerous mistakes in the wording of the questions and poorly applied math concepts. I wouldn't be surprised if the Alg II test was also a problem.

[Anonymous]

Another thing you should know, OP, is that on the county tests, there are no re-takes.

[Anonymous]

When I went to school, there were no study guides. Every teacher said the same thing. "Whatever we have covered since the beginning of the year is fair game." I wish my DS didn't get study guides because it is limiting.

[Anonymous]

My DC had a quarterly test last week from the county. Tomorrow is a midterm exam. Don’t see how PPs kids wouldn’t be impacted by midterm as between the quarterly and midterm it impacts my daughter’s grade by 20 percent.

[Anonymous]

My DC has an Honors Algebra II exam tomorrow as well and was provided a study guide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC had a quarterly test last week from the county. Tomorrow is a midterm exam. Don’t see how PPs kids wouldn’t be impacted by midterm as between the quarterly and midterm it impacts my daughter’s grade by 20 percent.

There is no midterm exam the last week of the semester. It sounds like your child has a unit test. These can still be written by the county.

Per MCPS policy, no one test can have more than a 10% impact on the quarterly grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that my dd had the same (Algebra II county exam) last week. (I'd assume they'd schedule on the same week, county-wide.)

I think the idea is to ensure that teachers cover the relevant material so on this one exam, teachers can't write their own test.

You should have your dc study all of the material from this quarter -- the test will go all the way back to the beginning, which makes it difficult since they haven't seen that material in a few months.

My dd does very well in math, but this was her lowest grade this term. I think it's because she didn't study (since she has a high A and this couldn't compromise the grade). But I was surprised by her low score considering her strength in math, even if she didn't study. (So have your dc study!)

I wouldn't be so quick to say it was your daughter's fault. My middle school kid took a county math exam last semester and it was also his lowest score (also high A and does very well in math). The teacher told the kids that she didn't know what was on the test and it was a computer version. We asked to see my son's test in person and was surprised by how poorly the exam was written. My husband, a statistician, pointed out numerous mistakes in the wording of the questions and poorly applied math concepts. I wouldn't be surprised if the Alg II test was also a problem.

My daughter took the Precalc mid term recently and she also reported that the had trouble with the questions because she didn't understand what they were asking...they were unclear. And, she is an A student, too, and did not do well on this test. This seems to be a wider spread problem than just Honors Alg 2 with poorly written tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC had a quarterly test last week from the county. Tomorrow is a midterm exam. Don’t see how PPs kids wouldn’t be impacted by midterm as between the quarterly and midterm it impacts my daughter’s grade by 20 percent.

I suppose that the grade technically could have been impacted, but I think she said she could get a 50% on the test and still get an A in the course. So I short-handed.