Applying to Walls from private middle school

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You will have to wait and see if the kids who passed on math acceleration get in. I suspect kids who did advanced math will on average do slightly better on recommendations, interviews, and ultimately admissions. Skipping the more advanced middle math path is likely to long-term hold most students back (no Algebra in 8th means no calculus before college).

It’s going to kill your SAT math score. I mean you’ll spend thousands just trying to teach your kid enough calculus for a so so score.

The SAT only goes up to Geometry and coordinate Geometry, so has algebra, arithmetic, probability, too. No calculus or trigonometry, unless it's drastically changed since I was a SAT (and GRE) tutor.

Accelerating too fast actually results in kids being too far out from Geometry and Algebra when they take the SAT (like a kid who take calc in 10th or even 11th), so they need to relearn that stuff before the SAT.

You’re right. It was recommended to me by multiple college counselors to ensure my kids were taking precalc by sophomore year.

But pushing my kid into a regular Math class at a mediocre school like Stuart Hobson - you won’t have been taught all of the concepts in time for the SAT. you’ll be taking algebra 2 as a senior.

It's absolutely essential for a college bound kid to take Algebra by 8th grade so they can take geometry and algebra 2 before their PSAT and SAT. I'm not sure if the specifics of the SH kids, but I would absolutely not recommend taking the "regular" math sequence if that doesn't result in algebra by 8th, even if that means they are getting As.

This is not true at all. The PSAT is designed to be taken by a student just starting Algebra 2.

But taking the weak track will make you take algebra 2 as a senior

No, it won’t. At every school I know of, the standard track takes Algebra I no later than 9th grade. In DCPS specifically, you cannot become a 10th grader without passing Algebra I: you will repeat 9th grade until you pass. 10th graders take Geometry and 11th graders take Algebra II.

This is correct. The alternative to the accelerated track isn't the "weak" track; it's the standard track, which culminates with Algebra II in 11th. But also, it's easy to catch up over the 7th or 8th grade summer even if you want to accelerate for 9th.

Alg I in 9th grade used to be standard track. It really isn’t anymore. Especially not if you want to go to a competitive college.

No college is looking at your middle school classes, so if you catch up before 9th grade, it's entirely irrelevant.

How does this even relate to the previous post? No one said colleges look at middle school transcripts. But they do look at HS ones. And competitive colleges do not want to see Algebra 1 in 9th grade. That is a slower track, not standard anymore.

The parents in question plan to have their kids catch up post-7th grade, because it no longer counts for Walls admission.

That is not really possible. You’d have to somehow double up on geometry and Algebra 2 which will kill your gpa unless you’re really good at math (which is still hard and if you’re good at math why would you do this to yourself?). It’s really a bad idea. I speak from experience.

How is it not possible?

Here’s the accelerated track:
7th grade: 8th grade math
8th grade: Alg I
9th grade: Geometry
10th grade: Alg II
11th grade: Precalc
12th grade: Calc

And here’s the save-your-GPA-and-catch-up track:
7th grade: 7th grade math
Summer: 8th grade math
8th grade: Alg I
9th grade: Geometry
10th grade: Alg II
11th grade: Precalc
12th grade: Calc

The catch-up track is 100% do-able.

Is summer 8th grade math available at every school? I don't think it's avaiable at the school my son attends or at least I've never heard anyone talk about it and was not offered as an option for us.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You will have to wait and see if the kids who passed on math acceleration get in. I suspect kids who did advanced math will on average do slightly better on recommendations, interviews, and ultimately admissions. Skipping the more advanced middle math path is likely to long-term hold most students back (no Algebra in 8th means no calculus before college).

It’s going to kill your SAT math score. I mean you’ll spend thousands just trying to teach your kid enough calculus for a so so score.

The SAT only goes up to Geometry and coordinate Geometry, so has algebra, arithmetic, probability, too. No calculus or trigonometry, unless it's drastically changed since I was a SAT (and GRE) tutor.

Accelerating too fast actually results in kids being too far out from Geometry and Algebra when they take the SAT (like a kid who take calc in 10th or even 11th), so they need to relearn that stuff before the SAT.

You’re right. It was recommended to me by multiple college counselors to ensure my kids were taking precalc by sophomore year.

But pushing my kid into a regular Math class at a mediocre school like Stuart Hobson - you won’t have been taught all of the concepts in time for the SAT. you’ll be taking algebra 2 as a senior.

It's absolutely essential for a college bound kid to take Algebra by 8th grade so they can take geometry and algebra 2 before their PSAT and SAT. I'm not sure if the specifics of the SH kids, but I would absolutely not recommend taking the "regular" math sequence if that doesn't result in algebra by 8th, even if that means they are getting As.

This is not true at all. The PSAT is designed to be taken by a student just starting Algebra 2.

But taking the weak track will make you take algebra 2 as a senior

No, it won’t. At every school I know of, the standard track takes Algebra I no later than 9th grade. In DCPS specifically, you cannot become a 10th grader without passing Algebra I: you will repeat 9th grade until you pass. 10th graders take Geometry and 11th graders take Algebra II.

This is correct. The alternative to the accelerated track isn't the "weak" track; it's the standard track, which culminates with Algebra II in 11th. But also, it's easy to catch up over the 7th or 8th grade summer even if you want to accelerate for 9th.

Alg I in 9th grade used to be standard track. It really isn’t anymore. Especially not if you want to go to a competitive college.

No college is looking at your middle school classes, so if you catch up before 9th grade, it's entirely irrelevant.

How does this even relate to the previous post? No one said colleges look at middle Aw school transcripts. But they do look at HS ones. And competitive colleges do not want to see Algebra 1 in 9th grade. That is a slower track, not standard anymore.

The parents in question plan to have their kids catch up post-7th grade, because it no longer counts for Walls admission.

That is not really possible. You’d have to somehow double up on geometry and Algebra 2 which will kill your gpa unless you’re really good at math (which is still hard and if you’re good at math why would you do this to yourself?). It’s really a bad idea. I speak from experience.

How is it not possible?

Here’s the accelerated track:
7th grade: 8th grade math
8th grade: Alg I
9th grade: Geometry
10th grade: Alg II
11th grade: Precalc
12th grade: Calc

And here’s the save-your-GPA-and-catch-up track:
7th grade: 7th grade math
Summer: 8th grade math
8th grade: Alg I
9th grade: Geometry
10th grade: Alg II
11th grade: Precalc
12th grade: Calc

The catch-up track is 100% do-able.

Your accelerated track is the norm now, especially at a school like Walls. Accelerated is calculus by junior year.

Sure, accelerated is the norm in some places. It’s still accelerated. And kids who follow the catch-up track still wind up on it.

It’s not accelerated. Sorry.

So you’re saying that all 7th graders everywhere automatically take 8th grade math by default, without any testing or acceleration whatsoever?

I am saying most 8th graders take Algebra I. I don’t know if they skip 8th grade math, condense it, etc. Middle school math is very repetitive. It’s not that hard to cover it in two years. DCPS is also pushing for all 8th graders to be in Algebra I. Do I think it’s a good idea? No. But that is the norm at this point.

-long time HS math teacher

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You will have to wait and see if the kids who passed on math acceleration get in. I suspect kids who did advanced math will on average do slightly better on recommendations, interviews, and ultimately admissions. Skipping the more advanced middle math path is likely to long-term hold most students back (no Algebra in 8th means no calculus before college).

It’s going to kill your SAT math score. I mean you’ll spend thousands just trying to teach your kid enough calculus for a so so score.

The SAT only goes up to Geometry and coordinate Geometry, so has algebra, arithmetic, probability, too. No calculus or trigonometry, unless it's drastically changed since I was a SAT (and GRE) tutor.

Accelerating too fast actually results in kids being too far out from Geometry and Algebra when they take the SAT (like a kid who take calc in 10th or even 11th), so they need to relearn that stuff before the SAT.

You’re right. It was recommended to me by multiple college counselors to ensure my kids were taking precalc by sophomore year.

But pushing my kid into a regular Math class at a mediocre school like Stuart Hobson - you won’t have been taught all of the concepts in time for the SAT. you’ll be taking algebra 2 as a senior.

It's absolutely essential for a college bound kid to take Algebra by 8th grade so they can take geometry and algebra 2 before their PSAT and SAT. I'm not sure if the specifics of the SH kids, but I would absolutely not recommend taking the "regular" math sequence if that doesn't result in algebra by 8th, even if that means they are getting As.

This is not true at all. The PSAT is designed to be taken by a student just starting Algebra 2.

But taking the weak track will make you take algebra 2 as a senior

No, it won’t. At every school I know of, the standard track takes Algebra I no later than 9th grade. In DCPS specifically, you cannot become a 10th grader without passing Algebra I: you will repeat 9th grade until you pass. 10th graders take Geometry and 11th graders take Algebra II.

This is correct. The alternative to the accelerated track isn't the "weak" track; it's the standard track, which culminates with Algebra II in 11th. But also, it's easy to catch up over the 7th or 8th grade summer even if you want to accelerate for 9th.

Alg I in 9th grade used to be standard track. It really isn’t anymore. Especially not if you want to go to a competitive college.

No college is looking at your middle school classes, so if you catch up before 9th grade, it's entirely irrelevant.

How does this even relate to the previous post? No one said colleges look at middle Aw school transcripts. But they do look at HS ones. And competitive colleges do not want to see Algebra 1 in 9th grade. That is a slower track, not standard anymore.

The parents in question plan to have their kids catch up post-7th grade, because it no longer counts for Walls admission.

That is not really possible. You’d have to somehow double up on geometry and Algebra 2 which will kill your gpa unless you’re really good at math (which is still hard and if you’re good at math why would you do this to yourself?). It’s really a bad idea. I speak from experience.

How is it not possible?

Here’s the accelerated track:
7th grade: 8th grade math
8th grade: Alg I
9th grade: Geometry
10th grade: Alg II
11th grade: Precalc
12th grade: Calc

And here’s the save-your-GPA-and-catch-up track:
7th grade: 7th grade math
Summer: 8th grade math
8th grade: Alg I
9th grade: Geometry
10th grade: Alg II
11th grade: Precalc
12th grade: Calc

The catch-up track is 100% do-able.

Your accelerated track is the norm now, especially at a school like Walls. Accelerated is calculus by junior year.

Sure, accelerated is the norm in some places. It’s still accelerated. And kids who follow the catch-up track still wind up on it.

It’s not accelerated. Sorry.

So you’re saying that all 7th graders everywhere automatically take 8th grade math by default, without any testing or acceleration whatsoever?

PP above is correct. Calculus by senior year is not accelerated. It is standard. Calculus junior year is accelerated.

DCPS kids are terrible in math and standards are so low that basically all the kids are in remedial math and they take Algebra 2 senior year.

Below is the math sequence for FCPS. 3 tiers - accelerated, standard (calculus by senior year), and basically remedial

https://rockyrunms.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/MATHEMATICS%20ACADEMIC%20SEQUENCE%20OF%20COURSES%202018.pdf

You keep insisting that a kid who takes 7th grade math in 7th grade will only reach algebra 2 by senior year. Yet this chart clearly shows that kids can take 7th grade math in 7th grade and take calculus senior year. Yes, that’s not the most advanced track in FCPS. It’s not the most advanced track in DCPS either. But it’s perfectly possible.

You are responding to different posters and the discussion was that Calculus by senior year is NOT the advance track like people believe it into be in many DCPS high schools with majority low performing students. This is the standard track. The schools do not have an advance track.