Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Glad to know you kid beats the preppers in their own game. We did not let DC do any enrichments outside of school. DC got in regardless. Let the Frost kids grind on. Who cares.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

If math definitely does not click for her, why would she go to a math/science magnet program?? I must be missing something, unless you have a backup plan in place to make math click...

Well, DD is fascinated by biology. Everything about it: evolution, neuroscience, epidemiology and even astrobiology. When did MCPS say that you have to be good at math to get in TP?

Anonymous wrote:TP parent and NP here.

This “rivalry” between TP and RF parents is really silly. It is true that there aren’t as many math kids in the current 7th graders in TP as previous years but TP magnet is not all about math. We have kids here doing really well in a lot of science competitions. Frankly I have never heard of Frost kids winning anything in ScienceMontgomery etc where TP has consistently excelled.

So, stop all this nonsense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

I'm not a "prepper" and not a TPMS parent (or Frost parent), but I can't believe you're throwing shade at math generally and the general usefulness of math. I'm in a non-math field, and we use math CONSTANTLY. It drives me absolutely batty the number of Americans that can't think about numbers in any sort of intelligent way and think that math is just for the mathematicians. I wish I was better at it, and think it's phenomenal that these kids want to spend their time thinking about numbers. Good for them! We should only encourage this, not crap all over it. Mathcounts is one of many great options to make math a fun and attractive extracurricular for many kids -- that's a good thing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

I'm not a "prepper" and not a TPMS parent (or Frost parent), but I can't believe you're throwing shade at math generally and the general usefulness of math. I'm in a non-math field, and we use math CONSTANTLY. It drives me absolutely batty the number of Americans that can't think about numbers in any sort of intelligent way and think that math is just for the mathematicians. I wish I was better at it, and think it's phenomenal that these kids want to spend their time thinking about numbers. Good for them! We should only encourage this, not crap all over it. Mathcounts is one of many great options to make math a fun and attractive extracurricular for many kids -- that's a good thing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

I'm not a "prepper" and not a TPMS parent (or Frost parent), but I can't believe you're throwing shade at math generally and the general usefulness of math. I'm in a non-math field, and we use math CONSTANTLY. It drives me absolutely batty the number of Americans that can't think about numbers in any sort of intelligent way and think that math is just for the mathematicians. I wish I was better at it, and think it's phenomenal that these kids want to spend their time thinking about numbers. Good for them! We should only encourage this, not crap all over it. Mathcounts is one of many great options to make math a fun and attractive extracurricular for many kids -- that's a good thing!

Nah. Math is useful only to a certain extent. I can’t believe that a routine job will frustrate anyone because of math. One of the greatest things about America is that we achieve greatness without lots of math grinds. Go figure.

Maybe the Frost kids can spend more time on something more creative than the boring Mathcounts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

I'm not a "prepper" and not a TPMS parent (or Frost parent), but I can't believe you're throwing shade at math generally and the general usefulness of math. I'm in a non-math field, and we use math CONSTANTLY. It drives me absolutely batty the number of Americans that can't think about numbers in any sort of intelligent way and think that math is just for the mathematicians. I wish I was better at it, and think it's phenomenal that these kids want to spend their time thinking about numbers. Good for them! We should only encourage this, not crap all over it. Mathcounts is one of many great options to make math a fun and attractive extracurricular for many kids -- that's a good thing!

+1000 ! Math = thinking, PP is hopefully a troll and not crazy enough to think that their DD will be fine without understanding math, especially in the TPMS program.

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

I'm not a "prepper" and not a TPMS parent (or Frost parent), but I can't believe you're throwing shade at math generally and the general usefulness of math. I'm in a non-math field, and we use math CONSTANTLY. It drives me absolutely batty the number of Americans that can't think about numbers in any sort of intelligent way and think that math is just for the mathematicians. I wish I was better at it, and think it's phenomenal that these kids want to spend their time thinking about numbers. Good for them! We should only encourage this, not crap all over it. Mathcounts is one of many great options to make math a fun and attractive extracurricular for many kids -- that's a good thing!

+1000 ! Math = thinking, PP is hopefully a troll and not crazy enough to think that their DD will be fine without understanding math, especially in the TPMS program.

Mathcounts = thinking in a predefined way. Those skills can be acquired if you try hard enough to go through all the tricks. But why wasting the time??? I am glad TP “lost” to Frost. We can focus on something more useful.

Also glad that MCPS changed the selection process. It should do the same to Blair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

I'm not a "prepper" and not a TPMS parent (or Frost parent), but I can't believe you're throwing shade at math generally and the general usefulness of math. I'm in a non-math field, and we use math CONSTANTLY. It drives me absolutely batty the number of Americans that can't think about numbers in any sort of intelligent way and think that math is just for the mathematicians. I wish I was better at it, and think it's phenomenal that these kids want to spend their time thinking about numbers. Good for them! We should only encourage this, not crap all over it. Mathcounts is one of many great options to make math a fun and attractive extracurricular for many kids -- that's a good thing!

+1000 ! Math = thinking, PP is hopefully a troll and not crazy enough to think that their DD will be fine without understanding math, especially in the TPMS program.

Mathcounts = thinking in a predefined way. Those skills can be acquired if you try hard enough to go through all the tricks. But why wasting the time??? I am glad TP “lost” to Frost. We can focus on something more useful.

Also glad that MCPS changed the selection process. It should do the same to Blair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

I'm not a "prepper" and not a TPMS parent (or Frost parent), but I can't believe you're throwing shade at math generally and the general usefulness of math. I'm in a non-math field, and we use math CONSTANTLY. It drives me absolutely batty the number of Americans that can't think about numbers in any sort of intelligent way and think that math is just for the mathematicians. I wish I was better at it, and think it's phenomenal that these kids want to spend their time thinking about numbers. Good for them! We should only encourage this, not crap all over it. Mathcounts is one of many great options to make math a fun and attractive extracurricular for many kids -- that's a good thing!

+1000 ! Math = thinking, PP is hopefully a troll and not crazy enough to think that their DD will be fine without understanding math, especially in the TPMS program.

Mathcounts = thinking in a predefined way. Those skills can be acquired if you try hard enough to go through all the tricks. But why wasting the time??? I am glad TP “lost” to Frost. We can focus on something more useful.

Also glad that MCPS changed the selection process. It should do the same to Blair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got in. We’ve never heard of CogAT until DC told us. Never heard of the distasteful Dr. Li either. I don’t understand why so many parents (and some teachers) I guess are so obsessed with math competitions. My kid has no real interests in math. So what?!

Has to support the pp. Seriously, how much math you need to do your job? Why is Mathcounts such a big deal at DCUM? DD was accepted to both eastern and TP. She is good at lots of things but math definitely does not click with her. She chose TP. I am not worried. Didn’t Thomas Edison hate math too?

I'm not a "prepper" and not a TPMS parent (or Frost parent), but I can't believe you're throwing shade at math generally and the general usefulness of math. I'm in a non-math field, and we use math CONSTANTLY. It drives me absolutely batty the number of Americans that can't think about numbers in any sort of intelligent way and think that math is just for the mathematicians. I wish I was better at it, and think it's phenomenal that these kids want to spend their time thinking about numbers. Good for them! We should only encourage this, not crap all over it. Mathcounts is one of many great options to make math a fun and attractive extracurricular for many kids -- that's a good thing!

+1000 ! Math = thinking, PP is hopefully a troll and not crazy enough to think that their DD will be fine without understanding math, especially in the TPMS program.

Mathcounts = thinking in a predefined way. Those skills can be acquired if you try hard enough to go through all the tricks. But why wasting the time??? I am glad TP “lost” to Frost. We can focus on something more useful.

Also glad that MCPS changed the selection process. It should do the same to Blair.

+1. There is too much focus on math competitions at TPMS already. Mrs. M should let up a bit. We have so many science kids here who have been looked down upon by the math kids. Not good!

Any skill can be acquired through training. Mathcounts and other math competitions are called "recreational mathematics" for a reason; because they are fun, creative activities. They have no end goal in themselves, i.e lead to a professional career, etc. (although they can). Most of the kids who do Mathcounts and succeed at it do so because they are having fun, not because somebody is making them do it. Winning just happens to be a nice bonus. The real problem is that US culture views math as the opposite of both fun, and creativity. Recreational mathematics has always been popular in many European countries, it is part of their culture there. Here we instead have math "phobia" which is one of the causes of misinformed comments that math is not useful in the real world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
CoGAT and SATs are completely different. One is supposed to measure natural ability, and you aren't supposed to prep. One is designed to test your knowledge of content, and is supposed to be prepped for.

My DC got into the CES based on a high CoGAT, and we didn't prep at all. However, I saw other kids being prepped, and found it distasteful, personally. Again, CoGAT is supposed to measure abilities that haven't been prepped. Prepping is just a way of trying to cloud the objective data.

Please get your facts right before claiming that you find something distasteful.

You can prep or not prep, that is entirely your choice. If a test was designed so that "you aren't supposed to prep", that would be a very stupid design because it would not work.
Those who design the test (and those who choose the test to give to students) are not that stupid to make such useless claims.

CoGAT is designed in a way that prepping is not going to improve your results, that's it. If someone wants to waste time intensely prepping for CogAT, I have no issue with that.

If CoGAT is designed in a way that prepping is not going to improve your results, then it's designed in a way that you aren't supposed to prep.

Except the CoGAT is highly preppable, almost similar to the SATs, hence the numerous practice books available.