Reply to STA is keeping AP classes

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "STA is keeping AP classes"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]to the  GDS poster . .you seem to have a complex.  Perhaps your child is a great test taker and got 5s, but but many of my daughter's classmates from GDS completely bombed the AP exams and will not be taking any others.That may be part of why so many people are leaving the school.[/quote]

GDS messaging about APs has been atrocious for years. Only this year did they even put out a FAQ as to who should consider signing up to take the tests and why.  In classic GDS fashion, they think they are avoiding hurting people's feelings by being oblique about the AP test.

Meanwhile, I heard from some parents after all these years of de-emphasizing the AP test that the profile thing that GDS sends to all universities again for 2022-2023 application cycle puts front and center - as in top of the main page - how many kids at GDS took AP tests and that 90% or something scored 4 or more.

Long time parent and GDS inability to be direct with kids and parents on who should and shouldn't do things because they want to protect people from having their feelings hurt is maddening - or maybe they dont believe in testing. Much better to be upfront.

It took them 3 years to put out a FAQ around who should even take the tests instead of saying blanket "you dont need to take the tests". Meanwhile the UL teachers in some classes do side tutoring (for free) of their classes for 6 weeks prior to AP tests.

[/quote]

Top of page two on the 21-22 “ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAMS:
In May 2021, 114 GDS high school students sat for 174 Advanced Placement examinations; 41% earned scores of 5, 73% earned scores of 4 or above, and 91% earned scores of 3 or above.”
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1636400955/gdsorg/ciq4lvx8wbgfzccyswox/2021-22GDSHSProfile.pdf
[/quote]

Exactly - what's inexcusable is that the 2022-23 college profile also highlights APs despite 3 years of telling the kids that they should not take them. Why?

ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAMS
In May 2022, 80 GDS high school students sat for 113 Advanced
Placement examinations; 38% earned scores of 5, 80% earned
scores of 4 or above, and 91% earned scores of 3 or above.[/quote]

It does seem unfair to de-emphasize the test but then publish results to the colleges. The messaging here is wrong. The schools should be saying to the kids, [b]we don’t call it an AP class but you should be taking the AP exams if you are striving to get into the most competitive colleges[/b]. It has nothing to do with getting college credit. [/quote]

Is that really the case? 80 kids sitting for 113 AP exams is not even two exams per student. So if you extrapolate that, each student is taking, maybe 4-6 AP exams total. Compare that to the 10-15 AP exams that public school kids take. It doesn't appear that GDS students are being hampered in college admissions, so it seems the upshot is that competitive colleges don't care whether you take the AP exams - at least if you're at GDS.[/quote]

It is 80 kids out of 300 juniors/seniors.  The majority of GDS kids are not taking AP tests. [/quote]

By those numbers, most of the kids who take UL classes probably are.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics