Reply to Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]AMC8 in the 1980s was much easier, so students will get high scores if these are used as practice tests.  The honor rolls from recent years are available on the MAA website if people want to get the count from northern Virginia.  It is much higher than 50.[/quote]

I did and it's lower.[/quote]

Then you did it badly.  I pulled in the csv file from 2022.  There were 105 kids total from VA listed on the top 1% and top 5% honor rolls.  [/quote]
Generally, 10+ VA elementary school kids make it onto at least the top 5% honor roll.  It's really not that special.  [/quote]

I know! It's like maybe 0.0001% of the MS population so not all that special. :/[/quote]

There's a huge gulf between "pin the certificate on the wall and brag to other parents/coworkers" type of special and "tj should auto-admit these kids" kind of special.  It's not the latter, no matter how much you want it to be.  Over 100 VA kids make it on the AMC 8 honor rolls each year.  This just shows that any kids who are reasonably strong in math who also either attend RSM or AoPS classes or have a strong middle school math competition program can make the honor roll for AMC 8.

Only 10-20 middle schoolers in VA qualify for AIME.  Only 4 qualify for mathcounts nationals.  Somewhere between 0-2 kids make USAJMO.  You could make an argument that these kids deserve to have the red carpet rolled out by TJ.  You can't plausibly make the same argument for all 100+ of the AMC 8 honor roll kids.  [/quote]

I agree that 6/7th grade AIME qualifiers should be auto-accepted. Mathcounts nationals team is set at 4, so you always get 4 every year.

AMC8 Honor roll is still very very good - I imagine that 90% of the 2500 TJ applicants took the AMC8 and less than 10% of those made honor roll.  It's like making a 1550+ on the SAT - it shouldn't guarantee admissions into [insert college], but it should tip the scale in the applicant's favor.
[/quote]

What happens when you then add in all of the kids who performed well in Science Olympiad, robotics, science fair, or other STEM activities?  You can't necessarily fit all of those kids into TJ, especially considering that many of them are clumped in a small number of middle schools with strong programs.

There's also no way that even close to 90% of the TJ applicants took the AMC 8.  Most FCPS middle schools don't even offer it.  Many don't have a math team.

For AMC 8, coaching matters a lot.  Kids who take competition math classes or have strong coaching can learn a lot of the tricks and shortcuts for the problems.  A well coached kid who squeaks into top 5% honor roll in 8th grade is strong at math, but they're not an elite talent.  They'd be fine at TJ, but they wouldn't be a math superstar by any stretch.  It is likely that none of the essays would provide an opportunity to talk about making AMC 8 Honor roll without forcing it.  If the kid can work AMC 8 into an essay prompt, they'd be better off talking about how interested they are in math or how practicing for contests helped them develop grit or whatever than expecting AMC 8 Honor Roll in and of itself to wow the essay grader.  [/quote]

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