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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]2 of my friends said their kids who recently graduated from TJ had GPA in the high 4.4 to high 4.5 range (straight As) and about 7 AP/post AP classes through junior year which is about standard for the “most rigorous” course load at TJ. Sure there will be a handful of kids with a few more but that is about the most a kid can take at TJ given the number of AP courses offered and other course requirements and restrictions (esp compared to base FCPS schools). Difference can be if a kid took band/orchestra etc (unweighted courses until this year but for current students their transcripts will be adjusted) and language.

Some students don’t take a language (place out through language credit exam) or just take a year or two (including AP level) and instead take more weighted classes which can increase the GPA vs a kid who takes 3 years of a language (unweighted) starting with level 1 [/quote]

My kid graduated with all As (only As and A+s) from TJ several years ago. He had taken about 9-10 APs/post-APs by end of his junior year and the weighted gpa was around 4.57. He was in the top 10% and probably in the top 1%. [/quote]

With the new admission process, the bar is much higher now. The kid's scores are through the roof!![/quote]
This is not true.

SOLs for the new admissions cohort are lower than previous years by quite a lot. Also, level of math acceleration is lower than previous cohorts. And soon, PSAT scores will probably reveal a drop in scores. We shall see.

It’s OK the admissions were changed to include a more diverse set of kids, but there is no need to make up things about the scores.[/quote]

It is sad that test scores at TJ have dropped so much since the admissions requirements were changed by the school board.[/quote]

I mean, the old process overselected for test scores. You literally could not get into the school unless you were a strong test taker relative to the rest of the population taking the exams.

It never should have been surprising that exam scores would drop somewhat when you remove that needless criterion from the process.

The question we should be asking is "Why do we assume that all smart kids are good test takers, and why do we assume all good test takers are smart?"

I think there absolutely should be a place at TJ for exceptional test-takers, but it's a huge mistake if there's no room for anyone who isn't. That's why the new system is a better idea even if you see some test scores dropping to a somewhat-lower-but-still-exceptional range.[/quote]

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