Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 16:33     Subject: TJHSST Exam
A lot of this depends on your school… A less competitive GPA and a partly wrong essay at Carson could get you declined while at a school with less applicants like Franklin you could get accepted. (About 20-40 people apply at Franklin, while hundreds apply at Carson)
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 16:31     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Almost all years are like this. PSEs are almost always simple but poorly worded/long, yet people who said it was easy with 4.0’s wouldn’t get in. People who elaborated properly even with a 3.5 could still get in, don’t be too worried. (Parent of a freshman at tj who got accepted 3.86 ish gpa)


What would happen if my son gets the PSE partly wrong but did good on the SPS?


What the GPA? Also, did they explain their thinking well? That’s the main part.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 16:27     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:Almost all years are like this. PSEs are almost always simple but poorly worded/long, yet people who said it was easy with 4.0’s wouldn’t get in. People who elaborated properly even with a 3.5 could still get in, don’t be too worried. (Parent of a freshman at tj who got accepted 3.86 ish gpa)


What would happen if my son gets the PSE partly wrong but did good on the SPS?
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 16:24     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Almost all years are like this. PSEs are almost always simple but poorly worded/long, yet people who said it was easy with 4.0’s wouldn’t get in. People who elaborated properly even with a 3.5 could still get in, don’t be too worried. (Parent of a freshman at tj who got accepted 3.86 ish gpa)
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 16:21     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Talk at our school was that the material was not difficult so how will they choose?


My kid thought she did badly because it seemed too simple. Realized that everyone got the same answer for at least 2 of the 3 questions. Will probably choose off of sps or essay writing skills. Even if you did get the problem wrong, essay writing should save you.


And there is GPA too, so I suspect kids with GPAs even a smidge lower will not be as competitive.


Most the people at my DD’s school had around a 3.8 gpa who were applying. Our school is less competitive.


To add to this, my DD had around a 3.92. She had 2 A-, but she thinks she did great on the essay section. Only 20 people from her school are applying, and her friend circle had around a 3.7 ish gpa.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 16:19     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Talk at our school was that the material was not difficult so how will they choose?


My kid thought she did badly because it seemed too simple. Realized that everyone got the same answer for at least 2 of the 3 questions. Will probably choose off of sps or essay writing skills. Even if you did get the problem wrong, essay writing should save you.


And there is GPA too, so I suspect kids with GPAs even a smidge lower will not be as competitive.


Most the people at my DD’s school had around a 3.8 gpa who were applying. Our school is less competitive.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 16:18     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Talk at our school was that the material was not difficult so how will they choose?


My kid thought she did badly because it seemed too simple. Realized that everyone got the same answer for at least 2 of the 3 questions. Will probably choose off of sps or essay writing skills. Even if you did get the problem wrong, essay writing should save you.


And there is GPA too, so I suspect kids with GPAs even a smidge lower will not be as competitive.


My son got the most important section of the PSE wrong, but did exceptional in the SPS and has a 4.00 GPA. Do you think he will get in?
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 16:08     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:Talk at our school was that the material was not difficult so how will they choose?


That is the whole point of the test - To not be able to differentiate. This is the path FCPS took to address equity.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 15:52     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Talk at our school was that the material was not difficult so how will they choose?


My kid thought she did badly because it seemed too simple. Realized that everyone got the same answer for at least 2 of the 3 questions. Will probably choose off of sps or essay writing skills. Even if you did get the problem wrong, essay writing should save you.


And there is GPA too, so I suspect kids with GPAs even a smidge lower will not be as competitive.


Most of the kids are going to have thesame GPA. I doubt that there are too many kids under a 4.0 but I could be wrong. The average GPS was a 3.98. I suppose that there are kids applying with a 4.something because of the honors classes.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 15:49     Subject: Re:TJHSST Exam
DS seemed happy with the exam. He finished all of the questions and thought the problem solving question was easy.

The reality is we will not know how our kids did, at least I don’t think they send scores to the kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 15:34     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Talk at our school was that the material was not difficult so how will they choose?


My kid thought she did badly because it seemed too simple. Realized that everyone got the same answer for at least 2 of the 3 questions. Will probably choose off of sps or essay writing skills. Even if you did get the problem wrong, essay writing should save you.


And there is GPA too, so I suspect kids with GPAs even a smidge lower will not be as competitive.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 15:25     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Anonymous wrote:Talk at our school was that the material was not difficult so how will they choose?


My kid thought she did badly because it seemed too simple. Realized that everyone got the same answer for at least 2 of the 3 questions. Will probably choose off of sps or essay writing skills. Even if you did get the problem wrong, essay writing should save you.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 15:23     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Talk at our school was that the material was not difficult so how will they choose?
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 13:46     Subject: TJHSST Exam
Most the kids got the PSE correct, at least that’s what my kid’s circle said. My kid made a silly mistake and went a little lower with the character count, but said she has absolutely no clue how well it went.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 13:32     Subject: TJHSST Exam
How did the exam go for your kids? Mine said he did okay, but the PSE was pretty long, although easy in nature.