A couple of things from the viewpoint of a parent of two kids who got into AOS.

1) About 50% of the kids in the 9th grade at AOS have completed Algebra2/Trig. It never even occurred to us to have our kids that accelerated but some parents get it done somehow. I'm not sure what affect that has on getting in, but it has a hell of an effect on how kids do in 9th grade.

2) To wit: AOS Freshman Math is AOS Math analysis. And it is no joke. The teachers basically act as if everyone already knows the concepts from Alg2/Trig and if you don't you are expected to learn it on your own. The freshman course is basically a HS Junior level honors Math Analysis course with advanced statistics and curves of best fit among large data sets.

The bad news: If your son/daughter doesn't take Algebra2/Trig before enrolling, they will struggle mightily.

The good news: The reason AOS doesn't require geometry is that there are few concepts from Geometry that come into play on the AOS side. So a kid who takes Geometry (mine both did) has little advantage over the kid who just took Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

When my second child got accepted into AOS we made sure she took Alg2 in summer school and it made a huge difference.

Anonymous wrote:AOS is more rigorous so imo drop AET and work hard fire AOS and TJ

Thank you, Any tips /books on how to prepare for AOS entrance. TJ is too far for us from Loudoun. My DC isn’t keen on being out all day.

AOS is more rigorous so imo drop AET and work hard fire AOS and TJ

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, hoping to hear back from the registrar. Hopefully this week. Not sure if the principal will respond. Looks like so far it’s tough to talk to the school here.

Try to have a little sympathy for them. This is a crazy summer and no one knows for sure what the school year will look like.

Anonymous wrote:OP, we were serving overseas with orders back to the US when we found out from Gatehouse that my kid wasn't eligible to sit the TJ exam b/c we weren't living in our home at the time the exam was administered. They wouldn't make an exception. It did teach me that the FCPS and LCPS bureaucracies are often nonsensical.

What you might want to do is look into the approved online providers for VDOE and LCPS (the list is very short) to determine if your child can come in at this late date to take Alg I which is an absolute. Some online providers like Laurel Springs (not an approved provider, you would need to file an approval request) let students come in on their own schedules but I'm not sure if that applies to summer courses. Don't know if students can take Alg 1 and Geo through Virtual Loudoun concurrently in 8th. With your current plans, your child still can apply to AOS, just not AET with Alg 1 in 8th. Geo is a requirement for AET.

If you can't gain traction with your child's assigned counselor (it can be a bear to get a hold of someone with limited summer office hours), you should reach out to your child's VP or principal. Good luck.

Thank you, hoping to hear back from the registrar. Hopefully this week. Not sure if the principal will respond. Looks like so far it’s tough to talk to the school here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! This decision is certainly not favorable to those who are new to the district. I wish the admission process was more considerate.

I would still talk to the counselor at school and see what are the options available. They might have something better to suggest.

I did and the response was nothing can be done. What a biased decision.

I am sorry.
As you mentioned earlier, your child was in a gifted program before you moved to Loudoun. We moved from Fairfax County and my child was in AAP program (which is advanced academic placement, formerly GT). Mostly kids who were in AAP program got qualified for Algebra in 7th grade. I believe something similar is in Loudoun. Wondering why Algebra wasn’t offered to your child in 7th grade?

We moved from NJ to Loudoun. Here only less than 5% of the overall 7th grade class is allowed Algebra 1. So out of 100 gifted kids (overall 460 students) only 25. Looks like here 50% of the class is doing Algebra 1 in 7th grade. My son got A+ in 7th grade as Pre Al A as school work was so easy, but they don’t allow Algebra 1 until 8th grade.

OP, we were serving overseas with orders back to the US when we found out from Gatehouse that my kid wasn't eligible to sit the TJ exam b/c we weren't living in our home at the time the exam was administered. They wouldn't make an exception. It did teach me that the FCPS and LCPS bureaucracies are often nonsensical.

What you might want to do is look into the approved online providers for VDOE and LCPS (the list is very short) to determine if your child can come in at this late date to take Alg I which is an absolute. Some online providers like Laurel Springs (not an approved provider, you would need to file an approval request) let students come in on their own schedules but I'm not sure if that applies to summer courses. Don't know if students can take Alg 1 and Geo through Virtual Loudoun concurrently in 8th. With your current plans, your child still can apply to AOS, just not AET with Alg 1 in 8th. Geo is a requirement for AET.

If you can't gain traction with your child's assigned counselor (it can be a bear to get a hold of someone with limited summer office hours), you should reach out to your child's VP or principal. Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! This decision is certainly not favorable to those who are new to the district. I wish the admission process was more considerate.

I would still talk to the counselor at school and see what are the options available. They might have something better to suggest.

I did and the response was nothing can be done. What a biased decision.

I am sorry.
As you mentioned earlier, your child was in a gifted program before you moved to Loudoun. We moved from Fairfax County and my child was in AAP program (which is advanced academic placement, formerly GT). Mostly kids who were in AAP program got qualified for Algebra in 7th grade. I believe something similar is in Loudoun. Wondering why Algebra wasn’t offered to your child in 7th grade?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! This decision is certainly not favorable to those who are new to the district. I wish the admission process was more considerate.

I would still talk to the counselor at school and see what are the options available. They might have something better to suggest.

I did and the response was nothing can be done. What a biased decision.

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! This decision is certainly not favorable to those who are new to the district. I wish the admission process was more considerate.

I would still talk to the counselor at school and see what are the options available. They might have something better to suggest.

Thank you! This decision is certainly not favorable to those who are new to the district. I wish the admission process was more considerate.

For AOS, student need to complete Algebra I by end of eighth grade and for AET, geometry by end of 8th grade.
For the summer of 2020, course registration was done back in February/March unless some exceptions were made and school counselor made a registration. According to my understanding, summer 2020 course have already begun and half way through.

Yes - if they finish Algebra before the end of the summer

Anyone ?

Hi! We recently moved to Loudoun county and have a rising 8th grader. Please can someone share some insights on the AET/AOS admission process ? I have checked the website already.

My DC was in a GT program and in Pre Alegbra A in 7th grade. Can they take Algebra 1 this summer to be eligible for AET. If so, how to check and where to sign up.

Thank you !!