Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if the prompts will be different?

Here you go: 571-423-3770. TJ admissions office number. Call and ask if you care so much. I don't.

-- signed potential TJ parent in FCPS who is glad we are done!

and post the answer here

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if the prompts will be different?

Here you go: 571-423-3770. TJ admissions office number. Call and ask if you care so much. I don't.

-- signed potential TJ parent in FCPS who is glad we are done!

Does anyone know if the prompts will be different?

I think 10:35 makes a good point and I happen to agree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a hypothesis that the test prompts are different for the makeup test. This year more students than just the infirm on original test day will take the makeup test. I am pretty sure that the reviewers look for intelligent answers written with some semblance of understanding of the question and the English language and its grammatical rules. If that is in fact the standard, it would be easy to grade answers, even if the answers responded to different questions.

The problem is the admissions office employs different readers of varying qualifications with different ideas as to what constitutes good writing, (not to mention what the reader deems to be evidence of interest, intellectual curiosity, passion and curiosity in STEM, diversity and future leaders etc).

There will be subjective interpretation of essays and answers and having different prompts will add to this subjectivity and inconsistencies. Exceptional math students are denied admissions each year because some reader(s) did not like the semifinalist's essay or short answers despite exceptional achievements in mathcounts, AMC 10, science fairs etc.

You do know the whole thing is a crapshoot, don't you?

You could have ONE reader and there will be subjectivity.

Let it go.

Anonymous wrote:There is a hypothesis that the test prompts are different for the makeup test. This year more students than just the infirm on original test day will take the makeup test. I am pretty sure that the reviewers look for intelligent answers written with some semblance of understanding of the question and the English language and its grammatical rules. If that is in fact the standard, it would be easy to grade answers, even if the answers responded to different questions.

The problem is the admissions office employs different readers of varying qualifications with different ideas as to what constitutes good writing, (not to mention what the reader deems to be evidence of interest, intellectual curiosity, passion and curiosity in STEM, diversity and future leaders etc).

There will be subjective interpretation of essays and answers and having different prompts will add to this subjectivity and inconsistencies. Exceptional math students are denied admissions each year because some reader(s) did not like the semifinalist's essay or short answers despite exceptional achievements in mathcounts, AMC 10, science fairs etc.

There is a hypothesis that the test prompts are different for the makeup test. This year more students than just the infirm on original test day will take the makeup test. I am pretty sure that the reviewers look for intelligent answers written with some semblance of understanding of the question and the English language and its grammatical rules. If that is in fact the standard, it would be easy to grade answers, even if the answers responded to different questions.

If the test prompts are different, how do they compare the quality of the answers? I figured the prompts would be the same across the board (except for a relatively small group of make-up testers).

Anonymous wrote:Those of you who are getting all worked up about this, why don't you just call/email TJ admissions office tomorrow and ask? It will save you a lot of angst.

You are so nice to offer logic and sanity, but these are TJ parents (or potential TJ parents) you are responding to.

Those of you who are getting all worked up about this, why don't you just call/email TJ admissions office tomorrow and ask? It will save you a lot of angst.

They already had a sick day established for which they probably had another test. And I bet they have a number of questions ready to go that they pick from. This isn't going to affect admissions. For anyone in a school that doesn't get many admissions to TJ, time spent wondering how your child's teacher recommendations affect admissions would be more on point. That's a lot bigger wild card -- indeed every child's rec should be different -- and there seems to be a clear issue that teachers at feeder schools know how to convey what TJ admissions is interested in more effectively than other middle schools. One middle school with a not so great track record was even claimed to be limiting kids to only one math/science teacher rec (to keep teacher workload down). That's a lot more unfair than a makeup test.

Anonymous wrote:And everyone is assuming that they don't have different prompts. I bet they do. And it's not "unfair" -- that's what happens whenever you take a "makeup" test for whatever reason.

It may be unfair since the makeup is happening for only some kids and not for other kids. I am not sure if the wheels of bureaucracy turns that quickly for them to come up with new test in about 10 days.

And everyone is assuming that they don't have different prompts. I bet they do. And it's not "unfair" -- that's what happens whenever you take a "makeup" test for whatever reason.