Must double up on social studies somewhere, because you need 4 years, and don't take it as a freshman.

Just an FYI, some freshman do take a social studies course as a freshman, and therefore don't have to double up a social studies course later on. My rising senior at TJ took Ancient Civ as a freshman. He loved the class and the teacher, though it was a lot of work. The price is that you probably can't take Foundations of Computer Science until sophomore year, which means no AP Computer Science until junior year, which limits the number of post-AP computer science classes you can take. In his case, my kid took AP Spanish Language as a junior, and wanted to take AP Spanish Lit as a senior, but its not being offered (not enough interest). So he'll be able to take two post-AP Comp Sci classes next year, which he is pretty happy about.

Anonymous wrote:This is the school profile sheet TJ sends out to colleges. Most regular classes get the 0.5 weighting for being honors.

https://fcps.tjhsst.edu/coursemgmt/media/300/resource/TJ%20Profile%202016-17%20online.pdf

"The Class of 2016 Final Grade Point Averages (after 8th semester) ranged from 3.463 to 4.617."

I can't open the file.

It says 404 Not Found.

Could you check the URL, please?

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a very challenging school, and the foreign languages there are even harder. DC has already done 2 years of Spanish in MS and is deciding whether to stick with it throughout TJ or switch to a different language. However, if they switched languages, they would have to do 4 years of that language, taking up space for other STEM electives in their senior year. Their preferred switch is Latin, however, it is considered a dead language, while Spanish is more prominent in the US. But I have also heard that Spanish is considerably more difficult. And I just want to know what the pros and cons are of switching to Latin or sticking with Spanish, and what DC should do.

My kid went into Spanish at TJ. Had to drop down a level a month in, because MS had not prepared them for TJ level Spanish. If we had it to do all over, my kid would choose Latin. The teacher is great and it’s it’s just not as hard. Their Latin Team is huge and it’s members love it. 4 years of language is nice. But many kids stop after 3 to get the extra STEM. Does not seem to affect college admissions.

TJ is a very challenging school, and the foreign languages there are even harder. DC has already done 2 years of Spanish in MS and is deciding whether to stick with it throughout TJ or switch to a different language. However, if they switched languages, they would have to do 4 years of that language, taking up space for other STEM electives in their senior year. Their preferred switch is Latin, however, it is considered a dead language, while Spanish is more prominent in the US. But I have also heard that Spanish is considerably more difficult. And I just want to know what the pros and cons are of switching to Latin or sticking with Spanish, and what DC should do.

Thank you! DD will be so relieved to hear! Out of all her classes, I think PE has always been the class to give her the most stress.

My athletic kid at TJ said PE was a huge joke - basically dress out and show up and you get the A. The teachers just want to see participation. I've heard that online PE is much harder, and definitely more time consuming. Agree with giving your kid the break during the day.

Agree with PP. My incredibly uncoordinated unathletic kid had an easy A 3 quarters by dressing out and doing the assignments. B+ the health quarter, which probably wasn't hard, but her suffered from not taking it seriously enough. But still an A for the year and one of the few easy As at TJ. Build the easy A into your kid's schedule while they adjust to TJ.

TJ is grade on participation in PE. And some projects like counting calories, keeping log of activities, Health quizzes. It's a LOT easier than the summer PE that involves wearing a heart monitor and having to get heartbeat up to high intensity for a certain amount of time every day ... kids have reported that it actually required running several miles a day and such. Just to pass.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is planning to take PE during freshman year at TJ (not online). Can she opt for P/F during regular school year?

Why though? This is an easy A. Why wouldn't you want that?

I can understand doing this in the Summer, however.

I'm the PP. Let's put it this way. DD unfortunately sucks at anything that has to do with PE and she hates the class with all her heart! I know she tries her best, but is just very uncoordinated. In all her middle school years, PE has always been the only class that she worries about not getting an A.

How is PE at TJ? Do the teachers grade kids on performance/ability or on progress/participation?

Anonymous wrote:DD is planning to take PE during freshman year at TJ (not online). Can she opt for P/F during regular school year?

Why though? This is an easy A. Why wouldn't you want that?

I can understand doing this in the Summer, however.

Anonymous wrote:DD is planning to take PE during freshman year at TJ (not online). Can she opt for P/F during regular school year?

Watch this. You can only PF one class a year. And most kids take self paced EPF freshman year unless they are going to meet the requirement through AP economics- either summer school, as an 8th school year class, or as May-June summer school. This class must be taken PF. If you do HPE 9 P/F, you will end up keeping your kid friend from getting EPF out of the way freshman year.

Anonymous wrote:DD is planning to take PE during freshman year at TJ (not online). Can she opt for P/F during regular school year?

This is a guidance counselor question. You can P/F summer. Ask student services about school year.

DD is planning to take PE during freshman year at TJ (not online). Can she opt for P/F during regular school year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade does someone get for taking a course Pass/Fail? How does that translate into credits?

A "P" on their transcript. Not factored into GPA. My D.C. Will probably take the FCPS (not TJ) version of SP III online next summer P/F to be done (if you do this, you cannot later go back to TJ's for level IV +, because the TJ version is so much harder. Similarly, you cannot do I or II online. Only your terminal language class.. But, it is not recommended you P/F every year. Colleges do want to see at least some actual grades in language.

Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:What grade does someone get for taking a course Pass/Fail? How does that translate into credits?

A "P" on their transcript. Not factored into GPA. My D.C. Will probably take the FCPS (not TJ) version of SP III online next summer P/F to be done (if you do this, you cannot later go back to TJ's for level IV +, because the TJ version is so much harder. Similarly, you cannot do I or II online. Only your terminal language class.. But, it is not recommended you P/F every year. Colleges do want to see at least some actual grades in language.