Anonymous wrote:22:52 here. My DC is a sophomore and has not made any decisions on field of study or college of interest. So I guess, until then we will not know if scores are high enough for college? But thank you for the helpful information.

If you're the poster with a kid that has a 35, then I don't think re-taking it is the best course of action. 34 and up is already 99% percentile. I would focus on subject tests and of course grades.

22:52 here. My DC is a sophomore and has not made any decisions on field of study or college of interest. So I guess, until then we will not know if scores are high enough for college? But thank you for the helpful information.

Anonymous wrote:Do college admissions people look beyond the ACT composite score? I would think a 35 that has underlying scores of 34,34,35,35 looks at least a little different from a 35,35,35,36, but do they really focus on that? The ACT scores are so compressed it seems like it might be helpful to differentiate between a strong 35 and a weak one. Anyone have any insights?

It depends on the school. Some colleges look only at composite score, others look only at individual section scores and don't even look at composite. And I would think certain majors like engineering will always look at math scores heavily.

Anonymous wrote:Do college admissions people look beyond the ACT composite score? I would think a 35 that has underlying scores of 34,34,35,35 looks at least a little different from a 35,35,35,36, but do they really focus on that? The ACT scores are so compressed it seems like it might be helpful to differentiate between a strong 35 and a weak one. Anyone have any insights?

Certain schools specifically look at only the Math & English portions - for example, Cal Poly (Cal schools say this) and VT engineering specifies sections they emphasize.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP, did your junior get results? How did he do? Will you have him take it again? We're in similar situation, a 35.

Not OP, but my junior just got 35,35,35,36E, first sitting, and won’t take it again. That score is 75th percentile at the most selective places. Too much downside for a retake. Could get a lower score. Could look like a jerk. Not worth it. Sucks to miss a 36 by one question but I just don’t think it matters.

PP here. I thought ACT allows students to decide which tests to send. Colleges have no idea if it's super score or number of attempts. I could be wrong.

23:52 here. Interesting. My kid's current ED choice says they will superscore on the individual subjects but not on the composite. So if my kid increases from 35 to 36 on one test (but goes down on the others), the best composite remains unchanged, there's a small bump on one section, and it seems like a wash for all the previous downside reasons that were stated. On top of that, kid doesn't want to take it again, so that's one less battle for me.

Do college admissions people look beyond the ACT composite score? I would think a 35 that has underlying scores of 34,34,35,35 looks at least a little different from a 35,35,35,36, but do they really focus on that? The ACT scores are so compressed it seems like it might be helpful to differentiate between a strong 35 and a weak one. Anyone have any insights?

Anonymous wrote:Don't bother.

There's nothing a 36 gets you that a 35 doesn't. Taking it again also gives the opportunity to do worse.

However, why are you even thinking about this prior to getting the score.

Also, why all those APs next year? He is who he is by that point.

You're putting the cart before the horse. If you no idea if your child will get even the hoped-for 35 in the test-taking environment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP, did your junior get results? How did he do? Will you have him take it again? We're in similar situation, a 35.

Not OP, but my junior just got 35,35,35,36E, first sitting, and won’t take it again. That score is 75th percentile at the most selective places. Too much downside for a retake. Could get a lower score. Could look like a jerk. Not worth it. Sucks to miss a 36 by one question but I just don’t think it matters.

PP here. I thought ACT allows students to decide which tests to send. Colleges have no idea if it's super score or number of attempts. I could be wrong.

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP, did your junior get results? How did he do? Will you have him take it again? We're in similar situation, a 35.

Not OP, but my junior just got 35,35,35,36E, first sitting, and won’t take it again. That score is 75th percentile at the most selective places. Too much downside for a retake. Could get a lower score. Could look like a jerk. Not worth it. Sucks to miss a 36 by one question but I just don’t think it matters.

Dear OP, did your junior get results? How did he do? Will you have him take it again? We're in similar situation, a 35.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, my kid who got crappy education from crappy MCPS did better than your kid - 36/15 APs all 4s and 5s. What does that say about about your private school education OP?

Um, you do realize that MCPS grade inflates though, correct? They also offer AP’s earlier than any other district in the hope to bump their scores.

Most kids that do well in MCPS that actually do well with test taking had outside help. It isn’t like the school really was so great. No different than mine in MCPS elementary. The only kids doing well have parents supplementing at home. The rest of the kids are the bottom of the achievement gap and MCPS doesn’t have a clue how to actually teach those kids.

Why did MVPS get rid of exams again?

I am going to clear up some misleading info here.

It is misleading to say they got rid of exams. They went to quarter, not semester exams. Regardless, the second quarter exams can't help but be cumulative because they build on earlier material. This is the way I conduct my courses as a professor, as well. We have a midterm, and then a final which is weighted toward the second half of the semester (the quarter), but obviously has to draw on earlier material.

My understanding of why there are so many APs is because we have 500-600 kids in each high school grade in each high school. Out of those huge numbers, there are going to be kids who are ready to take APs earlier. If you have been through the high schools, you also know that AP allowances at younger grades have shrunk.

Our experience has been that the students who generally have tutors are kids who are in on-level or below. This mirrors a post on here from not too long ago that quoted Sylvan and one other tutoring center. A larger portion of their clients come from private schools.

Comparing the big districts to individual private schools is ridiculous anyway if only because of the relative sizes.

Would agree with the PP on the subject of exams. I was worried about this but the quarterly big cumulative tests are quite rigorous. The biggest problem is that since there is no official final exam they often have big deadlines during exam week including papers and projects

Not what I've been told...I have heard they are not very challenging nor cumulative at all.

I am the person who said the quarterly big cumulative tests are rigorous and I think I might not be the best person to comment on this thread as my DS is in a MCPS magnets. His magnet courses all have big cumulative tests every quarter that are very tough (they count for around 25% of the total grade). The magnet classes are not easy to get As in. Demanding projects and assignments and tough quizzes and exams.
AP classes also very often give cumulative tests every quarter.
The other classes (Honors English, Honors Foreign Language and other electives) are hit or miss. Sometimes they do have a cumulative exam at the end of the quarter and other times they just have a bunch of quizzes.
Going back to the MCPS vs. private school debate I think it really depends on the private school. If your kid is in one of the many parochial private schools in MCPS that does not necessarily make for a better or more rigorous education than MCPS but if your kid is going to Sidwell or GDS or NCS or StA it is a different story.
Even then, the number of NMSF from Blair, RMIB, Whitman etc tends to be higher than the number at any of these schools.
Perhaps some of the PPs who have kids at private schools can post the median SAT and ACT scores for their kid's schools. It is just one metric but it could shed some light on this debate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, my kid who got crappy education from crappy MCPS did better than your kid - 36/15 APs all 4s and 5s. What does that say about about your private school education OP?

Um, you do realize that MCPS grade inflates though, correct? They also offer AP’s earlier than any other district in the hope to bump their scores.

Most kids that do well in MCPS that actually do well with test taking had outside help. It isn’t like the school really was so great. No different than mine in MCPS elementary. The only kids doing well have parents supplementing at home. The rest of the kids are the bottom of the achievement gap and MCPS doesn’t have a clue how to actually teach those kids.

Why did MVPS get rid of exams again?

I am going to clear up some misleading info here.

It is misleading to say they got rid of exams. They went to quarter, not semester exams. Regardless, the second quarter exams can't help but be cumulative because they build on earlier material. This is the way I conduct my courses as a professor, as well. We have a midterm, and then a final which is weighted toward the second half of the semester (the quarter), but obviously has to draw on earlier material.

My understanding of why there are so many APs is because we have 500-600 kids in each high school grade in each high school. Out of those huge numbers, there are going to be kids who are ready to take APs earlier. If you have been through the high schools, you also know that AP allowances at younger grades have shrunk.

Our experience has been that the students who generally have tutors are kids who are in on-level or below. This mirrors a post on here from not too long ago that quoted Sylvan and one other tutoring center. A larger portion of their clients come from private schools.

Comparing the big districts to individual private schools is ridiculous anyway if only because of the relative sizes.

Finally, someone with actual knowledge has something of value to contribute. Thank you for your insight.

Anonymous wrote:Tests don't matter. My kid got a 2310 and 800 math level 2 and didn't get in anywhere competitive. Hit the books.

How low was gpa?

Tests don't matter. My kid got a 2310 and 800 math level 2 and didn't get in anywhere competitive. Hit the books.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, my kid who got crappy education from crappy MCPS did better than your kid - 36/15 APs all 4s and 5s. What does that say about about your private school education OP?

Um, you do realize that MCPS grade inflates though, correct? They also offer AP’s earlier than any other district in the hope to bump their scores.

Most kids that do well in MCPS that actually do well with test taking had outside help. It isn’t like the school really was so great. No different than mine in MCPS elementary. The only kids doing well have parents supplementing at home. The rest of the kids are the bottom of the achievement gap and MCPS doesn’t have a clue how to actually teach those kids.

Why did MVPS get rid of exams again?

I am going to clear up some misleading info here.

It is misleading to say they got rid of exams. They went to quarter, not semester exams. Regardless, the second quarter exams can't help but be cumulative because they build on earlier material. This is the way I conduct my courses as a professor, as well. We have a midterm, and then a final which is weighted toward the second half of the semester (the quarter), but obviously has to draw on earlier material.

My understanding of why there are so many APs is because we have 500-600 kids in each high school grade in each high school. Out of those huge numbers, there are going to be kids who are ready to take APs earlier. If you have been through the high schools, you also know that AP allowances at younger grades have shrunk.

Our experience has been that the students who generally have tutors are kids who are in on-level or below. This mirrors a post on here from not too long ago that quoted Sylvan and one other tutoring center. A larger portion of their clients come from private schools.

Comparing the big districts to individual private schools is ridiculous anyway if only because of the relative sizes.

Would agree with the PP on the subject of exams. I was worried about this but the quarterly big cumulative tests are quite rigorous. The biggest problem is that since there is no official final exam they often have big deadlines during exam week including papers and projects

Not what I've been told...I have heard they are not very challenging nor cumulative at all.