Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, Kennedy, they push the "gifted" kids to take AP Gov in 9th grade and AP US History in 10th grade.

In my opinion, having just done through this with my son, I don't think kids should be taking AP courses in 9th grade, with probably a few exceptions here and there.

Most kids aren't ready for that kind of rigor or discipline and unfortunately, the lax attitudes of the pandemic from their middle school transition years really didn't prepare them for the reality check that comes with an AP course with regard to study habits and test taking intensity.

That being said, MCPS seems intent on cramming more and more kids on the advanced tracks sooner rather than later, even if the kids flounder and aren't ready. I assume this is because they think it makes them look good, but also because they have such liberal retake/reassessment policies that even if kids do struggle, they have multiple chances for do-overs, so in the end, they can still end up with a B or an A.

However, the truth lies in the AP exam scores, and if you look at the MCPS students taking these AP courses and the exam, a lot of kids are flopping with 1's or 2's on the exams, even though they've got a good classroom grade.

This right here. When your kid is getting an A in an AP course in MCPS and getting a 3 or lower on the test that gives them credit, well it looks pretty bad on the school and the student.

Some top colleges are only accepting 5's on exams now and most that kids that want to push themselves into only take 4's on the exams.

AP classes and honors classes count the same on a weighted scale. They shouldn't, but MCPS does anything for inflated grades.

No reason to take AP Gov and APUSH unless your child is intelligent enough to guarantee 4 and 5's on test.

Question - does the score get sent to colleges? Meaning unless you choose to disclose the score would colleges know? Or would they simply know that you took an AP course and whatever grade you received?

The score only gets sent it you choose to send it.

Under this advice, I would and have encouraged my kids to take APs and not stress about the exam. I think the goal should be taking classes with a strong cohort and getting a great grade on your transcript. If you then get a 4 or 5 great but its all about the class showing up on the transcript from what I am learning. Not sure why anyone would care about the test grade.

The reason why I care is because the disparity between the classroom grade and the exam shows how well or poorly the material was taught.

You have to remember within MCPS that there is an incredible amount of latitude given, with regard to flexible deadlines and test retakes. AP is MEANT to reflect the rigor of college. In college, you don’t get flexible deadlines and retake opportunities.

So kids are earning A’s or AB’s thinking their college ready, when in reality, they aren’t because they aren’t in fact performing at the college level truly since MCPS has so many training wheels on them.

MCPS should be holding itself accountable and view it as a serious issue that as many schools as I listed have less than 50% of their AP students scoring a 3 or more their AP exams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, Kennedy, they push the "gifted" kids to take AP Gov in 9th grade and AP US History in 10th grade.

In my opinion, having just done through this with my son, I don't think kids should be taking AP courses in 9th grade, with probably a few exceptions here and there.

Most kids aren't ready for that kind of rigor or discipline and unfortunately, the lax attitudes of the pandemic from their middle school transition years really didn't prepare them for the reality check that comes with an AP course with regard to study habits and test taking intensity.

That being said, MCPS seems intent on cramming more and more kids on the advanced tracks sooner rather than later, even if the kids flounder and aren't ready. I assume this is because they think it makes them look good, but also because they have such liberal retake/reassessment policies that even if kids do struggle, they have multiple chances for do-overs, so in the end, they can still end up with a B or an A.

However, the truth lies in the AP exam scores, and if you look at the MCPS students taking these AP courses and the exam, a lot of kids are flopping with 1's or 2's on the exams, even though they've got a good classroom grade.

This right here. When your kid is getting an A in an AP course in MCPS and getting a 3 or lower on the test that gives them credit, well it looks pretty bad on the school and the student.

Some top colleges are only accepting 5's on exams now and most that kids that want to push themselves into only take 4's on the exams.

AP classes and honors classes count the same on a weighted scale. They shouldn't, but MCPS does anything for inflated grades.

No reason to take AP Gov and APUSH unless your child is intelligent enough to guarantee 4 and 5's on test.

This weighting is not unique to MCPS.

It absolutely is

Nationally and all privates:

Honors is a 0.5 bump
AP is a full 1.0 bump

Between that and MCPS 89.5 and a 79.5 = an A - there is no other county in the country with inflated grades like MCPS. Not to mention the 50% and constant retakes teachers allow.

Burden of proof is on you to
provide evidence for your rant of made up numbers.

Or the person claiming it is not unique could also show proof that all school districts bump honors and AP classes the same.

I haven't found one other district in the area that counts honors and AP's the same, but for kicks and giggles.....

Every single local private school
Howard County
Fairfax County
Arlington County (slightly different but AP more than honors)
Loudoun County
PG County
DCPS
Frederick County

And almost all of the above have + and - GPA's to further distinguish the highest achievers.
And almost off of the above still have finals in their courses that count towards there final grade
And ALL of the above schools don't have the crazy chart that an A+B always equals an A for the semester grade
You get letter grades and they are divided by 2 for semester and 4 for final grade

So PLEASE stop with think what MCPS does is normal. It is a complete joke

This is embarrassing. I knew MCPS had an easy grading system with constant retakes but I had no idea they were they only district to inflate grades so bad. How do the top top kids that want to go to Ivies separate themselves from the kids that barely pull out A's in 1Q and 3Q and purposely get a B in 2Q and 4Q because they know they will still get the same grade as kids with high A's all Q's. How do colleges that are test optional figure out who are the brightest kids in the school?

The kids you describe are not getting into elite schools. Only a handful of kids are admitted from a given MCPS high school each year. The kids you describe won’t have the letter of recommendations and probably test scores to support their transcripts. And >85% of accepted students submitted test scores at these “test optional” schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, Kennedy, they push the "gifted" kids to take AP Gov in 9th grade and AP US History in 10th grade.

In my opinion, having just done through this with my son, I don't think kids should be taking AP courses in 9th grade, with probably a few exceptions here and there.

Most kids aren't ready for that kind of rigor or discipline and unfortunately, the lax attitudes of the pandemic from their middle school transition years really didn't prepare them for the reality check that comes with an AP course with regard to study habits and test taking intensity.

That being said, MCPS seems intent on cramming more and more kids on the advanced tracks sooner rather than later, even if the kids flounder and aren't ready. I assume this is because they think it makes them look good, but also because they have such liberal retake/reassessment policies that even if kids do struggle, they have multiple chances for do-overs, so in the end, they can still end up with a B or an A.

However, the truth lies in the AP exam scores, and if you look at the MCPS students taking these AP courses and the exam, a lot of kids are flopping with 1's or 2's on the exams, even though they've got a good classroom grade.

This right here. When your kid is getting an A in an AP course in MCPS and getting a 3 or lower on the test that gives them credit, well it looks pretty bad on the school and the student.

Some top colleges are only accepting 5's on exams now and most that kids that want to push themselves into only take 4's on the exams.

AP classes and honors classes count the same on a weighted scale. They shouldn't, but MCPS does anything for inflated grades.

No reason to take AP Gov and APUSH unless your child is intelligent enough to guarantee 4 and 5's on test.

This weighting is not unique to MCPS.

It absolutely is

Nationally and all privates:

Honors is a 0.5 bump
AP is a full 1.0 bump

Between that and MCPS 89.5 and a 79.5 = an A - there is no other county in the country with inflated grades like MCPS. Not to mention the 50% and constant retakes teachers allow.

Burden of proof is on you to
provide evidence for your rant of made up numbers.

Or the person claiming it is not unique could also show proof that all school districts bump honors and AP classes the same.

I haven't found one other district in the area that counts honors and AP's the same, but for kicks and giggles.....

Every single local private school
Howard County
Fairfax County
Arlington County (slightly different but AP more than honors)
Loudoun County
PG County
DCPS
Frederick County

And almost all of the above have + and - GPA's to further distinguish the highest achievers.
And almost off of the above still have finals in their courses that count towards there final grade
And ALL of the above schools don't have the crazy chart that an A+B always equals an A for the semester grade
You get letter grades and they are divided by 2 for semester and 4 for final grade

So PLEASE stop with think what MCPS does is normal. It is a complete joke

This is embarrassing. I knew MCPS had an easy grading system with constant retakes but I had no idea they were they only district to inflate grades so bad. How do the top top kids that want to go to Ivies separate themselves from the kids that barely pull out A's in 1Q and 3Q and purposely get a B in 2Q and 4Q because they know they will still get the same grade as kids with high A's all Q's. How do colleges that are test optional figure out who are the brightest kids in the school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, Kennedy, they push the "gifted" kids to take AP Gov in 9th grade and AP US History in 10th grade.

In my opinion, having just done through this with my son, I don't think kids should be taking AP courses in 9th grade, with probably a few exceptions here and there.

Most kids aren't ready for that kind of rigor or discipline and unfortunately, the lax attitudes of the pandemic from their middle school transition years really didn't prepare them for the reality check that comes with an AP course with regard to study habits and test taking intensity.

That being said, MCPS seems intent on cramming more and more kids on the advanced tracks sooner rather than later, even if the kids flounder and aren't ready. I assume this is because they think it makes them look good, but also because they have such liberal retake/reassessment policies that even if kids do struggle, they have multiple chances for do-overs, so in the end, they can still end up with a B or an A.

However, the truth lies in the AP exam scores, and if you look at the MCPS students taking these AP courses and the exam, a lot of kids are flopping with 1's or 2's on the exams, even though they've got a good classroom grade.

This right here. When your kid is getting an A in an AP course in MCPS and getting a 3 or lower on the test that gives them credit, well it looks pretty bad on the school and the student.

Some top colleges are only accepting 5's on exams now and most that kids that want to push themselves into only take 4's on the exams.

AP classes and honors classes count the same on a weighted scale. They shouldn't, but MCPS does anything for inflated grades.

No reason to take AP Gov and APUSH unless your child is intelligent enough to guarantee 4 and 5's on test.

Question - does the score get sent to colleges? Meaning unless you choose to disclose the score would colleges know? Or would they simply know that you took an AP course and whatever grade you received?

The score only gets sent it you choose to send it.

And just like test optional colleges, admissions will say they don't take it into consideration...... but they do.

If you don't send your AP scores in, they know you got a 3 or lower. If you are competing against someone who submitted all their AP scores and they were 4 and 5, you are going to lose that battle.

Same if you don't send your ACT score in and another person they are considering did and submitted a 34, you are going to lose that battle.

Colleges can say a lot of things to get full paying not-so-smart kids feeling secure they can apply. So if you can pay the 50-70K a year admission, then some kids will get in. But they know not submitting means you bombed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, Kennedy, they push the "gifted" kids to take AP Gov in 9th grade and AP US History in 10th grade.

In my opinion, having just done through this with my son, I don't think kids should be taking AP courses in 9th grade, with probably a few exceptions here and there.

Most kids aren't ready for that kind of rigor or discipline and unfortunately, the lax attitudes of the pandemic from their middle school transition years really didn't prepare them for the reality check that comes with an AP course with regard to study habits and test taking intensity.

That being said, MCPS seems intent on cramming more and more kids on the advanced tracks sooner rather than later, even if the kids flounder and aren't ready. I assume this is because they think it makes them look good, but also because they have such liberal retake/reassessment policies that even if kids do struggle, they have multiple chances for do-overs, so in the end, they can still end up with a B or an A.

However, the truth lies in the AP exam scores, and if you look at the MCPS students taking these AP courses and the exam, a lot of kids are flopping with 1's or 2's on the exams, even though they've got a good classroom grade.

This right here. When your kid is getting an A in an AP course in MCPS and getting a 3 or lower on the test that gives them credit, well it looks pretty bad on the school and the student.

Some top colleges are only accepting 5's on exams now and most that kids that want to push themselves into only take 4's on the exams.

AP classes and honors classes count the same on a weighted scale. They shouldn't, but MCPS does anything for inflated grades.

No reason to take AP Gov and APUSH unless your child is intelligent enough to guarantee 4 and 5's on test.

This weighting is not unique to MCPS.

It absolutely is

Nationally and all privates:

Honors is a 0.5 bump
AP is a full 1.0 bump

Between that and MCPS 89.5 and a 79.5 = an A - there is no other county in the country with inflated grades like MCPS. Not to mention the 50% and constant retakes teachers allow.

Burden of proof is on you to
provide evidence for your rant of made up numbers.

Or the person claiming it is not unique could also show proof that all school districts bump honors and AP classes the same.

I haven't found one other district in the area that counts honors and AP's the same, but for kicks and giggles.....

Every single local private school
Howard County
Fairfax County
Arlington County (slightly different but AP more than honors)
Loudoun County
PG County
DCPS
Frederick County

And almost all of the above have + and - GPA's to further distinguish the highest achievers.
And almost off of the above still have finals in their courses that count towards there final grade
And ALL of the above schools don't have the crazy chart that an A+B always equals an A for the semester grade
You get letter grades and they are divided by 2 for semester and 4 for final grade

So PLEASE stop with think what MCPS does is normal. It is a complete joke

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, Kennedy, they push the "gifted" kids to take AP Gov in 9th grade and AP US History in 10th grade.

In my opinion, having just done through this with my son, I don't think kids should be taking AP courses in 9th grade, with probably a few exceptions here and there.

Most kids aren't ready for that kind of rigor or discipline and unfortunately, the lax attitudes of the pandemic from their middle school transition years really didn't prepare them for the reality check that comes with an AP course with regard to study habits and test taking intensity.

That being said, MCPS seems intent on cramming more and more kids on the advanced tracks sooner rather than later, even if the kids flounder and aren't ready. I assume this is because they think it makes them look good, but also because they have such liberal retake/reassessment policies that even if kids do struggle, they have multiple chances for do-overs, so in the end, they can still end up with a B or an A.

However, the truth lies in the AP exam scores, and if you look at the MCPS students taking these AP courses and the exam, a lot of kids are flopping with 1's or 2's on the exams, even though they've got a good classroom grade.

This right here. When your kid is getting an A in an AP course in MCPS and getting a 3 or lower on the test that gives them credit, well it looks pretty bad on the school and the student.

Some top colleges are only accepting 5's on exams now and most that kids that want to push themselves into only take 4's on the exams.

AP classes and honors classes count the same on a weighted scale. They shouldn't, but MCPS does anything for inflated grades.

No reason to take AP Gov and APUSH unless your child is intelligent enough to guarantee 4 and 5's on test.

Question - does the score get sent to colleges? Meaning unless you choose to disclose the score would colleges know? Or would they simply know that you took an AP course and whatever grade you received?

The score only gets sent it you choose to send it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, Kennedy, they push the "gifted" kids to take AP Gov in 9th grade and AP US History in 10th grade.

In my opinion, having just done through this with my son, I don't think kids should be taking AP courses in 9th grade, with probably a few exceptions here and there.

Most kids aren't ready for that kind of rigor or discipline and unfortunately, the lax attitudes of the pandemic from their middle school transition years really didn't prepare them for the reality check that comes with an AP course with regard to study habits and test taking intensity.

That being said, MCPS seems intent on cramming more and more kids on the advanced tracks sooner rather than later, even if the kids flounder and aren't ready. I assume this is because they think it makes them look good, but also because they have such liberal retake/reassessment policies that even if kids do struggle, they have multiple chances for do-overs, so in the end, they can still end up with a B or an A.

However, the truth lies in the AP exam scores, and if you look at the MCPS students taking these AP courses and the exam, a lot of kids are flopping with 1's or 2's on the exams, even though they've got a good classroom grade.

This right here. When your kid is getting an A in an AP course in MCPS and getting a 3 or lower on the test that gives them credit, well it looks pretty bad on the school and the student.

Some top colleges are only accepting 5's on exams now and most that kids that want to push themselves into only take 4's on the exams.

AP classes and honors classes count the same on a weighted scale. They shouldn't, but MCPS does anything for inflated grades.

No reason to take AP Gov and APUSH unless your child is intelligent enough to guarantee 4 and 5's on test.

Question - does the score get sent to colleges? Meaning unless you choose to disclose the score would colleges know? Or would they simply know that you took an AP course and whatever grade you received?

The score only gets sent it you choose to send it.

Under this advice, I would and have encouraged my kids to take APs and not stress about the exam. I think the goal should be taking classes with a strong cohort and getting a great grade on your transcript. If you then get a 4 or 5 great but its all about the class showing up on the transcript from what I am learning. Not sure why anyone would care about the test grade.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in honors everything including Alg 2. She is also taking AP computer science. She came home after orientation stating she feels that honors history is for the non-college kids and she should be in an AP class. I have heard from countless teens and parents that AP Gov is a nightmare class for freshman and my daughter has zero desire to learn anything about US Gov. She also plays a travel sport that consumes a lot of time. I really don't think she needs the AP, but she is telling me she will be behind her peers if she doesn't do it. I am not buying it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most kids take the AP exam after the end of an AP course and send the scores to colleges?

Can you send only individual exam scores to colleges or do you have to send everything you took?

Does it look terrible to get an A in an AP course and get a 3 on the exam?

If you send the scores to a college, the whole AP score report is sent by default, but you can request them to withhold particular score(s).

https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/score-reporting-services/withhold-scores

Great information - thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son at Einstein took AP US as a freshman. He got a 2 on the AP but that was during COVID and it was a weird online home test shortened to forty five minutes. He took AP govt the next year and got a 5

Can he retake the AP exam? Wondering how this works as I have a child headed to Einstein.

I don’t know, actually. Didn’t think about that.

My main advice to Einstein parents is, unless your kid really wants to take IB, go with APs. If you want to hear my reasoning let me know and I will elaborate.

Yes, I would appreciate that if you don’t mind elaborating.

First, he will not get credit for any of the IP exams he took. He took six IB exams and got between fives and sevens on them and his college is not giving him credit. His college does give credit for AP. We were making the decision about whether to take IB courses during virtual learning and this was not explained to us. We only heard from Einstein that colleges would view AP and IB equally.

Second - and for some kids this may be a good thing - IB is more intense and stressful than AP. Of course that depends somewhat on the course and teacher, but it’s mostly true. I do not think his ninth and tenth grade education prepared him adequately for the IB courses. He barely wrote at all leading up to eleventh grade and then he was thrown into writing a lot. He wasn’t prepared for that. Some kids might want that challenge. For him, it increased his already existing anxiety. So it was a bad fit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most kids take the AP exam after the end of an AP course and send the scores to colleges?

Can you send only individual exam scores to colleges or do you have to send everything you took?

Does it look terrible to get an A in an AP course and get a 3 on the exam?

If you send the scores to a college, the whole AP score report is sent by default, but you can request them to withhold particular score(s).

https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/score-reporting-services/withhold-scores

Anonymous wrote:Do most kids take the AP exam after the end of an AP course and send the scores to colleges?

Can you send only individual exam scores to colleges or do you have to send everything you took?

Does it look terrible to get an A in an AP course and get a 3 on the exam?