My son is going!! He's thinking the second session, though. He was so happy--since we have so much USAFA history in our family, I had prepared for getting rejected in favor of someone who isn't as familiar. Yay!

No, I don't think any teachers knew about it, except those on whatever committees decide these things. I am on the AP bio teachers' forum, and last year there was a HUGE stink after the scores were released. Teachers were so angry! They had given the one sample exam that the College Board made accessible to teachers only as a final/practice exam, and they graded those based on scoring curves from the past. But when the actual test scores came out, teachers that had always had excellent percentages of 5's for their students suddenly had maybe one person score a 5, several a 4, and tons a 3. Teachers whose jobs depend on their producing good scores, and teachers in low income areas where the students were counting on 5s to get college credit were hopping mad, and their students were really upset. I don't know about any other redesigned tests. The bio teachers were all saying they were going to prepare their chemistry colleagues to expect scoring changes, so it wouldn't be such a big shock to them. That made me think maybe the other exams that have already been redesigned (some language ones? I don't know which ones)did not have at least as drastic of scoring differences.

I think the bigger problem is not the new exam, per se, but the potential change in grading, like Jen in NY was saying. For bio last year, instead of basing a 5 off of what a sample of college student would score on the exam or anything like that, the powers that be decided that there was going to instead be a "gold standard" for a 5, in that a student had to get so many multiple choice answers right, and so many points on each essay question to get a 5. In essence, their scoring was harder than expected for a typical college student. So even though raw scores for the bio exam last year showed that kids got a similar distribution of raw points as in other years, only a very few students at the absolute top received 5s (only 5%), because they were the only ones who got enough points to satisfy the College Board's new requirement to receive a 5. But my son, and Jen in NY's daughter, who both scored 4s, will be competing for scholarships, etc. against kids who took the AP bio a year before and easily got 5s. I doubt colleges are going to keep perfect track of what exam changed when, and how the score distributions changed. So that is my major complaint about the new exam. I think I'll feel more comfortable after maybe 3 years. Then colleges will be used to seeing the new scores.

Our pastor and his wife have a son named Ebenezer, who they call Eb. It fits him!

Maybe ask the question on the high school board? Regentrude posts a lot more frequently over there, so she might have a better chance of seeing it.

Yes, we are, and yes, I will! Would that be good for our 4 oldest boys (ages 16-10) and my dh, or just the 2 teenagers and dh?

This thread has been so helpful for me! We are hoping to take a military space-a hop (if we can get 11 seats, ha) over to Hickam in February to visit some friends of ours who live in Kaneohe. I've just started looking at things we should plan to do, and these lists are perfect for me to research!

I had to call the first time too, because I got confused. And now it's only been a year since I submitted the last one, and I still don't really remember how I did it! I do know I also didn't register as an AP supervisor. Somehow the code for your state comes into play--the same one you give your kids to take AP tests or the SAT. That is the professional code or something that they are looking for, and it shows that you are a homeschooling parent/teacher.

Wonderful!!! Congratulations! My ds has been working on his summer seminar essays as well. I think he's about done. USAFA's opened Dec. 1, but the other ones do not open until Jan. 15 or later.

That was going to be my recommendation as well! I had my chemistry students this year read that over the summer. So interesting!

Finally got my junior's here in NoVA-216. It's a great score, although not anywhere high enough for semi-finalist here. But he's hoping to go to USAFA or get an ROTC scholarship, so he really isn't needing a NMS scholarship. We're proud of him!

We're still waiting here in NoVA. Well, not totally--my 9th grader got his scores yesterday, but my 11th grader still doesn't have his! And we're heading of to Great Wolf Lodge for 2 days now! Oh well--I hope the results are worth waiting for, although I doubt it, with VA being such a high cut-off state, LOL.

That is me too! Nothing here either. Two of my boys took it this year, but of course the second one is just a freshman, so it doesn't matter. I can't believe they didn't come today! I was looking forward to being relaxed this weekend! : )

This is a long article from the Colorado Spring Gazette detailing an OSI program where cadet informants are recruited at USAFA, and then they spy on fellow cadets. The information they obtain has been used to gain convictions of serious crimes, such as sexual assault, but if there are problems with the investigation, the cadets are hung out to dry. The article appears to be well-researched and not sensationalistic. It is alarming, really, that this is how the Air Force has chosen to attack the drug/sex problems on the Academy, because it seems like it is not a healthy environment for morale at all. It seems like something out of East Germany or something!?! When your motto is "Integrity first, service before self, and integrity in all we do", this story definitely does not line up with those values, and it doesn't seem like this is the path to an Air Force full of officers with those qualities. I am curious about how West Point and USNA have handled their similar scandals, because it doesn't seem like they are going down this road. I know this is most likely not applicable at all to civilian universities, but I was shocked when I read the article, and I thought it should be passed on. My father and husband, as well as many of our friends, are all Academy grads, and my oldest is hoping to go there in 2 years. The atmosphere really seems to have changed there, which is very disappointing. I think the most disappointing thing is that the "higher-ups" provide no support for those down the line who are taking the fall. "Everyone look out for themselves and throw everyone else under the bus" does not make for a strong, ethical military!

I would have loved to see what questions my students missed, especially if there was a trend. That would have helped me evaluate my teaching last year more constructively, I think, especially since it was a new test, and since I will be teaching it again. I got my AP biology syllabus approved last year, but not until the very end of the school year--right before the AP exam, in fact, so it was too late to call my course "AP". But why I went ahead and got it approved then was because I desperately wanted access to the College Board-released practice exam for the brand spankin' new biology exam. I got it, so my 4 students were able to use it to prepare, which was very helpful for them. So I knew I would have no access to any breakdown of scores for sure last year. But the next time I teach the class (next year), I still don't think I'll be able to have access. Your child will put down the homeschool code on his AP exam, just like every other homeschooler in your state. How on earth would his test ever be matched up to you as a teacher? and that's why places like PA Homeschoolers don't get score reports either. Their students are all just "homeschooled", not lumped together in one group with a special code. I think, like Sebastian said, the school districts (most of whom have "AP coordinator" positions) receive the score reports and give them to the teachers. As far as putting together a syllabus, it took a bit of time, but it was not undoable, for sure. I even went ahead and put one together for AP US Government this year, which my son is just self-studying! Both times I got the syllabi approved in about an hour. I was very careful to point out exactly how I was fulfilling each and every curriculum requirement in the guidelines.

Not that I could figure out last year. I wish!!

I think they get sent out during the first week of December. I'll start looking for them the end of next week!

Will they let you join without having an AP chem syllabus approved? The reason I asked is because this summer I asked to join the AP US Gov. teacher's forum. I said in the comments I was a homeschooling teacher and so did not have an educator profile to link to (although maybe I misunderstood what they wanted me to link too, now that I think about it--maybe they wanted something from the College Board website. I assumed they were asking for something on a school website or something). Anyhow, I got a snooty rejection email back about how this was only a forum for approved teachers. Well, I actually DID have an approved syllabus, so I tried again, listing my syllabus approval number, and it went through. I really wanted to also join the chemistry group because although I am not teaching an AP chem class this year, I can see me doing that in the future. The AP bio teacher's forum is an absolute WEALTH of information, and I can't imagine teaching without having it! But I chickened out from trying to join--I don't handle rejection well, LOL!!

No, especially not for biology. But see, here is where it breaks down--if you are just planning on watching the lab on the DIVE cd, then it's fine. You use their workbook, fill in the data from the screen, and make your conclusions. But if you actually want to *do* the labs, then just watching him do it isn't enough of a manual. He gives a general list of materials, but it's not detailed enough to actually know how much you need of everything. He doesn't give any written instructions on how to do the labs, so you can't get any sort of a feel for the lab, other than by watching it. Now, for some people, that is all they want out of lab--familiarity with lab equipment and procedures (and just looking at this is sufficient), and watching someone else set up and run the lab. But other people actually want the experience of *doing* the lab, and for that, DIVE is difficult. So that was a huge tangent, but for DIVE Biology, the specific labs he does do not really correlate with the ones in the BJU lab manual, so having their manual is not helpful. If, however, you wanted to do their labs, because they are at least written out and have clear instructions, then it's a fine lab manual. Home Science Tools sells a really expensive lab kit to go with it, although I will warn you, it seemed like a majority of what it includes is actually just dissection specimens, not stuff to do the other actual labs. I can't remember now how many labs they *don't* give you the equipment to do, but I remember thinking it was several.

Yes, you would need the BJU student textbook, but not the tests. Those are on the DIVE cd.

I have used BJU with DIVE. On the DIVE website, there is a page that correlates the BJU chapters with the DIVE lectures. The DIVE lectures take precedence, as far as order. BJU really matches up well with DIVE--I think BJU is what he bases his lectures on--but there are still some slight differences in chapter order. Like Momto2Ns said, the student still needs to get a lot from the text because the lectures are fairly short, although often there more than 1 lecture per week. He does work out problems and explain them, so that can be helpful. I think DIVE is really helpful for kids who don't mind reading a textbook, but just need a little help seeing concepts worked out.

When will results be posted? I can't remember how long it usually takes! ETA:; Why on earth am I posting in such a tiny font? How weird! I can change the font size in the tool bar, but it doesn't change the letters I see! Sorry!

My oldest son is taking it for the second time. I totally forgot to give him the homeschool code too! Hopefully that won't cause any stress! He's taking it at the same place he took it last time, but I know I looked up the code beforehand that time. Oops! Well, we'll see what happens! Hope your daughter does really well!

So what did you do the second time to avoid getting that person??

Thanks for the extra info! That was really helpful. I will PM you later--I am sure we will have more questions. The daughter of our next-door neighbors is in her second year at USNA. Her mom was who was telling me scuttlebutt she had heard about representatives and nominations, so I am sure that is not a reliable source, LOL. Her nomination was from a senator, though. All very interesting! Ds has taken the SAT once (May of last year) and did well, but he is taking it again on Saturday, hoping to raise his math score more. He's going to contact his ALO soon too. Are we correct in thinking that the ALO that is assigned to the high school ds would attend is also the ALO for homeschool students in that area?