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AEC

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Everything posted by AEC

  1. DD16 (jr this year) is looking for a 1-semester course that's 'mathy'. Myself, and probably 90% of my coworkers, have at some point taken Andrew Ng's excellent Coursera ML class, so I was wondering about that. https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning the linAlg required is light, and there's a review section in the class. She's never seen MATLAB or linear algebra beyond the treatment of matrices in the AoPS series, so I suspect the 54 hour completion time estimate is low. If it took 75 hours or 100 hours...enough for a 1/2 year class credit? Am I thinking about this incorrectly in weighing time spent? Other thoughts on using a coursera class as a HS course?
  2. re: AP exams - start calling now. How difficult this is to find depends very much on your area. None of those are rare or unusual AP classes, so that helps. re: Calc...AB first semester, BC the second? Usually it's just BC, the whole year. And you only take one of the tests. BC isn't that much more material than the AB, so personally I always recommend that one, but some disagree. re: Econ...Macro first term, Micro the second, or whole-year Macro? That IS two distinct tests, unlikely the calculus. The scheduling that includes both in a year is very doable for a motivated student. re: athletics and "she's not attending an "accredited" program." are you looking @ playing for Div I schools, or not? If it's Div III, for example, no one will care and you can ignore it. If it's Div I, and especially if there might be scholarships involved, then this can be a big harry deal. And the NCAA is an awful, awful organization IMO, and they can & do change the rules retroactively. You will find parents on the board who have been through that process, though, so there's experienced guidance available if that's the goal. Be clear up front what Div you're looking at, though. It makes a huge difference.
  3. DS was just notified that he will have a new roommate. Move-in is next week. Apparently the previous one withdrew from the college. I'm a bit disappointed in old-roommate that he didn't even say anything. <shrug>
  4. us too, just now. Dorm move-in is next week (DS will be a freshman). Roommate just withdrew from school for the year. New roommate was assigned immediately. Was hoping he might end up as a single. no such luck.
  5. just like my every working day. We had all better get used to this. 😕 DS moves in on 8/30 and all his classes were originally in person. Just today, we've received notice that some will be remote - sort-of. His voice lesson and music theory class will both be conduced from some room on campus where he's the only one in the room and the instructor will be over zoom. The school send a list of acceptable mics and you bring your laptop and plug it in. Apparently the rooms have pianos, which they'll need. The students are supposed to go through a cleaning protocol before their class/lesson starts and after they're done, and the room will be empty for about an hour between students. It'd really piss off your neighbors if you were singing full-bore from your dorm room, so I understand why they're sending them someplace else for that. Given that, I wonder why they're bothering to have the mandatory freshman history/culture class in-person. That seems like the easiest one to do as a zoom class. <shrug>
  6. What?? Has school even started yet where you are? If I were a betting person, my money would be on the pandemic being at least as bad next spring as it was last spring, and CB holding on-line testing again. That said, this past year they wouldn't let you signup for a test if you weren't already signed up to have taken it someplace in-person, and I expect they'll do that again. So, yes, we will pretend that this will magically go away, even though in the US we're unwilling to do even easy things to make that happen, and then scramble when it doesn't.
  7. early in the process, I think your goal should be to close as few doors as possible....because honestly, you just never know. Being informed never hurt anyone. good for you.
  8. DS is heading to campus on Aug 30. He'll be in the dorms, for in-person classes, starting 9/1. Those who's DC area heading back - how was move in? Anyone started class yet? Any news on outbreaks or issues?
  9. whatever she charges, it's surely worth it. seriously. DD took her Honors Chem (not OChem, but same teacher) class last year as a Sophomore. She worked HARD, especially studying for the final, but she learned a ton and it ranks as her most favorite class thus far. Assignments and lectures were good, teacher is engaging, class was well organized, assignments came back quickly with usable feedback. Assignments are graded by the instructor - no parent involvement was required except 'proctoring' the exams. DD is taking AP Chem this year 100% because she had such a good experience last year in CVChem. I am confident the OChem class would be equally high quality.
  10. we did Singapore through 6B (dimensions didn't exist till right at the end, IIRC), then switched to AoPS preAlgebra and have done that sequence (not as self-taught as many use it...I tended to talk through the lessons with them but have them work the problems and allow plenty of time for puzzling things). PreAlg, IntroAlg, Geo, AdvAlg, PreCalc. Counting & probability were mixed in there, just for kicks. DS then took AP Stats (PAH. got a 5). DD took AP Calc (self-study, AoPS books + stuff. got a 5). even the pre-alg was much heavier on the 'why' than I got in school and frankly - I learned quite a bit going through it with them. I'm fairly sure I would have been of limited help beyond IntroAlg if I wasn't basically doing the daily lessons along w/ the kids. But, since I was and learned it too, it was fine.
  11. Apparently, 11 is late enough for DS18 to 'deal with the drama' and check. all happiness here.
  12. can't get the scores. "Many students are logging in to get their AP scores right now, so we're unable to display your scores at the moment. Please come back later today and try again. Thank you for your patience!" sad. This is what cloud-based webservices were built for, and really - there's maybe a few million people trying to get scores over the span of a whole morning? That's just not that much load. ------------------------------- eventually loaded. DD got a 5 on CalcBC. Super pleased. DS(the graduated senior) is refusing to look. Apparently it's still too early in the morning for that kind of drama 🙂
  13. thanks. At this point we're pretty good at fully online classes. For older brother, Eng01A and 03 (composition) where his introduction to 'regular' in-person classes. I was kind-of hoping for a similar experience for DD16, but it seems not to be. oh well...at least scheduling time to take the placement test is easy!
  14. DD's current plan. It'll be a stretch year. I'm hoping her current enthusiasm will carry her through. 🙂 AP Physic C (Mech & EM) - PAH AP Chem - PAH AP USH - PAH English - plan was a pair of DE classes at the local JC, but unclear if we can be in the area, if they'll be holding classes, etc. May need a backup plan. Prob & Counting (AoPS intro and intermediate books). Also wants to make a big push for a solid AMC12 score ASL 3 - OpenTent Scouts BSA - Eagle Project done by end of summer (mask making and distribution), Eagle Scout by December. But she's the incoming SPL, so there will be much scouting the whole year.
  15. I also have fears about: "security measures to [...] detect cheating, including [...] post-administration analytics" there will, ofc, be no recourse for false acquisitions, just really big black marks for kids that they think cheated.
  16. DD is signing up for 4 (both PhysC, Chem, APUSH), and we're charging ahead. No idea what they'll do, tbh. We'll prepare and take it as it comes. It sure would be nice not to have to find a testing location (though...none of this years are 'rare'...no MusicTheory this time around).
  17. OMG - a breadboard! brings back memories of hours spent in my parents garage with TTL chips building useless but nifty electronic thingies. If you find it hard to keep the wires all stuck in place as your designs get big, you might consider jumping to wirewrap boards. Just as easy to use, but they will tend to stay in place better. ETA: 'how to use a multi-meter' is a super handy, and quite simple, household skill. Is that battery dead? let's check. did I flip the correct circuit breaker before replacing a light fixture? let's check.
  18. we skipped it on the transcript totally. Both DC swim, so I didn't need to motivate the physical activity, and there are neither state nor college application requirements I was able to find that said it needed to be a class on a transcript. IMO, if you want 'em to learn to cook or eat well or be active, just have the DC do that. It doesn't have to be a class unless there's something that requires you to do so.
  19. also find this amusing...... https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now 1-d&geo=US&q=riemann sum https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now 1-d&geo=US&q=taylor series no one EVER cares to know what a Riemann Sum is....except between 1:24 and 1:32 today, central time, when they do...and then we're back to no one caring. lolz.
  20. the countdown occurred w/ 'submit' still on the page, but it sounds like that's expected. Also, we found a CB site that indicates that if you've hit 'submit' before the 2nd one starts it'll upload in the background and if you get the 'congrats' page they have everything. so sounds like we're good. thanks.
  21. I don't know why a cable didn't occur to me. DS has 3 next week - we'll have to look at how to do that w/ a chromebook. I'm sure it's possible and that would be better. Did you also see that the page just said 'submitting' till the 2nd question started, and there's no confirmation of receipt?
  22. whelp, she's done. She thought the (2) problems were pretty easy. she's definitely solved harder ones in practice tests. There does not seem to be any confirmation that you submitted something and they got it, or how many pages were submitted. which seems bad. We suspect that the 'submitting' tag is held from the time you hit 'submit' till the 2nd question starts. At least, we hope that's true because that's what happened. If you had another experience let me know so we know if we should contact SB about the issue, or not.
  23. I don't know what a good alternative would be, but this is pretty awful. DD is taking the CalcBC exam. She's mid-way, right now. First question she completed it with just barely over 5 minutes left - their guidelines for when to stop and upload your work. Take photo of 4 pages. upload photo to google drive over cellular connection. download to chromebook from google drive over crappy DSL wifi. attach in reply page. hit submit. As she's hitting the submit button the clock at the bottom is counting down. 11 10 9 8 7 ....why is it not submitting? it's just spinning there....the submit button is dark, so looks like it took it? but the submit page is still unchanged...what's the problem??? major stress balls....hang wringing... 4 3 ....clock stops counting. page just says 'loading'..... clock resets to 20:00...and starts counting down. page still says 'loading'. again, major tress balls. for 20 more seconds. clock says 19:40 and question 2 appears. calc working begins. no idea if the first question was successfully submitted or not. not sure if/when we get confirmation. She's doing math now, but it's gotta be hard to not be wondering or stressing about if the first problem actually went through or if you should stop earlier on this one to have more time, or??? this is dreadful. We took an already stressful situation, and made it worse by adding yet more time pressure plus the uncertainty of time-pressured IT problems, while actually reducing the amount of subject-related work and assessment.
  24. DS took the 1/2 year Macro (Richman) and 1/2 year Micro (Burns) combo 2 years ago. nHe was a sophomore and I'd rank it as middle-of-the-road work-wise compared to AP classes. He LOVED the Macro w/ Richman. Micro with Burns was acceptable. 5 on both.
  25. DS took AP Bio w/ Dr Kanner 2 years ago., The materials were good, and he got a 5 on the exam, but he found the class frustrating and somewhat disorganized. Assignments changed at the lat minute and it sometimes took ages to get grades back. Current year experiences: - AP Stats (Carol Matheny): A-. The class has been fine, the teacher responsive, etc. It's not clear this really NEEDs to be a PAH class, though. There just isn't that much material to be covered. -AP Psych (Bonnie Gonzalea) : A-. Solid class, well taught. Assignments were fine. He's feeling quite well prepared for the test. - AP Music Theory (Hannah Jackson): A+ DS loves this class, though it is a huge pile of work. He's passionate about music (music theater), but had 0 formal music theory background and his vocal training was 95% performance oriented. Ms Jackson's class has been fantastic and he loves it. - AP CompGov (Julia Reed) : C. I am shocked, but he really dislikes this class. He loved HumanGeo, Econ, history, and generally all social sciences. The teacher is not a fit here. She provides all feedback via short recorded video commentary, which he really dislikes. Much of her feedback seems quite arbitrary. When he's asked questions and I hear her response, I sometimes feel like she didn't actually read the question he asked and the response feels....aggressive? He may do well on the test - he's been working w/ a Baron's book and the systematic review has been super helpful. I was certain he'd love the class and he really dislikes it - I think mostly because of the teacher. -
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