Shelly in the Country Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I'm looking for ideas on how to come up with a grade for AOPS. If there are tests available, I haven't been able to find them. My dd is just beginning Intro. to Algebra and it is going well so far, but I feel a little uncomfortable trying to come up with a grade for her. When we used Singapore I used to use the Reviews and the Mid-term assessments from the IP books as a sort of "test". Should I use the chapter review problems in AOPS the same way? Anyway, for those who have btdt or are in the midst of it as I am, any ideas on coming up with a letter grade using this program? (We LOVE it, by the way :001_smile:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 We use AoPS and write our own tests, modeled after the practice problems in the book. (Often all it means it changing the numbers. Inventing new word problems is a little more work.) We give one comprehensive exam at the end of each semester, and the grade is based on this. With end-of semester exams, you could even get away with taking problems directly from the book - no student will memorize the problems she has done a few months before, and all work must be shown. We usually do not assign every single review problem for practice; the leftovers could be used for a test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 We use AoPS and write our own tests, modeled after the practice problems in the book. (Often all it means it changing the numbers. Inventing new word problems is a little more work.)We give one comprehensive exam at the end of each semester, and the grade is based on this. With end-of semester exams, you could even get away with taking problems directly from the book - no student will memorize the problems she has done a few months before, and all work must be shown. We usually do not assign every single review problem for practice; the leftovers could be used for a test. I'm laughing because you must have this answer memorized. Ever give a thought to writing and selling chapter quizes and semester tests for AoPS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 I have been kicking around giving tests for AoPS this year. But I am trying to decide what the purpose is. Why give a test for this program? As far as I am concerned, if the work has been done conscientiously, a student could not really move forward without having mastered the earlier material. I am thinking about giving tests just for the purpose of practicing test taking, but that reason does seem a bit lame for an 11 year old. Last year, I gave ds 2 tests on the material by finding the equivalent chapter in Jacobs Algebra, and pulling questions out of there. This kind of test told me if he had mastered the basics of Algebra rather than competition-level algebra. Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 I have been kicking around giving tests for AoPS this year. But I am trying to decide what the purpose is. Why give a test for this program? As far as I am concerned, if the work has been done conscientiously, a student could not really move forward without having mastered the earlier material. We use the end-of semester test to make sure the student has not just mastered the material back when it was studied (which they need to in order to more forward), but has also retained a working knowledge of it in the long term. From my own experience as a student I can say that I never knew more mathematics than just before I had to take a comprehensive math exam in college, spanning the material of all five semesters (and never knew more physics than just before my 8 semester comprehensive exam). The other reason to give a test is so that I have a letter grade available for any course that needs to go on the high school transcript (some schools don't care about early classes, but some want to see algebra and geometry even if taken before 8th grade) I agree that chapter tests are unnecessary, if I make sure that every problem has been worked correctly and the chapter material mastered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in the Country Posted August 13, 2011 Author Share Posted August 13, 2011 I like to keep grades for our core subjects. We live in an easy record-keeping state at the moment, but I've had to move too many times over the years to take staying here for granted :001_smile:. I also have a dd who is not very motivated by a letter grade. On the one hand, I find this admirable, but on the other hand I want to get her used to being evaluated before the grade keeping counts for college admissions. I kind of like the idea of using a more mainstream math program for testing mastery of basic algebra instead of mastery of "competition" algebra, but I'm concerned about trying to match up topics. I have copies of Dolciani (newer edition) and NEM that I could try to draw problems from. <sigh> Lots to think about. Thanks for the suggestions, Regentrude and Lewelma :001_smile:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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