A.J. at J.A. Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 We have started Art of Problem Solving Algebra with my 7th grader. He is doing well, but I would like to figure out what to do as "tests" and "quizzes". If for no other reason than to just give him experience doing them. Thanks, Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 We have started Art of Problem Solving Algebra with my 7th grader. He is doing well, but I would like to figure out what to do as "tests" and "quizzes". If for no other reason than to just give him experience doing them. I give my kids one comprehensive final exam at the end of each semester. Our goal is long-term mastery of mathematical concepts and procedures, not short term retention of a week's worth, so we do not do any quizzes. I write my own exams, modeling it after problems from the book. You could even use the identical problems, because the student will not have memorized the answers. For word problems, however, I would change the story because the key is to think about how the story translates into equations, and I do not wish my students to simply memorize this. The week before the exam I give them a pre-test consisting of a similar collection of review problems (taken from the book) to help them review the material that has been covered over the course of a semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I give my kids one comprehensive final exam at the end of each semester. We do not do any quizzes. I write my own exams, modeling it after problems from the book. This year we have implemented Regentrude's approach and it has worked very well. My ds has to study for about 5 hours before each exam in order to do well. Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I don't give tests. However, my son proves that he retains the knowledge as he excels as thing like Mathcounts. He continues to use the topics past as he explores new areas of math (and proves that he has retained the material and not forgotten it). I may have to implement tests for my upcoming kids, but I'll cross that bridge later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. at J.A. Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 This year we have implemented Regentrude's approach and it has worked very well. My ds has to study for about 5 hours before each exam in order to do well. Ruth in NZ Do you have a link? I'm not familiar with this. Thanks, Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Do you have a link? I'm not familiar with this. I posted myself on your thread and told you what I am doing. Ruth is referring to me giving one comprehensive exam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. at J.A. Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 I posted myself on your thread and told you what I am doing. Ruth is referring to me giving one comprehensive exam. Sorry - I'm getting over a cold and only working with half a brain. Thanks! :blushing: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fractalgal Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 We have started Art of Problem Solving Algebra with my 7th grader. He is doing well, but I would like to figure out what to do as "tests" and "quizzes". If for no other reason than to just give him experience doing them. Thanks, Angela I give my daughter a test every six chapters with content covering the previous six, so after Ch6, Ch12, Ch18 (which would cover content from Ch 13-Ch 18). I am planning to give the final test after Ch 22 (end of book). The final test will contain material mostly from Ch 19-22, but a small amount of material from earlier chapters. I haven't given my daughter quizzes, but I see nothing wrong with doing so; it would give you a snapshot of what he is retaining. A test is an excellent way to review. If you plan to count the tests as a large part of his grade, I would give him similar problems for a pretest and time to review before giving him a test. Many of the previous chapters' concepts are woven into the further chapters, so there is review built in. If you wanted to do a test over the entire book, I would allow extra time due to the amount of content covered. This would be a good preparation for college classes which DO give semester and final tests. A great source for test problems are the reviews at the end of each chapter. You could write something similar to those, but I would avoid putting too many of the starred (most challenging) problems on the test. If you do write your own test, make sure you work the test first to catch any errors, and then you already have your answer key written. Good luck. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. at J.A. Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 Thanks everyone!! One more question - in terms of difficulty, does anyone count this course as high school level? I know that on the AoPS Algebra page it says it can count as a complete Algebra I course and according to our local high school "Algebra I" can count as a full high school credit. I know my son has just started this (he's working on chapter 3 right now), so he will be working on it in grade 8 as well. Just trying to determine if I can/should put it as part of his high school transcripts. Thanks, Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 One more question - in terms of difficulty, does anyone count this course as high school level? I know that on the AoPS Algebra page it says it can count as a complete Algebra I course and according to our local high school "Algebra I" can count as a full high school credit. I know my son has just started this (he's working on chapter 3 right now), so he will be working on it in grade 8 as well. Algebra is a high school level course. And AoPS is the most challenging algebra program there is. So, sure, it counts for algebra 1. As to the transcript: Many colleges just want to see the work of the last four years of high school. They do not care about courses taken before 9th grade. We are documenting DD's early algebra 1 by listing it on the transcript with a note that it was taken before 9th grade, and we do not assign a letter grade so that it does not count towards the calculation of the high school GPA. Some people do not even list it, as it stands to reason that a student who has taken algebra 2 and precalc and calc in high school must, at some point, have taken algebra 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. at J.A. Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 Algebra is a high school level course. And AoPS is the most challenging algebra program there is. So, sure, it counts for algebra 1.As to the transcript: Many colleges just want to see the work of the last four years of high school. They do not care about courses taken before 9th grade. We are documenting DD's early algebra 1 by listing it on the transcript with a note that it was taken before 9th grade, and we do not assign a letter grade so that it does not count towards the calculation of the high school GPA. Some people do not even list it, as it stands to reason that a student who has taken algebra 2 and precalc and calc in high school must, at some point, have taken algebra 1. Awesome! Thanks for the info. Blessings, Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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