Are friends' ACT scores usually similar?

[klmama]

My dc and dc's two closest friends had the exact same ACT composite score.  They also have the same GPA.  Have your dc mentioned the same thing regarding their friends? 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by klmama

[G5052]

Entirely dissimilar. Mine also do multiple AP's, and there was no comparison there either.

[gstharr]

Would  not surprise me if your daughter and her friend are taking the same classes. . I remember the problem Jaime Esclante (renowned inner city math teacher)  had with the sat/college board for ap calculus.  SAT board wanted to invalidate his  students' score for cheating because all of them missed the same questions.  Turns out that since they were all taught the same way, they got  the same right/wrong answers. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

That is a very interesting question!

 

 

[GailV]

Dd always had wildly different scores than most of her friends.  She met some new people a few months ago, and one of the attractions was similarity in ACT scores and GPA (not to mention having a random high schooler ask her what she thought of Gilgamesh) -- she felt like she'd finally found her tribe.  But she's remained friends with the kids she's known for years, too.

 

So, no, they aren't usually similar.  But I can see the attraction in hanging out with others with similar interests and tendencies.

[klmama]

Would  not surprise me if your daughter and her friend are taking the same classes. . I remember the problem Jaime Esclante (renowned inner city math teacher)  had with the sat/college board for ap calculus.  SAT board wanted to invalidate his  students' score for cheating because all of them missed the same questions.  Turns out that since they were all taught the same way, they got  the same right/wrong answers. 

 

Well, that's certainly not the issue here!  My dc is homeschooled, and the friends attend two completely different school districts.  Both of them take AP courses, but not the same ones and not at the same school. 

[8filltheheart]

No, my kids' friends are academically pretty dissimilar to my kids.

[learners4life]

Academically, some friends are very similar, some are somewhat similar, and a few are quite dissimilar. 

[katilac]

No, there's definitely a variance. 

 

 

Would  not surprise me if your daughter and her friend are taking the same classes. . I remember the problem Jaime Esclante (renowned inner city math teacher)  had with the sat/college board for ap calculus.  SAT board wanted to invalidate his  students' score for cheating because all of them missed the same questions.  Turns out that since they were all taught the same way, they got  the same right/wrong answers. 

 

Couldn't the same be sad for all classes, that the students are being taught in the same way? 

 

Edited to add that I had to look this up, because students don't all miss the same question just because they are in the same class or taught the same way. A little off topic, but very interesting: It appears that about 9 of the 16 students who took the first test did cheat. They retook the test (which is standard in this type of situation) and did very well, lots of 4's and 5's. 

 

So they panicked and cheated, but still knew their stuff. 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/13/AR2009091302414.html?hpid=sec-education

Edited November 21, 2016 by katilac

[mom31257]

My dd made a 33 on her ACT and received a full tuition scholarship at her college. When she moved in the dorm and started making friends, two of the people she instantly connected with were on the same scholarship, which requires 32 or higher. She didn't know they were until they had already become friends.

Edited November 22, 2016 by mom31257

[gstharr]

No, there's definitely a variance. 

 

 

 

Couldn't the same be sad for all classes, that the students are being taught in the same way? 

 

Edited to add that I had to look this up, because students don't all miss the same question just because they are in the same class or taught the same way. A little off topic, but very interesting: It appears that about 9 of the 16 students who took the first test did cheat. They retook the test (which is standard in this type of situation) and did very well, lots of 4's and 5's. 

 

So they panicked and cheated, but still knew their stuff. 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/13/AR2009091302414.html?hpid=sec-education

There is a reason why the Washington Post is not considered an authoritative source.   Consider the author cites a book he wrote as proof. The kid the author claims confessed to him, denies the statement.   LA Times March 17, 1988  "Real Life Flashback to 'Stand, Deliver'  articles.latimes.com/1988-03-17/entertainment/ca-1966_1_stand-deliver-real.  Even the  college board retracted after kids hit 4 &5 on retesting.

Edited November 22, 2016 by gstharr

[Guest]

I honestly have no idea since I've never asked.

[Guest]

Not at all, but our high school dumbed down such that gpa of top 50 students is a 4.0, or as our state does it, a 96 to 100 average. Most of the top 50 do not have the SAT or ACT scores to go with that gpa, or math thru calc and AP Science. Son tutored his friends thru math every year, and still is tutoring one that is attempting Civil Enginering.

[Shellydon]

No.  DD tends to score much higher.

[FaithManor]

Very different.

[Crimson Wife]

I would guess that homeschoolers probably tend to have more varied friendships than traditionally schooled kids do. I attended PS and my DH attended Catholic school. We were both in the "brains"/"nerds" (depending on one's POV) clique so our friends had SAT scores in a pretty narrow range. Ditto for my brothers and their friends (including my SIL and the serious GF I hope will someday become my other SIL). I mean, I don't know the specific scores but I can guess based on where they attended college and, for most of them, grad school. 

 

DH and I actually got the exact same combined M+V SAT score, though he skewed higher on math and I skewed higher on verbal.

[katilac]

There is a reason why the Washington Post is not considered an authoritative source.   Consider the author cites a book he wrote as proof. The kid the author claims confessed to him, denies the statement.   LA Times March 17, 1988  "Real Life Flashback to 'Stand, Deliver'  articles.latimes.com/1988-03-17/entertainment/ca-1966_1_stand-deliver-real.  Even the  college board retracted after kids hit 4 &5 on retesting.

 

FYI, that link doesn't work for me, but I found it via the article name. 

 

I have to say, it doesn't really change my mind. It doesn't refute that numerous students had the same wrong answers on the original test. The college board didn't "retract" anything - they in fact continued to state that the retake was justified. They are not bad guys for doing this; they have to protect the integrity of the exam. High scores on the second exam do not mean there wasn't cheating on the first exam. 

 

Whether any students admitted to it or not, I still draw the same overall conclusions based on the evidence at hand: Students knew their stuff, and students cheated on the first exam. It happens, people panic. It doesn't make them awful people and it doesn't negate their knowledge.

 

Of course, I could be drawing the wrong conclusion, it's almost impossible to know. Whether they cheated or not, there were irregularities on the first test which were appropriately addressed.