Daughter thinks she is behind

[Malam]

2 minutes ago, Lillyfee said:

So now when they put her in all advanced classes next year she will be on the right track, right?

"The right track" for what? I doubt they have these German requirements in mind. I would try to look at the catalogue and work out a theoretical course plan (with) for all 4 years that would cover the 5 required types of AP courses for admission. To paraphrase Eisenhower, the plan likely won't be worth much but the act of planning will be. Unless the school has an ironclad policy forbidding sophomores from taking AP classes, I would try to take an easier AP course in 10th grade (Psychology or World History) to fill the "further subject" requirement

[Malam]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

If you use the database on the DAAD website https://www.daad.de/en/study-and-research-in-germany/plan-your-studies/admission-database

select USA, choose Highschool, say that all academic courses were available, it asks whether you have additional tests.
If you choose no, it will ask whether you have completed any college.,
If you choose no, the result is:

If you have AP exams and choose in additional tests you have APs in STEM, you get 

If you select APs in humanities, you get:

In any case, the highschol diploma alone only allows you to enter Studienkolleg, not directly to university.
You need to plan at least for these APs, and to be prepared for those and have time to get them all in, I would make sure your student takes advanced classes.

Uni-assist.de is down at the moment; check there for detailed info. I would trust the DAAD over any other articles.

Are these minimum requirements for all German Unis, or could some (private?) universities have different (lower) standards for American students?

[regentrude]

14 minutes ago, Lillyfee said:

So now when they put her in all advanced classes next year she will be on the right track, right?

That depends on what "advanced" means for your school and what APs they offer.

[regentrude]

Just now, Malam said:

Are these minimum requirements for all German Unis, or could some (private?) universities have different (lower) standards for American students?

No idea. You could check uni-assist once they're back up and the DAAD.

[Lillyfee]

Where do I see that or do I need to ask. Sorry, I really have no idea about all that sstuf but on the this greatschool site it says at least they offer preperation for AP classe, right?

Edited February 15, 2023 by Lillyfee

[Malam]

1 minute ago, Lillyfee said:

Where do I see that or do I need to ask. Sorry, I really have no idea about all that sstuf but on the this greatschool site it says at least they offer preperation for AP classe, right?

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look around the school's website. If you can't find it, email the school asking for their course catalog and/or course descriptions

[regentrude]

2 minutes ago, Lillyfee said:

Where do I see that or do I need to ask. Sorry, I really have no idea about all that sstuf but on the this greatschool site it says at least they offer preperation for AP classe, right?

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"AP course participation" does not mean much. Just because a student takes a course does not mean they actually do well on the exam.
Check the school's course catalog on their website or contact the school. Which AP exams do they offer?

What do the grey numbers mean?

 

[EKS]

16 minutes ago, KSera said:

They’re actually related in that extreme perfectionism can be one manifestation of OCD. 

Yes, I know.  But perfectionism in and of itself is not a mental disorder.

[Lillyfee]

Ok, I guess I need to talk to the counselor.

Thank you all for all the information.

 

[Matryoshka]

31 minutes ago, Malam said:

Are these minimum requirements for all German Unis, or could some (private?) universities have different (lower) standards for American students?

I would guess for all German Universities.  I know many schools that used to be called Hochschule are now being rebranded as Universitites as well, have no idea about those.  If you were still living in Germany, would you be sending her to Gymnasium and aiming for an Abitur/University or Realschule followed by a Lehre or some other further education that's not University?

25 minutes ago, Lillyfee said:

Where do I see that or do I need to ask. Sorry, I really have no idea about all that sstuf but on the this greatschool site it says at least they offer preperation for AP classe, right?

The school should have its courses somewhere on its website.  You should sit down and look at all the courses offered, what APs, and what prerequisities she'll need to get into them, and make sure she's on track to get into them all to finish on time.

I'll also second what Regentrude said about 'participation' doesn't mean 'doing well on the AP test' - which is what the German schools will care about.  Although if this is a good district in NoVA, it's probably got fairly good stats.  Kansas vs NoVA, as you are finding out, are like different worlds in terms of school rigor/expectations.

[Lillyfee]

I don't even know where we will go. It's so frustrating. I just wanted her to be able to go to college there if she wants to but then we still have 7 years until my husband can retire and unless she wants to stay with my family she will more likely start college here in the US.

[Malam]

36 minutes ago, Lillyfee said:

Ok, I guess I need to talk to the counselor.

Thank you all for all the information.

 

I would try to get the catalog and a prospective schedule before talking with the counselor so you have some idea of what's going on.

[Alice Lamb]

17 hours ago, regentrude said:

"AP course participation" does not mean much. Just because a student takes a course does not mean they actually do well on the exam.
Check the school's course catalog on their website or contact the school. Which AP exams do they offer?

What do the grey numbers mean?

 

Note:  I know one local school district that pushes AP hard, but the AP coordinator was quoted in the local paper saying "We celebrate our 2s!"  A friend's teen in that district went from special ed for auditory processing disorder to an AP humanities class with no accommodations mid-year and did OK (B/C borderline).  I don't know if she even took the test.  This was done at the student's initiatve.  The parents were surprised that there didn't seem to be any intermediate levels available. 

Northern VA schools tend to be among the highest achieving in the country, so OP school is likely to have a different attitude and higher level of achievement.

[Matryoshka]

13 minutes ago, Alice Lamb said:

Note:  I know one local school district that pushes AP hard, but the AP coordinator was quoted in the local paper saying "We celebrate our 2s!"  A friend's teen in that district went from special ed for auditory processing disorder to an AP humanities class with no accommodations mid-year and did OK (B/C borderline).  I don't know if she even took the test.  This was done at the student's initiatve.  The parents were surprised that there didn't seem to be any intermediate levels available. 

Northern VA schools tend to be among the highest achieving in the country, so OP school is likely to have a different attitude and higher level of achievement.

Yeah, I live in a similarly high achieving area, and the kids taking AP classes here are getting 4s and 5s on their AP tests.  It's hardcore here.

@Lillyfee, think of it like if your kid had been attending a Realschule (Kansas) and then got transferred to a Gymnasium (NoVA).  Apples and Oranges with regard to rigor and expectations.  The classes may have the same names, but the content and pace are going to be wildly different.

[Lillyfee]

Edit

Edited February 17, 2023 by Lillyfee

[Sneezyone]

On 2/16/2023 at 10:54 AM, Matryoshka said:

Yeah, I live in a similarly high achieving area, and the kids taking AP classes here are getting 4s and 5s on their AP tests.  It's hardcore here.

@Lillyfee, think of it like if your kid had been attending a Realschule (Kansas) and then got transferred to a Gymnasium (NoVA).  Apples and Oranges with regard to rigor and expectations.  The classes may have the same names, but the content and pace are going to be wildly different.

This. Our kids’ school is similarly ranked/focused and my DS came home three weeks ago saying he wanted more APs for his sophomore year b/c all the music kids are doing it. At my kids’ school, geometry in 9th is the norm. It’s a whole vibe. Pushing back and crafting the right mix of intensity/rigor and ‘fun’ is hard but worth it. The majority of high schools in NOVA and select schools in Richmond and Hampton Roads follow this model.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Sneezyone

[gonejustcouldntdelete]

On 2/15/2023 at 8:26 AM, Lillyfee said:

Hi

 

So I homeschooled my daughter until 8th grade and now for 9th grade she is going to a good public high school in Virginia. I did not want to do high school as English is my second language.

She only has straight As in all subjects. I feel she is too strict with herself as she already feels like a failure if she doesn't get 100 % on a test. Even if she has 98 % she is upset with herself. I wonder how long she can keep up with her high standards for herself.

Now, they put her in all the average subjects as she came from homeschooling. Next year the counselor already told me she will be in all the advanced classes.

However, this year she is in Algebra 1 and my daughter is freaking out as she should be already in Geometry. Now she will be in advanced geometry next school year. I thought that would be the normal way and she doesn't even want to go to college for any math related job but she says that many kids did Algebra already in middle school and she feels behind.

Is she really behind? I feel as long as she has good grades and a good degree she will be fine.

Also, don't you think she is too strict with herself? My husband and me are just working class people and are not crazy at all about grades. She has three siblings that are not like that at all and I have no idea why she has such high standards for herself. It kind of worries me.

I'm from rural VA. We didn't even offer Algebra 1 until ninth grade, so I think she's fine. 

[Malam]

14 hours ago, countingoncoffee said:

I'm from rural VA. We didn't even offer Algebra 1 until ninth grade, so I think she's fine. 

Is that still the case in the school you went to? It's possible standards have increased 

[gonejustcouldntdelete]

On 3/5/2023 at 10:18 AM, Malam said:

Is that still the case in the school you went to? It's possible standards have increased 

No, that's still the norm. It's prealgebra in 8th grade, then algebra in ninth grade. The larger high school in our district does offer an advanced algebra course that covers algebra 1 in the fall and algebra 2 in the spring, but none of the other high schools do so.

ETA the advanced algebra course is only available to those who get either a perfect score or an advanced score on the prealgebra SOL. 

And, yes, I'm sure. I asked two relatives and my pastor's wife, all of whom are teachers, about it. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by countingoncoffee

[Sneezyone]

1 hour ago, countingoncoffee said:

No, that's still the norm. It's prealgebra in 8th grade, then algebra in ninth grade. The larger high school in our district does offer an advanced algebra course that covers algebra 1 in the fall and algebra 2 in the spring, but none of the other high schools do so.

ETA the advanced algebra course is only available to those who get either a perfect score or an advanced score on the prealgebra SOL. 

And, yes, I'm sure. I asked two relatives and my pastor's wife, all of whom are teachers, about it. 

That's unfortunate. The disparities statewide in course offerings are shameful. Do students at have access to additional courses through CVA? They should. Arkansas was sued over disparities like this for smaller/rural districts.

[gonejustcouldntdelete]

9 hours ago, Sneezyone said:

That's unfortunate. The disparities statewide in course offerings are shameful. Do students at have access to additional courses through CVA? They should. Arkansas was sued over disparities like this for smaller/rural districts.

I'm not sure what CVA is. 

We have Virtual Virginia and the Linwood Holton's Governor's School.

The latter is free online dual enrollment courses; my school only permitted juniors and seniors to take classes through it, but I'm not sure that's anybody's policy except the guidance counselors. 

The former is a mixed bag. They actually offer a full 6-12 program through it now, but students can take just one course. They offer a lot of advanced courses, including many APs. The problems there are that students don't get a lot of support in-house (and may not have any support available to them if they're taking something like Latin), and many people have bad experiences. I.e., I had a friend who got thrown out of his VVA class for talking to classmates in the built-in chatbox because it wasn't school related. The teachers are also very NOVA/Richmond centered, and they don't really make much of an effort to accommodate those in rural areas. We had a snowstorm where we lost power for about 12 days; my guidance counselor had to spend a week fighting a teacher to get my zeros erased and to allow me to do the work I missed because he just didn't understand that I couldn't just run down to a Starbucks. 

 

Sorry for the rant. I just have a lot of feelings about VA schools and the differences between us and their precious NOVA.