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One of my favorite memories from high school was from my AP physics class. One of the junior class valedictorians (there were at least 3 girls, all very liberal

One of my favorite memories from high school was from my AP physics class. One of the junior class valedictorians (there were at least 3 girls, all very liberal arts focused, tied for the position at the time) got a C on a test that accounted for a major portion of our grade. After class on the day we got our tests back, she approached the teacher and explained to him that she had never gotten a C before and was generally very distressed about the possible effects on her GPA. He was very understanding, and changed her test grade to an A. Later that year, another of the junior valedictorians was caught cheating on a test. After some deliberation among the councilors and administrators it was decided that she would receive only an informal reprimand, because to fail her with a note on her transcript about cheating (as dictated by school policy) could hurt her chances of getting into a good school (to say nothing of how it would effect her chances of receiving a National Merit Scholarship that the school loved to boast of its students receiving). On several occasions it was explained to me that it would be "unfair" to heavily weight test scores, because many of the "best" students, who turned in all of their assignments on time, had difficulty understanding the material and might not be able to do well. I hate to sound bitter, but even the public university I attend now (I wasn't one of the "best" students. I got A's on tests but didn't do much homework - didn't see the point, since I knew the material) is refreshingly performance based compared to that high school. Other than a few exceptional teachers, I find it best for my blood pressure to try to forget high school entirely.

derwiki 16y ago
How is that a favorite memory from high school? Sounds frustrating to me.
- russell_h 16y ago
  Favorite, in that it succinctly summarizes what I spent 4 years of my life dealing with. Frustrating pretty much sums it up.
sudont 16y ago
I'm surprised that they were taking AP physics. In Wisconsin, the valedictorian gets a full-ride to anywhere in the UW system. Due to this, many valedictorians I've seen take easy classes and graduate with a 4.1, whereas many of those with lower GPAs--due to difficult classes--end up going to better schools. One year the valedictorian went to UW-Whitewater, and the Salutatorian went to Yale.
- dkarl 16y ago
  In my school, any grade in an "Honors" or "AP" class got a ten-point boost (equivalent to a full letter grade) for GPA calculations. My graduating class had at least three kids with GPAs over 100, which would be impossible to match without taking honors classes. An A in an honors class always beats an A in a non-honors class, so it's hard to beat a kid who takes more honors classes than you.
  - sudont 16y ago
    That definitely seems like a better way to do it.
  - xiongchiamiov 16y ago
    For us, a A in an Honors course got 5 grade points (rather than the 4 standard), so doing really well in Honors courses put you above someone who did really well in non-Honors courses. The amount of work required, however, for a B in an Honors course was far more than for an A in a non-Honors, so for anyone who wasn't going to be getting top grades, their GPA would suffer. Of course, they are the ones who were more successful in university.
    - dkarl 16y ago
      I think the honors kids at my school were mostly headed toward college, so they made their decisions based on what would impress admissions officers. It might be different now, because Texas now has a 10% rule that grants a scholarship to students who graduate in the top ten percent of their class. (For a couple of years you got automatic admission to the state school of your choice for graduating in the top ten percent, but that resulted in half of UT's admissions going to 10% students, many of whom were very poorly prepared, so they changed the rule.) There were probably a few kids in my class -- very hard-working and curious but not as bright -- whose GPAs were hurt by taking honors classes, and they probably fell out of the top 10% because of it. There's no way anyone could crack the top 1% or 2% without taking lots of honors classes, though. It's possible our honors classes were less rigorous than yours, too. As I pointed out in a recent thread, AP classes at my school were noticeably more rigorous than honors classes, because our normal honors classes wouldn't have been sufficient preparation for an AP test.
matwood 16y ago
One of the junior class valedictorians (there were at least 3 girls, all very liberal arts focused I wasn't aware that a student could even focus on liberal arts in HS. When I was in HS there was some class choice at the high end, but every student had to take some sort of math, english, and social studies every year.
- russell_h 16y ago
  At my school the "honors program" was very liberal arts focused. But, with the grading I described above, the good students got straight A's, so the valedictorian was the person (or usually people) who managed to take the most AP classes. Only the easier, not calculus based, version of AP Physics was offered, so it wasn't that hard and a lot of the top students took it. The councilor told me the average AP Physics test score was slightly above a 2. Calculus (AB - the differential/integral only version) test scores were in that range as well, despite most students getting As in both classes.

derwiki 16y ago

How is that a favorite memory from high school? Sounds frustrating to me.

russell_h 16y ago
Favorite, in that it succinctly summarizes what I spent 4 years of my life dealing with. Frustrating pretty much sums it up.

sudont 16y ago

I'm surprised that they were taking AP physics. In Wisconsin, the valedictorian gets a full-ride to anywhere in the UW system. Due to this, many valedictorians I've seen take easy classes and graduate with a 4.1, whereas many of those with lower GPAs--due to difficult classes--end up going to better schools. One year the valedictorian went to UW-Whitewater, and the Salutatorian went to Yale.

dkarl 16y ago
In my school, any grade in an "Honors" or "AP" class got a ten-point boost (equivalent to a full letter grade) for GPA calculations. My graduating class had at least three kids with GPAs over 100, which would be impossible to match without taking honors classes. An A in an honors class always beats an A in a non-honors class, so it's hard to beat a kid who takes more honors classes than you.
- sudont 16y ago
  That definitely seems like a better way to do it.
- xiongchiamiov 16y ago
  For us, a A in an Honors course got 5 grade points (rather than the 4 standard), so doing really well in Honors courses put you above someone who did really well in non-Honors courses. The amount of work required, however, for a B in an Honors course was far more than for an A in a non-Honors, so for anyone who wasn't going to be getting top grades, their GPA would suffer. Of course, they are the ones who were more successful in university.
  - dkarl 16y ago
    I think the honors kids at my school were mostly headed toward college, so they made their decisions based on what would impress admissions officers. It might be different now, because Texas now has a 10% rule that grants a scholarship to students who graduate in the top ten percent of their class. (For a couple of years you got automatic admission to the state school of your choice for graduating in the top ten percent, but that resulted in half of UT's admissions going to 10% students, many of whom were very poorly prepared, so they changed the rule.) There were probably a few kids in my class -- very hard-working and curious but not as bright -- whose GPAs were hurt by taking honors classes, and they probably fell out of the top 10% because of it. There's no way anyone could crack the top 1% or 2% without taking lots of honors classes, though. It's possible our honors classes were less rigorous than yours, too. As I pointed out in a recent thread, AP classes at my school were noticeably more rigorous than honors classes, because our normal honors classes wouldn't have been sufficient preparation for an AP test.

matwood 16y ago

One of the junior class valedictorians (there were at least 3 girls, all very liberal arts focused I wasn't aware that a student could even focus on liberal arts in HS. When I was in HS there was some class choice at the high end, but every student had to take some sort of math, english, and social studies every year.

russell_h 16y ago
At my school the "honors program" was very liberal arts focused. But, with the grading I described above, the good students got straight A's, so the valedictorian was the person (or usually people) who managed to take the most AP classes. Only the easier, not calculus based, version of AP Physics was offered, so it wasn't that hard and a lot of the top students took it. The councilor told me the average AP Physics test score was slightly above a 2. Calculus (AB - the differential/integral only version) test scores were in that range as well, despite most students getting As in both classes.