Choosing Programs, General or College Prep?
http://bb.bbboy.net/independentstudyhighschoolmessageboard-viewthread?forum=13&thread=247
Powered By BbBoard - http://bb.bbboy.net

margfj
00:36:00 Sat
Jun 21 2003
Choosing Programs, General or College Prep?
Help! I was all set, or thought I was until I read recent posts about difficulty swapping lower level courses with higher level courses. My original game plan was to go with the general program and upgrade all subjects to college prep level courses, minus the math and science which we would test out of or quickly zip through without much wasted time or effort. All this is because my dd is using Saxon math and Apologia science and wants to stick with them straight through high school. Dd does not want to have to double up math and biology courses to get her diploma from AS and I have heard that testing out is difficult. Does any one have any advise for me??? What would be the best plan for dd to be able to stick with her preferred math and science curriculum while still getting a diploma from AS? Does anyone know of another accredited school that uses Saxon and or Apologia where dd could possibly take these courses and then transfer the credits to AS? Thanks in advance!

Fral1234
01:08:34 Sat
Jun 21 2003
Re: Choosing Programs, General or College Prep?
I read all the posts about the problems people had with switching higher level courses for lower level ones and problems getting extra courses sent. I really don't understand why they have been refused. My son started AS in December and switched English Comp and Grammar for Understanding English-- Algebra II for essential Math--- and was given a placement for Algebra I which he took in the Eighth grade at Calvert School. He also asked for and was allowed to take a total of 19 and a half credits for an extra $200 so he could take extra science courses. Right now he is working on Eng. Comp II and III, Spanish II, Bio and Bio Lab, American History, Social Civics, Art and Geometry. Lots of courses and when I called to talk about an accounting error they tried to send more! We have never had a problem that couldn't be fixed with a phone call and have never been refused a request. Please give AS a chance. We are extremely happy with the school. The courses are well planned, Tony is challenged in his work (especially Biology), the teachers are fair and The staff is very helpful (we challenged a grade Tony was given and after some consideration the grade was raised). He is zipping Spanish II, not by testing out but by simply sending in the exams without doing the course work. Hope this information is helpful.


jysmith
13:01:47 Sat
Jun 21 2003
Re: Choosing Programs, General or College Prep?
Testing out wasn't that hard for my ds. He tested out of Understanding English II, Physiology and Health, and Intro to Computing. If I had it to do over again, I'd have him take the test for physical science instead of computing for 1 credit vs. 1/2 credit.

The exams to test out of a course are open book just like the other AS exams. If there was something that your dd wasn't quite as familiar with as she thought, she could review the material and then answer the test. My ds had to look up some of the arcane terminology on the English exam and a question about alcholism on the health exam. There was one question on the computer exam that was so ambiguous that even my DH, a certified CISCO network person, couldn't determine what was really being asked. DS guessed and got it right.

The problem we ran into with the tests was one of different interpretation of the rules by the old director (Irene Nelson) vs. the new one (Dr. Goldsmith). I had understood from Ms. Nelson that we could have DS test out of up to 8 subjects. Dr. G limited us to 3. She said that the policy of allowing up to 8 tests was for students who were *previously* home-schooled, not for students who were concurrently home schooling. She apparently thinks those tests should be done at the very beginning of the AS studies, not throughout the time it takes a student to complete his/her studies. If you want to test out of 8 subjects, I'd get the approval from Dr. Goldsmith in writing before proceeding much further.

HTH
Janice

lbring
13:31:04 Sat
Jun 21 2003
Re: Choosing Programs, General or College Prep?
Just a question...

How can the exams to test out be "open book" when you don't "get" the books upon requesting to test out?

Thanks

jysmith
15:22:13 Sat
Jun 21 2003
Re: Choosing Programs, General or College Prep?
Just use any book or any internet site over the same material.

EagleMom
23:47:29 Sat
Jun 21 2003
We haven't had any trouble with changes
My ds is signed up for the college prep program...but we have made several changes along the way. Never have had a problem so far....always substituting a harder course for an easier one (ie World History instead of Psychology...Algebra 1 and 2 instead of Essential Math, etc.)

We used VideoText Algebra and ds just took the 10 unit tests for AS Algebra 1 and 2. Dh wanted him to have the extra review (he will be going into engineering). We decided that working through the tests would be better than just trying to test out. He ended up just looking up a couple of concepts not covered in VideoText (probability and trig items) and scored very well on all tests. I would think that if you had a good algebra text to refer to, you could try to test out.

Biology was another story. When I compared the AS Biology book with Apologia...it seemed that trying to test out would be difficult. The books covered things differently. Maybe if we had tried to test out, it would have been okay. However, ds decided to just use the AS book and supplement with Apologia labs. (my other ds used the AS labs and they were horrible). Ds won't be using the biology as much as chemistry and physics later on, so he was willing to forgo Dr. Wile for one course. He is now back to Apologia and plans to take both chemistry and physics courses.

As I said, we have not experienced any difficulties with changes we have made to the AS format. I just send requests in writing. I have also had good luck on the telephone.

Best of luck,
Nickie

margfj
16:35:26 Sun
Jun 22 2003
Re: We haven't had any trouble with changes
Thank you all so much for your input! I think dd will request the ability to test out of Algebra and perhaps I will wait and see the biology text to decide how to handle that one! Thanks again, I love this forum! I have learned so much about AS here.

jlg
18:45:29 Mon
Jun 23 2003
Testing out -- tests are not open book...
I was asked by Donna to post the following regarding the tests used for testing out of AS subjects:

" I hope you could make a suggestion to the most recent post - Choosing Programs, General or College Prep? - that they check with American School about testing out of a course, whether it's done open book. Someone posted a reply that the tests to test out of a course are open book. I was told by more than one person at
American School that they are not open book tests."

Thank you, Donna, for that information :heart:

jysmith
21:39:45 Mon
Jun 23 2003
Re: Testing out -- tests are not open book...
Thanks for the update.

This situation seems like one more case of the rules are different depending on when you call and with whom you talk...

Janie-- Do you have a recommendation for whom to contact at AS to get the most consistent and reliable info?

Janice

jlg
23:07:41 Mon
Jun 23 2003
Re: Testing out -- tests are not open book...
I'll have to hope someone else can address this. My son completed AS about 2 years ago when Irene Nelson was still there, and that's with whom we spoke every time I needed anything, but she's no longer there.

Janie

lbring
12:00:08 Tue
Jun 24 2003
Re: Testing out -- tests are not open book...
Do you think maybe the person(s) from AS stating that the exams to test out are not open book, are doing so because NO books are sent with the exams?

While the exams are meant to determine knowledge already gained, perhaps (considering AS's view on open book tests) it is not against the "rules" to consult other books/sources while taking the exams to test out?

I think that in the sense of having the ability to consult "other" sources of information...some people do consider the exams to test out as "open book".

Joyce



Choosing Programs, General or College Prep?
http://bb.bbboy.net/independentstudyhighschoolmessageboard-viewthread?forum=13&thread=247
Powered By BbBoard - http://bb.bbboy.net