To go to Championships...or not....

[rob_c]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

With IB there is no option to take the test on another date. Its a now-or-never deal.

... That is with the exception of: a war in your respective testing region (country/city etc); a natural disaster (earthquake/hurricane/tornado etc); or if you're in an unstable health condition (ie. you're in the ER because you got run over by a car on the way to your exam) ...
You can't be late to an exam, either, as IB has strict policies regarding when you may begin the testing process - to within a 30-ish minute long period of time (all exams are taken on the same exact day at the same regional time all over the world, so IB is very particular about when an exam may start in a given te zone)

As far as students' abilities to sit multiple higher-level high school exams and attend CMP: if a student is committed to their studies throughout the course of the entire year, then I should think they'd be capable of attending an event such as CMP without suffering any adverse issues taking their exams (with maybe the issue of falling asleep during the exam - I was exhausted after I got back...)
EricH brought up the point of seeing how many students would be able to go to a competition given that exams are so close... I mentioned to my parents yesterday about how close CMP is to exams for he 2011 season and they told me that if I were to have had my exams so soon after a competition they would not allow me to attend. If there are not enough students allowed to attend the competition based upon the pretext that exams are so close (or any other reason), it would seem sensible to decide not to attend CMP... If not enough students can go to participate as a competing team, then it's not worth doing... That doesn't mean, however, that a small group could not attend just for the experience and for the conference.
-Rob.

[Bob Steele]

The exams that need to be done during the week of May 2nd are:
For everyone's information

Monday: AM Chemistry AND Environmental Science
(if you have both you can reschedule one or the other....)

PM Psychology

Tuesday: AM Computer Science A AND Spanish (see above)

PM Art History

Wednesday AM Calculus AB and BC

PM Chinese

Thursday AM English Lit and Composition

PM Japanese AND Latin

Friday AM German AND US History

PM European History and Studio Art

Note: Early testing or testing at times other than those published by the College Board are not permitted under any circumstances.
Coordinators should order late-testing exams for students who would like to take exams that are scheduled for the same time.

[ManicMechanic]

Other considerations:

1. How will jet lag affect you? Coming from CA, our team had its sleep schedule turned upside down, and wasn't acclimated to either time zone. Result: insomnia & exhaustion for several test takers, resulting in poor scores. (Pro tip: disallow texting near the "edges of the night", as it does weird things to both the texters but and their roomies.)

2. If part of the team attends, how will that will the missing pieces affect the rest of the team? One year, our head programmer, head mechanical person, and head driver couldn't attend. Even though the team had the numbers to "be a team", the absence of key personnel tipped the scales so that even those students who had planned to go eventually decided not to.

[Akash Rastogi]

Other considerations...

If you don't go to the Championship Event, the terrorists win.

.

[Bob Steele]

We had an interesting discussion about this at our the executive mentor group last night. We basically came to the conclusion that this is a decision best left up to the student and his family.

Being an AP teacher myself AND the coach of the team... I can see a variety of issues here. I understand that college finals can be an issue but in the end, as much as I enjoy having college mentors around, I am reminded that this is a high school program and that is what this dilemma should be focused on.

College finals and other activities have always been an issue with FIRST in regionals and in finals.

For the high school student it is easy for me to cop out and say
"If you don't know it by now you won't learn it in the last 2-3 days"
I am not sure that for some finals that this is a correct statement.

I teach both AP Physics and AP Environmental Science and these tests are dominated by ideas and the application of them... more so in physics and APES....

For classes that have much to be memorized... for instance AP History...
I can see this being an issue... a last minute cram session might add a few points.... I am not really sure about this... although in the scheme of everything a late night cram session is ONLY good for the test... it will never really add to your learning...

Learning takes time... and has to be nurtured over weeks and weeks of lecture, projects, labs, papers, study and reading....
This is what I am really after... as a teacher...

So the idea that the last few days are critical for the test really doesn't hold much water for me... although some study sessions are certainly valuable for the test.

So I see the real issue here... the exhaustion that always comes with the Championships.... I do think that this is really just an issue for tests taken on the first day.... or perhaps the first two days.... depending on when you get back...

I believe that on our team I will be discussing this issue with students and parents....

My own opinion is that perhaps a student could go to the Championships and leave on Saturday night and then be rested enough to be able to do well on a Monday test with a full Sunday to rest...

Another option might be to go for just Wed-Friday and take an early flight back home...

Being an AP Environmental Science teacher... I do suggest something else..a partial solution...
I will volunteer to lead a study session for the APES test for anyone that wants to attend...AT the championships.... it might be fun.... it could certainly be interesting....

Maybe we could find an AP Chem teacher and an AP Psychology teacher to do something similar....
If we could perhaps find a room at the championships to do this... I think it might, at least. be a partial solution to all those seniors out their that have been waiting to go to Championships their entire FIRST career....

Anyone interested in this?
I am thinking about 90 minutes somewhere.... student discussions... study groups.... lecture.... whatever we want....

????

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

For classes that have much to be memorized... for instance AP History...
I can see this being an issue... a last minute cram session might add a few points.... I am not really sure about this... although in the scheme of everything a late night cram session is ONLY good for the test... it will never really add to your learning...

The AP world and US History tests are surprisingly pretty easy when you pay attention in class. Most of the subject matter deals with common ideals and topics during certain time periods, so the tests leave much for the student to infer and answer appropriately. To be honest, I did only pay attention in AP World but did not study and received a 4 (for my standards that is good enough).

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

My own opinion is that perhaps a student could go to the Championships and leave on Saturday night and then be rested enough to be able to do well on a Monday test with a full Sunday to rest...

Another option might be to go for just Wed-Friday and take an early flight back home...

If it's just one student, you're probably OK. If it's a large group, make sure it's the latest possible flight out--you never know when something unexpected (like, you know, winning the Championship) will come up. Or get the earliest possible flight on Sunday (short sleep Saturday night + airplane sleep + resting on Sunday).

[ChrisH]

Or go to IRI instead.

Shorter speeches, better entertainment, and tougher competition. An all around great value.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by ChrisH

Or go to IRI instead.

Shorter speeches, better entertainment, and tougher competition. An all around great value.

Don't forget you have to qualify first

I say this mostly because a small portion of my team has wanted to do this for awhile. We have to remind them that we need to prove ourselves to get there, unlike the real Championship.

[buildmaster5000]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

The exams that need to be done during the week of May 2nd are:
For everyone's information

Monday: AM Chemistry AND Environmental Science
(if you have both you can reschedule one or the other....)

PM Psychology

Tuesday: AM Computer Science A AND Spanish (see above)

PM Art History

Wednesday AM Calculus AB and BC

PM Chinese

Thursday AM English Lit and Composition

PM Japanese AND Latin

Friday AM German AND US History

PM European History and Studio Art

Note: Early testing or testing at times other than those published by the College Board are not permitted under any circumstances.
Coordinators should order late-testing exams for students who would like to take exams that are scheduled for the same time.

Isn't AP Government usually on Monday morning?

[KrazyCarl92]

As a student who does take what some consider to be "excessive" amounts of AP tests, this doesn't strike me as a problem. Any student taking that many AP tests is either highly motivated and should do well regardless based on hard work and paying attention in class throughout the year, or else that student simply doesn't belong in that many AP classes and should scale it back quite a bit. I did exceptionally well on all 4 of my APs this year while making widespread contributions as a leader on my team. Simply put, "Where there is a will, there is a way." And given the choice, I would not miss the championship experience for the world.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by buildmaster5000

Isn't AP Government usually on Monday morning?

US Gov is the 2nd week on Tuesday morning....Comp Gov same day afternoon


Here is the info on Government from AP 2011

Tuesday,May 10 AM United States Government and Politics

PM Comparative Government and Politics

The other data is from the AP Exam date list from College Board website

http://professionals.collegeboard.co...ates/next-year

[JaneYoung]

I'm a little surprised that the whole team hasn't been looked at during this discussion:
- the college mentors
- the high school students
- the parents who may or may not support the team but will also be stressing because of the pressures/decisions met with added pressures for their children and for the team.

If everyone is carrying the weight of stress/pressure due to the academic schedule - magnified by the competition and travel involved at Championship level - that could make for an intense season before even attending Kick Off. If not carefully monitored and planned, setting very clear priorities that support the health and safety of the team and its individuals, it could become the straw that broke the camel's back. My question would be - why go through that, compromising the tests and the team's competitive edge?

Just some thoughts.

Jane

[kjolana1124]

I've shown this topic to my team, and I have been thinking about it for a while. Finally, here are my two cents:

I only took one exam this year, APUSH. Studying for that was without a doubt one of the most stressful experiences for me ever, partially due to what I was juggling along with it. Now, I have a lot of trouble focusing when studying, and I know not every kid needs to study like I do. But I know for me, just to get that four took hours upon days to do.

Preparing for Championships was probably the other high stress point for me this year. We were preparing our first every CCA presentation, getting travel logistics done, finishing some last minute touches on our robot, scouting, you name it, there was an issue. Don't get me wrong, it is always the most fun I have throughout the entire year, but a lot goes into it.

I've thought about what I would have to do this year when it comes to putting these together, and to be honest I'm having trouble simply picturing it. I'm taking two classes and maybe three exams this year, a lot more than last year. Moreover, since Championships are in a different location this year, a lot of the more standard travel procedures our team has down will have to be relooked at, adding more pressure for that. This is just what's on my mind before we even know what the bloody game is.

I'm guilty of having the world's worst study habits, but even I am uneasy about missing study time. I love Champs more than anything else in the world, anything. But whether or not I would go personally...I really will be thinking about it, and I'm probably going to be coach next year.

Students, please don't take this lightly. I know I sound like a parent here, but I'm worried. What would be nice is if FIRST gave some more information about why they did this. I mean, they had to know about this.

[Chris is me]

So I just remembered I actually did take an AP class once... Just one class I couldn't just take at my local college.

Anyway, I don't really get why people hype the AP tests as something particularly petrifying or something that you need to spend months and months obsessing over. They're basically a final exam but you know exactly what material can be on it due to the regulated curriculum. By no means am I saying "oh just don't worry about it it's no big deal" but really, if you do well in school, you're doing well on AP. A college course it is not, despite the intent of the program.

I have always felt the AP's test-centric studying routines and general culture promoted an anti-educational method of class taking that doesn't serve you well at all in the future. Having your life, education, and knowledge revolve around a big folded piece of paper that determines whether or not you'll get to skip a class at college, maybe, is taking an AP for the wrong reasons. If you spent the year actually learning material, you'll do fine.

And on that note, I think any student mature enough to actually learn the material of a class is mature enough to make their own decisions, and doesn't need a warning from me or anyone else on the internet about what should be completely obvious to them. Similarly, the people that don't get it and cram at the end are the people that will ignore anything I suggest to them anyway.