Aragon High School Reviews
900 Alameda De Las Pulgas, San Mateo, California 94402, United States
In CP U. S. History, assessments (Quizzes, Unit Exams, Formal Writing, Research Tasks) are worth 70% of your grade, assignments are worth 20%, and participation is worth 10%. As long as you stay engaged during class and complete all of the class notes, you should do well on the tests. The unit tests typically consist of thematic questions, and the questions are usually interpretive or global (never factual). It is important to know that all tests are open note, and he usually wants students to use past resources as evidence when making arguments, so if you complete all of the class assignments on time, and make detailed responses, the tests should be relatively easy. As far as homework goes, homework assignments are few and far between, and typically just consist of finishing the classwork. The pace of the class is pretty slow, but he usually has a full layout for each day, so there is rarely dead time. As long as you pay attention during class, complete the classwork, and participate in class discussions, an A is pretty easy to achieve in CP US History.
Super fun class, everyone's pretty chill and there's a bunch of study time in class for Finals, especially the Oral section. Make sure not to procrastinate on the Workbook Homework because it helps on tests. Make sure to write sentences for all the vocabulary, not just the required work because you can use those sheets on the Written Final. Understand why, rather than just what you're learning in terms of sentence structure.
Music theory/history tests are few and far between, and are generally intuitive, so it shouldn't be a major stressor. It is always helpful to take private lessons, play in conglomerate bands, and practice outside of band to succeed in class. Aside from the concert music, he'll do some sight reading, scale exercises, and warm up scales, but doesn't teach music theory consistently. Lastly, it doesn't take much effort to get in the advanced level bands, if you have a passion for music it will show in your attitude and your playing!
For grades, communicative tasks are worth 50%, content/culture is worth 20%, participation is worth 15%, and practice is also worth 15%. Because there are various different topics contributing to the overall grade, there is not as much pressure to ace tests, oral exams, or anything else because the other aspects of class act as a cushion on your grade. Overall, the key to getting participation credit is by answering his questions in class, volunteering to participate in discussions, and staying engaged throughout the entire class. He does use the four point grading scale, which essentially means that it is harder to fail, and harder to get an A, but easier to end up with a B or C. Although this is beneficial to some students and problematic for others, it means that it takes a lot of effort and studying to get an A in his class. He offers a large variety of resources to study from (i. e. quizlet, conjuguemos, studyspanish. com, newsletters in Latin America, etc. ), so it is really helpful to take advantage of those throughout the year, but especially before tests and finals. He also lists each day's schedule, with links to all class notes/partner work/group discussions/videos, on canvas, so it is very easy to access work from the entire semester. This makes it really easy to study, check back on old assignments, and review before tests.