Course Descriptions

TJ Prep Classes

TJ Prep Long/short Term Courses. (6th & 7th grade)

Our TJ Prep courses consist of two-hour thirty minute classes held weekly. These classes cover the major concepts taught in middle school, as well as a number of topics that we feel are not given adequate attention in the regular school curriculum. This will lay an extremely strong foundation to allow the students to excel in their academic endeavors.

Math: These classes will cover topics from four levels of mathematics: Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. Students will learn problem solving techniques and critical reasoning skills necessary for the math problems on the TJ test. (1 hour of class time).

English: Students will progress through 6 levels of vocabulary while learning important reading comprehension skills. Students will also learn to write an effective persuasive essay using the process of pre-writing, writing and revision. ( 1 hour of class time).

Creative writing: Creative writing builds on writing and language arts skills that students acquire throughout their school years. Students are encouraged to develop their own “voice” by exploring various genres of writing including short stories, mysteries, poetry, and scriptwriting, among others.(25 minutes of class time).

Quiz: Students will be given short quizzes’ every alternate session to keep track of their progress. The questions on the quiz cover the topics taught in the previous class. Parents are advised to monitor these quiz scores since they are an effective way of making sure that students are absorbing the information presented in class and benefiting from it

These courses consist of two portions. The students will first cover in detail the major concepts they need for the exam, supplemented with numerous practice problems as well as homework assignments. These concepts will be reviewed in the weekly quizzes. Then, as the day of the exam approaches, students will practice with full-length three-hour tests to simulate the format of the TJ test.

TJ Test Prep Course (Grade 8)

Our TJ Test Prep courses start in early September and meet weekly on either Saturdays or Sundays (if required both Saturday & Sunday) until the TJ test. As mentioned above, our long term TJ Prep courses consist of two portions, the second of which is geared towards preparation for the exam. Students in our TJ Test Prep courses essentially join our long term students for that second portion, preparing them for the exam in December. This course is perfect for those students that are already comfortable with the basic concepts, but are interested in putting them into practice on an actual exam.

Students will receive feedback on the practice tests, allowing them to review any particular topics with which they had trouble. The students will also learn useful test-taking techniques and strategies that will help them manage their time effectively and maximize their score. Every practice test will include two essay prompts. The essay is a crucial component of the TJ admissions process, and it is important they they practice timed essay writing before the exam. With their practice test report the students will receive feedback on their essays to help them improve their writing skills.

PSAT-AOS Classes

PSAT-AOS Classes

This course covers strategies and practice in all Critical Reading, Math, and Writing sections of the PSAT.  The reading section tests the student's vocabulary in context so a 'cram' vocabulary program will be taught in addition to reading strategies and time management.  The writing section cover 15 grammar concepts and each concept will be covered.  The math practice will allow the student to focus on his/her weakest areas.  Students will also practice 'real' PSATs and end the course by taking PSAT tests.  Students should expect to do at least 2 hours of homework for a week. This course also address the needs of the students who are getting ready for Academy of Science (AOS). AOS students are selected through an application process.  Rising ninth grade students are invited to attend PSAT, after a competitive process that evaluates test scores, academic achievements, writing samples, teacher recommendations, and self-reported interests and activities. visit AOS website for more details. 

ACSL Classes

ACSL Classes (Grade 8)

The course is intended for 7th and 8th grade students, preparing them to participate in the Junior division of ACSL.

The main purpose of introducing this course at MyTJprep is to make the students' resumes stronger for TJ admission and give them a head start with computer science before they enter high school. The topics tested by ACSL contests are Assembly Language, Bit-String Flicking, Boolean Algebra, Computer Number Systems, Data Structures, Digital Electronics, Graph Theory, LISP Programming, Prefix-Postfix-Infix Notation, Recursive Functions, Regular Expressions, Finite State Automatons, and BASIC Programming. All of these topics will be covered in this class. 

As part of the course, the students will participate as a team in the ACSL competitions. Students are allowed to be part of MyTjPrep team, only if their Middle school is not participating in ACSL competition.

ACSL holds four monthly competitions, which all together make up the "regular season". For each of these contests, every student receives a score out of 10. Then, as a group we send the top 5 scores from the contest. This is on a contest-by-contest basis; the top 5 scores can come from a different set of students every contest. So as a team, we receive a score out of 50 for each contest (the sum of the 5 students' scores). 

Based on the team's performance during the regular season, they can receive award(s) and/or be invited to the "All-Stars" competition, for which the best teams from the United States and from other countries are invited. If invited, we are allowed to send five students of our choice as the team that will represent us at the competition. These students are chosen based on their performance on the contests, and possibly based on any practice contests we may choose to hold.

As we mentioned above, we at MyTJprep feel that this is an excellent opportunity for students to build their resumes for the TJ admissions process. This class is also intended as a stepping stone to high school level computer science competitions. Participation in ACSL, which is very accessible to even a complete beginner, will give the students the experience they need to move on to more advanced competitions.

ACSL -Program info : www.acsl.org
ACSL -ACSL - How it works http://acsl.org/acsl/02-03/works.htm
ACSL -Course schedules at MyTjPrep :: http://www.mytjprep.com/class-schedule
ACSL -Course details at MyTjPrep :http://www.mytjprep.com/course-descriptions#TOC-ACSL-Classes
ACSL -Test Schedules http://acsl.org/acsl/11-12/schedule_1.htm organized by ACSL.

Math Enrichment Program

MEP

This course specifically sharpens the student's investigative and problem solving skills, broadens mathematical understanding of concepts and enhances reasoning skills. All concepts will be taught in the class with the help of several problems, followed by challenging quizzes and module tests at different levels of difficulty. Topics include concepts covering the advanced arithmetic and algebraic problems and helps them to enrich their skills through interesting word problems. Students refine and expand their skills through interactions within every lesson, practice problems and workout questions. We will also be working on the previous years' AMC8 and Math counts problems to introduce the flavor of these math competitions to our students.The course is spread into 25 sessions, approximately six months. During these months, the students will have the opportunity to participate in AMC8 / AMC10 /AMC 12 and Mathcounts chapter competition in the respective months.

Our long term goal is to create awareness about math competitions at early ages and give students the foundation needed to succeed in national level competitions. Our dedicated and highly qualified and experienced team works continuously with our students to achieve this objective.

Special Classes

TJ Test Essay Writing Class (Grade 8)

This 30hrs writing course focuses on three critical writing skills: planning and organizing an essay; writing style; mechanics and usage. Students will learn how to formulate a position on an issue, develop compelling arguments, organize them in a clear, concise and convincing way, and critique and edit their own work. Students will also learn how to express themselves in a clear and engaging way by understanding their audience, using colorful and expressive language, and conveying passion and enthusiasm in what they write. Students will learn proper writing mechanics such as: organizing paragraphs into topic sentences, support sentences and transition/conclusion sentences; correct sentence structure; correct grammar and use of idioms; correct spelling and punctuation. Students will practice the full writing process of pre-writing, writing, peer and teacher evaluation and revision during this session. This class is intended for rising 8th graders planning on taking the TJ test.

AP Physics B  (College Level Course)

The purpose of this course is to illustrate the topics covered on the AP Physics B exam that are not covered in ordinary courses in physics.  These include fluid dynamics, rotation, thermodynamics, geometric optics, and modern physics.  Questions from past exams will be featured in the class, along with the guidelines that were used to grade the exam.  Several different strategies for approaching both the multiple choice section of the exam and the free-response section will be discussed in detail, using both previous exam questions and the rubrics used to grade them.  Students should have a background in algebra II, but no additional mathematical background is required.  This course is focused on the topics not usually covered in introductory physics that appear on the exam; students are expected to have another source for basic physics topics, like momentum and energy conservation, that will also appear on the exam.

Fluids: The physics AP B exam contains fluids as one of its main topics.  The exam often asks questions about buoyancy, hydrostatic equilibrium, Bernoulli’s principal, and related concepts.  The purpose of this sessions will be to cover the main points associated with these topics and to do a few practice problems to illustrate how these problems can be solved and what sort of thinking is required in order to arrive quickly at a correct solution.  Topics include hydrostatic equilibrium, hydraulic presses, Torricelli’s law, buoyancy and Archimedes’ principle, Bernoulli’s equation, and conservation of energy as applied to fluids.

Thermo: One of the main topics covered on the AP physics B exam is thermodynamics and its use to treat heat engines.  The purpose of this session is to illustrate some of the theory behind thermodynamics and its application to heat engines, as well as the processes that appear in problems on the AP physics B exam and how to treat them efficiently.  Topics include ideal gases, degrees of freedom, thermodynamic processes, heat engines and their efficiency, the application of the second law to heat engines and refrigerators, and the purpose and treatment of the second law of thermodynamics.

Mathematica

The purpose of this course is to illustrate some of the things that the computer algebra system Mathematica can do.  We will discuss many different levels of mathematics, including those seen in algebra II, pre-calculus, calculus, and multivariable calculus, in order to see how Mathematica can be used to solve problems.  Students do not need to be proficient in all of these levels of mathematics in order to participate in this course, as the focus in on how Mathematica can be used to solve problems and what the solution to different problems looks like rather than the mathematics itself.  The relevant mathematical concepts will be described in some detail in order for the students to understand what the program is being asked to do and, to some extent, how it accomplishes this purpose.  The student is expected to understand the basic concepts of algebra II, but completion of that course is not required in order to understand the main points of the class.

Summer Camps

Algebra I (Grades 7 - 8)

This four week summer course will introduce students to core concepts and content needed to master algebraic and geometric principles and properties needed in problem solving. This course will cover Algebra I topics including understanding the order of operations; simplifying and solving basic equations and radicals; understanding and solving word problems; understanding the concepts of function, domain and range, as well as one-variable equations; working with formulas and literal equations; working with applications involving ratios, proportions and fractions; the simplification of algebraic expressions involving monomials and polynomials; interpreting and solving inequalities and; understanding linear, quadratic, and polynomial functions. The course is appropriate for students who have completed Algebra 1 or plan to take it in the near future, or who plan to take the TJ admission test and want additional practice.

Honors Geometry (Grades 7 - 8)

The geometry summer course will cover fundamental topics including but not limited to properties of geometric figures, logic, relationships and reasoning, the study of Euclidean geometry of lines, planes, and triangles, similarity, congruence, geometric inequalities, polygons, circles, areas, volumes, constructions, trigonometry and selected non-Euclidean topics. Students will also be exposed to methods of justification which will include various types of proofs (paragraph proofs, two-column proofs, indirect proofs, coordinate proofs, and verbal arguments.). The course will also emphasize on two- and three-dimensional reasoning skills, coordinate and transformational geometry, and the use of geometric models to solve problems. To do well in this course, students are expected to have a good mathematical background in conceptual and analytical algebra.

Writing (Grades 6 - 8)

This 30 hour summer writing course focuses on three critical writing skills: planning and organizing an essay; writing style; mechanics and usage. Students will learn how to formulate a position on an issue, develop compelling arguments, organize them in a clear, concise and convincing way, and critique and edit their own work. Students will also learn how to express themselves in a clear and engaging way by understanding their audience, using colorful and expressive language, and conveying passion and enthusiasm in what they write. Students will learn proper writing mechanics such as: organizing paragraphs into topic sentences, support sentences and transition/conclusion sentences; correct sentence structure; correct grammar and use of idioms; correct spelling and punctuation.

Java  (Middle School or High School students)

This course provides an introduction to object oriented programming using the JAVA programming language. The material covered is similar to what you would find in a full-year introductory high school course. The course is divided into 6 chapters, modeled after the Fairfax Country Public Schools Introduction to Computer Science curriculum:

Students enrolling in this course do not need any previous experience in computer science.The material covered in this course is perfect for students who intend to take a high school introductory computer science course (which is required at TJ) but do not have any programming experience. This will help them have a much easier time with this complicated new area of study. The course is also suitable for TJ students planning to take the TJ computer science placement exam, since we cover every topic included in the FCPS curriculum for that exam.

This course is also a good starting point for students who intend to participate in computer science competitions in high school, such as the American Computer Science League (ACSL) or the USA Computing Olympiad (USACO). The topics included in this course cover everything students need to know for the ACSL competitions, and will give them a solid foundation for later advancing to USACO.

Creative writing

Creative writing builds on writing and language arts skills that students acquire throughout their school years. Students are encouraged to develop their own “voice” by exploring various genres of writing including short stories, mysteries, poetry, and scriptwriting, among others. Critical thinking skills are exercised in the process of learning the structure and forms of short fiction, whatever the form. By learning to write more creatively, students acquire valuable skills that will benefit them not only in the academic world, but also the business world.


Creative writing & Art

Art can breathe new life into writing as students embellish their own stories with personal artwork in classic media such as pen & ink, watercolor, charcoal, etc. The goal of the course is to write more fluently on school assignments after polishing their skills in word and image. Primarily fiction projects; short stories, scripts, political cartoons, limericks, writing prompts, children's books, greeting cards, poetry. Self-editing and revising stressed.


Public Speaking & Presentations:

Time spent in an effective public speaking course is an investment in the future. Every career depends on the persuasive transfer of information in an engaging fashion. Begin that leadership training in a no-stress atmosphere where humor is welcome and peers are supportive. Overcome performance anxiety, learn to research your own interests, organize the content, and design effective visual aids (including posters). Learn the mechanics of delivery and remain relaxed in the spotlight. Start one-on-one and then participate in group presentations. Finally, make presentations in a small group setting.

Writing Quest:

This is a 10 week long writing course which focuses on three critical writing skills: Planning and Organizing an essay; writing style; mechanics and usage. Students will learn how to formulate a position on an issue, develop compelling arguments, organize them in a clear, concise and convincing way, and critique and edit their own work. Students will learn how to express themselves in a clear and engaging way by understanding their audience, using colorful and expressive language, and conveying passion and enthusiasm in what they write. Students will learn proper writing mechanics such as: organizing paragraphs into topic sentences, support sentences and transition/conclusion sentences; correct sentence structure; correct grammar and use of idioms; correct spelling and punctuation. Students will practice the full writing process of pre-writing, writing, peer and teacher evaluation and revision during this session.

Physical Sciences (STEM Activity):

This course taught by Dr Jonathan Osborne, a book author, Math teacher at TJ, introduces students to concepts in physics through hands-on activities and experiments. In addition, students are taught the important and powerful role of mathematics in the study of physics. Throughout the course, students are shown how physics helps explain the world around us, and ignite interest in the field of physical sciences. Students are taught how to approach problems methodically and design their own experiments.

Pre-Calculus:


The intent of the course is to illustrate the material appearing in the pre-calculus curriculum at TJ that differs from that presented in algebra II.  It does not contain all of the material, as there is not enough time to do this, but it does cover the majority of this material.  It is possible that there will be material appearing on the exam that was not covered in the course, so students should study pre-calculus on their own in addition to the class in order to maximize their chances of getting a 90% or higher on the exam.  Students may ask questions about material they find on their own that has not been covered in the class, and the faculty is will to discuss this material with the students either in the class or over an e-mail.