<p>Mine will be seniors also. They didn’t do as well as 29 on the ACT but we will see this time. They ran out of time on the ACT so as my D’s said, “I don’t know how many I would have gotten wrong or correct” which was frustrating, but that is how the ACT is, it’s a fast test. I can’t afford classes but one twin who did much worse in math is taking a course over the summer that is 100.00 and also has a free college trip to DC at the end!
Twin 2 is much more solid in math and is hoping to study online/books and work if she is so lucky to get anything. They both write well, but the weaker twin in Math is very good. She does okay in Math at school because all her tests are under an hour, but the 4 hour SAT tires her terribly and stamina is an issue. I also don’t think she retains as much of what she learned in Math prior years without review because her interest isn’t there.
On a “lop-sided score” thread on CC, there were parents that said their children got under 500 on some Math tests and still got impressive aid…maybe it depends what the student is interesting in.</p>
<p>I’ll have to search for the “lop-sided score” thread. D’s GC suggested she take the SAT too, but she considers more than one math section “torture” and I wonder if she would do worse on the SAT than the PSAT from exhaustion. She’s fast, which helps on the ACT - she finished all the sections except math, and even there she said she didn’t understand the problems she didn’t solve. Some schools she’s interested in are looking for a 31-32 on the ACT and don’t even consider the SAT writing.<br>
It’s good to know some got merit aid with under 500 on math - if D takes the SAT, it looks like that’s where she’s headed, unless she really studies.
That college trip to DC sounds like a good idea - I’ll have to think of a way to motivate my D to get studying.</p>
<p>Yes, our public school and a large university near us, that has college prep courses, found that trips help some students focus, because the colleges are more '“real” and being with other kids is more fun than Mom and Dad (although I don’t see why?) : )
I told my girls, if we can afford it, and I’m looking at any free app they might be interested in, just apply, I’ve heard enough admission stories to know, the norm is the norm, but many people get in outside of it.
Are any of her colleges SAT optional? I had a thread a while back which I found some that gave merit aid without scores…not a huge amount, but helpful if you need it.</p>
<p>Just skimming this thread makes me wonder: have any of you considered whether your child who performs well in the classroom but doesn’t test well may have some type of learning deficit? This was my child - A+ student in the classroom and active class participant, who didn’t perform well on timed-tests including mid-terms, final exams and the SAT/ACT. After 1st semester of Junior year, a caring Math teacher suggested that we have our child professionally tested to determine whether there was an underlying reason why he obviously studied and worked so hard (including with tutors) but still performed poorly on timed tests … turns-out our child has visual tracking problems and a spatial processing disorder which impacts how he processes written material - particularly math equations and the like. Interestingly, the visual tracking problem also impacts his ability to drive (this same child is a notoriously bad parker, and now we know why …) Had the math teacher not mentioned testing as an option, we might never have known, and we would have gone through life (and the college admission process) thinking that our child just didn’t test well. It took a lot of effort and quite a few appeals to get the accommodation of extra time on the SAT/ACT exams but the accommodation was eventually granted. I only skimmed this thread but I didn’t see any discussion of possible learning deficits to explain the disparity between classroom performance and test-taking abilities. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>OMG, that sounds like my daughter! A great student in class, wonderful at long-term projects, works very hard… but a generally poor test-taker all round. And despite practice driving for nearly a year, she still has trouble centering the car in the lane or driveway and cannot parallel park. Could she have the same problem? My very bright daughter is a surprisingly slow reader…does this sound like your child, BrownEyes? Could the slow reading, coupled with the other things, indicate a “visual tracking problem”?</p>
<p>I passed along a lot of good things to my kids, but unfortunately, they also got my less-than-stellar test taking skills! </p>
<p>My oldest - a senior next year - took the SAT cold in Jan and did okay, but not great (just under 1200 for CR, M). He is in a test prep class now and will retake the SAT on Saturday. If he can just push that grade up above 1300 I’ll be happy.</p>
<p>He is sitting with about a 3.5 (unweighted) GPA - again, good but not outstanding. We were overseas for a long time and he spent 8-10th grades in an IB school with they MYP curriculum. Moving back to the US was tough. Going from a VERY small international school to a large public school, changing from the IB to an AP-driven curriculum, changes in grading systems, changes in how assessments are done …and so forth - well, it was traumatic at times. Both my sons (I also have a current sophomore) have learned some tough lessons.</p>
<p>He is taking a combination of AP, pre-AP classes and will take some dual-credit classes next year. He will graduate with many more credits than needed - including 5 credits of math, 4 credits of science, 3 credits of French, 4 credits of fine arts (2 Art, 2 Band), and 5 credits of Humanities/Soc Sciences. And of course, 4 credits of English. </p>
<p>We’ll just have to see!</p>
<p>One of my daughters processes things more slowly, she can’t do fast tests well. She is also horrible with directions (although doesn’t drive as of yet)
My son who also wasn’t a good “timed test” tester was told it was a focusing problem by a teacher. He knows that, fades by hour 3, but didn’t want to take any drugs and his pediatirican said he wouldn’t push it. Taking them just for tests isn’t a bad thing but if he wanted to over-compensate, he said that was his prerogative. He is doing well in college, but I can tell he is worrying about his GRE’s next fall. I told him to to talk to his doctor if he thinks he needs help, it’s not a bad thing. The problem is he knows students that told him that after they got used to the drug helping them focus, they had a hard time doing it without it again when side effects made them go off. I don’t know how much of that is true, but again, at 20, it’s his call, I can only be supportive.
I think that a lot of bright students aren’t diagnosed with certain learning issues, and I think that’s why my son wants to go into that field.</p>
<p>Remember too, that these tests in the math portion cover the entire high school including, on the ACT, including some basic trig. A 10th or 11th grade student may not have taken Trig or may just be taking Trig at test time. The ACT even more so than the SAT the student will generally improve slightly each year as they accumulate knowledge. The better scores on the ACT can also reflect retained knowledge. Learning the time sequence and how quickly to move through the questions in the ACT is also key. Many kids learn for the teacher in school but may have difficulty retaining information and many may not be used to having to work under time pressure in high school. My kids typically do about the same on both tests with no large discrepancies but that is not true of all kids. The ACT/SATs are also scored nationally across all college bound students, while schools can have huge swings in the rigor of teaching/grading and a student that may have a 3.6 in one school could conceivably have a 4.0 or a 3.2 in other schools. It is difficult to compare GPA to ACT/SAT scores and say such and such a GPA should equate to such and such an ACT/SAT score.</p>
<p>LKF: I sent you a private message. Please stay in touch. I hope my story helps you to help your daughter. The professionals who did the educational evaluation and testing for my child didn’t mention a possible connection with driving - most especially parking and parallel parking. But the connection is definitely there. In my private message I describe how I discovered that my child is a notoriously slow reader … something I honestly never knew. Bright kids are known to compensate very well. So I guess the short answer to your question is: yes, our children do indeed sound very much alike. BrownEyes :)</p>
<p>This sounds just like my son. 4.65 weighted GPA and lots of AP and Honors classes but doesn’t score well on either the SAT’s or ACT. He doesn’t read fast which is what has hindered him and made him decide not to take AP English and AP history this year but instead take AP Calc and AP Physics and focus on the subjects he is good at. It is unfortunate that his scores don’t reflect how smart he is. I hope it won’t affect his admissions and or scholarship chances.</p>