<p>I got a great verbal score (97) and an OK reading score (89). I am a humanities student with a pretty damn good vocabulary and am a whiz w/ analogies, which is why i got a great verbal score. But with reading, I always pick up the little metaphors and implications and everything.. which is why I got all of the "Higher Order" questions correct. But I got 2 "Main Idea" questions wrong. ..this, I presume, is because I think deeper than I should when reading, and am more interested in the logic, style, attitude, and metaphors than little supporing details... when i take literature tests, i always end up arguing w/ my teacher about a presumably right/wrong answer, and how it can logically be interpreted my way.. and she agrees! but this will probably hurt me on the CR SAT portion.. same iwth math! just yesterday, i came up with a new, more logical answer to something on my test that was completely different than the "right" answer in the book. and then a few days before that.. i did the same thing w/ a geometry problem on the SAT's.. so, i will not get a 2400!!</p>
<p>I got a 98 in verbal and 96 in Reading, but I think that Verbal also requires skill to do. Sure, some people naturally know more vocab than others, but this is because they read more, pay attention to what they are reading, and look words up if they don't know them. Analogies are more "fair" because they can give you context clues and they're basically IQ questions. It's not just how many words you know....</p>
<p>Get yourself a SSAT study guide and every night look at a few of the vocab words, and try to USE them in your writing/conversations over the next few months, you will be shocked at how much you can improve your verbal score. Also, you said that you didn't spend a lot of time on your application, perhaps that showed, plan to start earlier, and spend time on you apps, and I think you will probably see a better result. Good luck.</p>
<p>Remember a lot of vocab! That is the key to an excellent verbal score, at least for me (i got 97%). I believe that you have an excellent shot in acceptance, because of your profile, classes, and SSAT. Make sure that your recs, grades, and most importantly the interview and essay are outstanding!</p>
<p>For vocab, you can also find SSAT word lists online. I studied vocab a ton for about a week before my SSAT test & got a 94%, so it definately helps! (I usually do really bad in vocab.)</p>
<p>Apply as a 10th grader. There's no need for you to repeat again & 10th isn't really that hard to get in as 11 or 12 (which are the only times I've heard of people repeating).</p>
<p>I kind of want to be a ninth grade repeat for personal reasons.</p>
<p>1) I get made fun of all the time because I'm 13 yet I'm 4'6" and 67 pounds. =/ lol.</p>
<p>2) If I take honors calculus as a freshman at a boarding school, I will have three other years to take advanced college courses to get as far ahead in my favorite subject.</p>
<p>3) I want to start new sports that I am not able to do at home like crew. I want to have 4 years of this.</p>
<p>4)Dorm and School Life-Won't most of the kids already be friends and have developed their own cliques before I came to the school?</p>
<p>idk...What are everyone else's opinions?</p>
<p>I wanted to be a 9th grade repeat, but that would put me 2 years ahead of my classmates in age since I'm already one year ahead.</p>
<p>For many of the reasons you stated ... main one is dorm life ....</p>
<p>Repeating a grade really isn't a problem in ages...</p>
<p>I agree with dancer... My uncle works at Phillips Andover and says that the incoming freshman class has about 30-35 repeats and the age of freshman at Andover range from 13-15 years...</p>
<p>Also, you can pretty much take whatever classes you want as a freshman.</p>
<p>For me it would probably be:</p>
<p>Honors Calculus
Beginning Latin
Advanced French or German
Honors Chemistry
some kind of history</p>
<p>...But I think you need to take a freshman language arts class but that's fine with me because I can always improve as a writer/reader.</p>
<p>OH...& you can completely delete your freshman year off your transcript for college if you want. </p>
<p>So I think I want my freshman year at my public high school to be a gap year to improve on skills in all classes.</p>
<p>It's free, so what do I have to loose??</p>
<p>Not so fast with that "you can delete your freshman year if you want" factoid.</p>
<p>Last summer, there was an interesting -- perhaps instructive, perhaps not -- thread here on CC regarding the subject of repeating ninth grade and how prevalent it is...and how college admission officers are getting wise to the practice. After reading the article, if my S were to repeat 9th grade, I would make sure that that fact was disclosed up front on the college applications, with an accompanying explanation and an offer to provide transcript records from that year.</p>
<p>Here's the thread (including a link and full text recitation of a NYT article that's on point):</p>
<p>If you want to try crew, janemac, your size would make you a good coxswain.</p>
<p>That's what my dad says, creative1! I could be on a boy's team!</p>
<p>& I'm not weak or anything. I have great muscles for my size, in fact.</p>
<p>That's the dancing - solid core!</p>
<p>Wow, creative! You and I agree on a lot! Are you a dancer or something?</p>
<p>Mom of a dancer</p>
<p>Did she end up applying to SPS? </p>
<p>Another school with an AMAZING dance program is Phillips Andover. I girl in the regional Nutcracker performance troupe I'm on is at Phillips and I have been to many of their ballets. Quite impressive!!</p>
<p>yes - accepted @ SPS</p>
<p>we had Andover on our initial visit list but never wound up checking it out</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>