<p>My kid has been an Honor Roll student every year since the 5th grade. He has never had trouble with tests and has scored well in Middle School. However in his Freshman year he just did average on his Mid Terms, and Sophomore year he bombed his Mid Term exams. He turned it around and finished the year by doing well on his finals, and still made the honor role. We naturally thought it was an aberration, but he did the same thing this past year. I think he loses focus when required to take long tests, but that is just speculative on my part. How he does well on his finals but bombs his Mid's are a mystery.</p>
<p>He took the SAT for the first time and only scored 1050. I certainly expected him to do better, but I am at a loss how to help him get over the hump. So while he will not be required to take Mid Terms for his senior year(thank goodness), he still needs to retake his SAT, and will be taking the ACT in another month. Furthermore he will be taking his AP exams this year, so I want to get him any help I can.
He wants to go to a good school with a pre-med major in mind. With a 3.7 GPA he can probably get into a good school because he is a very good baseball player and can probably make most D1 teams with the exception of the top 30 programs.</p>
<p>To be honest, middle school honor roll isn’t a great predictor of high school / SAT success. I know many people who scored very well in middle school, and then struggled in high school. They’re different playing fields.</p>
<p>However, I do recommend that you talk to him about this. Ask him if he has trouble focusing during longer tests. It’s interesting that he would do well on his finals, but not his midterms.</p>
<p>He has maintained his Honor Roll status in HS as well, it has just not been easy after bombing his Mid Terms. I think he turns it around because I bring the hammer down on him. I also threaten him with not being able to play sports which helps to get him focused. I was thinking of making him drop basketball because it is going during the time of his Mid Terms. I’ll let him play his other sports, especially baseball since that is his bread and butter sport.</p>
<p>I should also mention that he makes simple mistakes in his best subject(math) when he does it in his head rather than show his work. Last year his Pre-Calculus Honors class was like a roller coaster. The same was true of his Honors Physics class. Prior to this year he excelled in his honors math and science classes.</p>
<p>Well that isn’t bad, just average… He should get the Blue Book and do practice exams… Perhaps practice will help. Imitate the test environment.</p>
<p>And for math, just tell him to show his work, albeit quickly.</p>
<p>You should ask him kindly why he thinks he doesn’t do so well on tests. Don’t appear overbearing or critical, but try to work through this together.</p>
<p>daughter here does fine on midterms and bombs finals…(our finals are cumulative for the whole year)…no idea why; has happened for three years now…we are hoping that the cause is the period of time between Sept and June for the material but no idea…</p>
<p>she did much better on ACT but I dont think it has anything to do with her issue with cumulative exams…</p>
<p>btw, pre-calc usually has that up and down nature; the topics are mutually exclusive and just because you understand and do well on one, doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with how you will do on the next…</p>
<p>^That is a very lame assumption. Many “smart” test-takers choke under the pressure of test conditions, and many others are simply slow but deep thinkers who can’t cope with the time constraints.</p>
<p>I made my son take the SAT practice exam(have not had time to score it yet)and simulated the test by making him do it all in 4 hours with the same break periods he will have next time he takes it. Several times when observing him(without him seeing me), I noticed he was focused on his hand. When I asked him about it afterward he said his attention was drawn to his hand because “it felt funny”.
As most parents probably do, I have told him to use any extra time to go back over his answers to double check them. He claims that he does, but after watching him today, I am beginning to wonder.</p>
<p>Anyway, I thought I would pass that on in case it sounds like a symptom of his problem.</p>