<p>I liked Wells, also. They were extremely personal and I believe they are still looking for “kids.” It was just alittle too small for my S who wanted a small school but at least one that was bigger than his high school. I got the impression they were excited still about boys since their co-ed initiative is relatively young compared to some of the other colleges. Absolutely one of those right school for the right kid and one of those that kids either like iimmediately or don’t like immediately.</p>
<p>Our son was admitted to Goucher and Juniata, and deferred at Loyola. (I posted his earlier acceptances in the other thread “Where did your 3.0 GPA kid get in?”, but that seems to be dormant.) </p>
<p>CapeCodLady, I had the same initial reaction to his deferral, but I’m not sure that we should conclude it’s not a fit, just because it’s a reach. There’s more to fit than that (although in my son’s case, I don’t think Loyola is a fit, and he seems to agree).</p>
<p>One real upside to the early admit notifications my son has received has been his motivation to do well on his finals…he doesn’t want to jeopordize his acceptances in any way.</p>
<p>Yay for improved motivation elizabeth. That’s great!</p>
<p>gweeta congratulations! I was looking at the Goucher website the other day. It’s lovely!</p>
<p>momofthree Nice to hear that about Wells. The girl from our hs who graduted from there would have been hard pressed to find a school smaller than our high school which has >500 students 
But Wells is lovely and in a beautiful region.</p>
<p>Enjoy your Days all!</p>
<p>well, now I have heard everything…get this for lobsided…</p>
<p>junior daughter has been studying for ACT since December…(taking April test)</p>
<p>is having trouble (not surprisingly, I might add) getting math and science into a respectable range of 24-26…many practice tests…</p>
<p>takes one practice reading test.(without prep)…scores a 32
takes one practice english test.(without prep)…scores a 30…</p>
<p>yes, I know colleges really only look at the composite, but how aggravating…</p>
<p>and for those who say, try the SAT…please don’t make me post her PSAT scores…I"M even too embarrassed to do that on this thread…</p>
<p>have any of your kids been able to bring up their math scores? any tips? She is a B+ math student in college prep classes currently in algebra II…has ALWAYS had issue on standardized math exams though…</p>
<p>Rodney,</p>
<p>I know a miracle SAT math tutor in Rye…may be too far for you though!</p>
<p>gweeta, Congruatulations!</p>
<p>rtr: thanks…yea, a bit far…and not SAT…but thanks…</p>
<p>Rodney, my D’s ACT score was…interesting. She did very well in English and Reading, respectable in math (she’s a math child so it was actually low for her) and on Science…get this…she got a 20! When she retook it, her math went up (no surprise) and her English and reading went down very slightly. Her science went down to…19!.</p>
<p>We gave up and sent the original ACTs only. Her SATs were much much worse. Good luck!</p>
<p>Rodney, My son also has trouble with the big tests, which is why he is a B student and not a B+, A student. We’re still working on why it happens, but he just went through a round of mid-terms where his scores were B’s, C’s and a D. These are classes that he’s getting A’s and high B’s in. He’s fine on the regular tests, projects and homework but the finals and mid-terms (required in his school for every class) are really hurting him.</p>
<p>This is an issue for us, too. But I do think schools look at the individual subjects on the ACT. That’s why they will take “ACT or SAT plus Subject Tests.” They know ACT will have all of those different scores. And one or two really great scores will help when a couple of subjects pull down the composite. Be proud of those high verbals!</p>
<p>It’s also very helpful to know if your kid is an “ACT type” or “SAT type.” We haven’t gotten our PSAT scores yet, but my D’s ACT PLAN (the sophomore practice version) composite was really disappointing, and I’m kind of hoping she IS an SAT type. We’ll see when she takes the ACT for real, having made some real strides in math this year (she’s also one where math pulls her down).</p>
<p>Good luck, and keep believing that admissions people are capable of complex thinking!</p>
<p>kathiep, probably retention…pop quizzes, homework, projects etc. are all short-term generally over a days or weeks worth of class…mid-terms and exams need retention of information over a longer period of time. I tell my kids when they study for mid-terms/exams to study in “reverse” order. Review the most recent stuff first, and work backwords so that the night before the mid-term/exam they are reviewing the “oldest” information. Somewhat impacts ACTs since ACTs are more “learned” information. Some of the very easiest math might be what the kids studied in 8th grade or 9th grade and they can forget some of that by the time they take ACTs in 11th grade if they aren’t retaining the knowledge. I think much of the issue is that the kids don’t retain.</p>
<p>^^actually, she is doing fine in the beginning math stuff on the ACT (the math portion increases in complexity as it proceeds)…</p>
<p>and yes, she is the lousy midterm/finals kid…has lost half a grade each year based on them…I really like the idea that momofthreeboys has though of studying the newer stuff first…can’t hurt at this point…</p>
<p>In addition to retention, I think kids underestimate the time it can take to study well for a mid-term or final. </p>
<p>For my youngest’s first round of high school mid-terms (earlier this month), we did a study schedule alotting time for each exam. At first he thought it was crazy to plan for, say, 10 hours of study for his Spanish exam, but in the end he realized why. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I can attest that this is not a silver bullet. Of the two results we currently know, one is fine the other just OK. I’m hoping he improves with maturity.</p>
<p>Rodney, yes correct, the math does increase. I think my kids said there were one or two Trig problems but nothing past Trig. My kids struggle with certain classes that have huge amounts of minute detail that needs to be memorized (dates in history, formulas in math, words in language). My ‘best’ test taker and my “little” dyslexic makes notecards/flashcards and is contantly “shuffling” through them. Don’t know who “taught” him that because I never made the suggestion, but I’ve spent a fortune on notecards for that kid and seems to work and they are all over the house. I’ll buy that kid thousands of note cards if that’s what it takes for him to get his “As” on tests.</p>
<p>Rodney, my S did go way up on his math SAT from March to Nov, but he is not a problem test taker - he is a problem homework doer.</p>
<p>I’d say just keep doing practice problems. He took the non honors Caculus this year, and the first part of the course they basically spent the whole time doing SAT math prep. It did pay off for him because he never would have put that kind of effort in on his own.</p>
<p>Rodney, D did bring her Math ACT up over 20 between the first and second attempts at the ACT don’t remember exactly from where to where but the real improvement came in science which is NOT a science test but a reading test. If your D can figure out that all of the info she needs to answer the questions is in the questions/charts/tables and that she doesn’t (shouldn’t) rely on her science knowledge to answer them she should improve. My D brought hers up many points when she realized that.</p>
<p>HM: yes, i too think think that the chances of bringing up science are more likely than the math…thanks…</p>
<p>My son did not experience the same thing that historymom’s D did. He had the identical composite in seating 1 and seating 2. One subsection might have increased 1-2 points, and another decreased 1-2 points. The science section score was identical in seatings 1 and 2. Then he tried the ACT for a 3rd time. His composite score increased by 2 points. He increased about 4 points in English (he spent a week studying some grammer rules and this was key), but decreased 3 points on the science section on that test. He went up about a point on the reading and math from seatings 1 or 2, which ended up with an increase in the overall composite score (up by 2 points). He felt that his 3rd seating was the best that he would do and he never tried to retake it as a senior. We don’t regret that decision.</p>
<p>Rodney,
My older son is a wonderful test taker [and student in general] and was able to tweak his Math up with two seatings, my current senior however is more like your daughter when it comes to tests. His first Plan Test was shockingly low, we decided against the ACT altogether! The PSAT was better, but he just wasn’t finishing the test portions. We tried several test prep courses, given through the school and Princeton. His essay portion really improved, but the Math and Reading stayed pretty much the same, in fact, his first SAT yielded the best scores for him. He’s taking finals and mid-terms right now. I am literally holding my breath. He will have an A going into a final, and then get a C!! Thankfully yesterday he went in to take his English final and was excused because he had an A average [he was not aware]. It was great…Holding my breath on the Economics however, where he had a great grade going in, but needs a solid final to close out the final grade, given he got a C first term. St. Mike’s told me that the C was one of the reasons for his EA deferment 
On a positive note, with his French SAT II with listening [a very hard test given only once a year], he scored a 710 without studying!<br>
Good luck. My son could barely do the SATs once, nevermind keep on testing, but my older son did have a great first SAT but wanted a perfect score…he got very close by inching that Math up a few points.</p>