Parents of HS Class of 2024 3.0-3.4 GPA

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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Well, this whole applying to a competitive summer bio research internships thing has already turned into quite a learning experience for both D24 and DH & I. Stuff we’ve learned so far:

  • D24 has NO CLUE how to write for this sort of thing.
  • the writing experience she has had so far is, like most HS students, geared toward literary analysis, making an argument for or against something and defending your position, that sort of thing.
  • doing something like answering a bunch of questions about YOURSELF on a ‘student information sheet’ that’s supposed to help the teacher write you a good letter of rec? Totally different.
  • D24 writes terribly for this sort of thing unless she totally & completely understands WHY you have to write in a different way. Needless to say, we’ve butted heads more than a few times over the past week.
  • Haven’t even started yet on the essay she has to write. That’s going to be a battle.
  • definitely will need to have her work on college app essays over this next summer. She’s going to need some practice. And time. Thankfully, I think that her class schedule next fall is going to be lighter than this year, so that will help a little.
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Also, my kids got the mock AP exam schedule for Jan-March. Looks like my plans for D24 to take the ACT in Feb might be thwarted because she’s supposed to take a mock AP test that same morning for AP US History.

BUT…I really think that she needs to take the ACT in Feb. The next ACT after that is 4/15. Or 6/10 is an option, too.

AAAHHHH…decisions, decisions. How do people juggle all of this? Here’s where things are lining up so far…thank goodness for online calendars:

  • Sat 1/21 - mock AP exam for english lit
  • Sat 2/11 - mock AP exam for AP US history
  • Sat 2/25 - mock AP exam for French and Music Theory
  • Sat 3/4 - mock AP exam for Calculus AB
  • Sat 3/11 - SAT. Plus this is 1st day of spring break
  • 3/12-3/19 - spring break. Road trip to NM and possibly part of TX to go on college tours
  • Mon 4/10 - 1 of Austin College’s Outback Days. D24 has this day off of school already. We’d probably drive there & back. So she’d only have to miss 1 day of school instead of 2.
  • Sat 4/15 - ACT
  • Mon 4/24 - one of Austin College’s Outback Days
  • Sat 5/6 - another SAT test date possibility. This is also probably when the last choir concert of the year will be. It always ends up to be the 1st Saturday of May.
  • 5/20-5/29 - D24’s school trip to France

Test optional is starting to look more and more appealing.

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Never heard of mock AP exams and do not think they are necessary. Your student is aiming for very attainable schools-this seems like serious overkill.

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The HS requires students to take a mock AP exam as practice and the teacher reviews the test score with the student to advise them on how to better prepare for the actual exam. It’s also used as a way for the teacher to determine if the student should take the test…since the AP exam is used as the final exam for the class. So if the teacher recommends against taking it, on AP exam day in May, that student will take an alternate test instead as the final exam.

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Ok, I am purposely avoiding the regular HS Class of 2024 thread for a few days since the PSAT scores came out today and there’s a lot of buzz about National Merit.

Did my kid even come close to getting a cut off score to be a National Merit semifinalist? No. But her PSAT score was 89th percentile. Sent D24 a pep talk text msg while she was at lunch to tell her that regardless of what anybody else’s test scores are, YOUR score is 89th percentile and you ARE college material and you WILL be getting into college, so don’t get discouraged.

Most of the schools she’ll probably be applying to are test optional anyway. There’s 2 schools in NM where if she basically gets 30 more SAT score points, it’s worth extra merit $$, and that’s definitely achievable. PLUS…at least for in state students (no idea for OOS) applying to U of A, the honors college app does NOT require test scores.

I’ve gotta be honest…it’s hard to not compare. Heck, MY highest SAT score in HS was a 1040 and I managed to not only get almost straight A’s in college, but got a graduate degree, too.

You are more than just a test score.

A single test score is not going to determine or change or ruin the course of the rest of your life.

We are NOT going to be spending $$ on test prep. Not going to pursue paying for SAT/ACT tutors. Not going to spend $$ on expensive online test prep classes.

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That’s awesome, congrats. MA doesn’t release until tomorrow. S24 did PSAT last year and def did not do so well. Hoping he sees a little improvement this year so he is encouraged. He is in the standard CP1 Math so still has yet to see some of the math on both SAT and ACT. He is taking the ACT this coming Saturday and I told him to spend the week only doing practice tests for the other three subjects b/c if he doesn’t know the math now he won’t know it Saturday. Most of his schools he has mentioned are test optional anyway but he will need to have test scores to be considered for merit at most of them. We shall see.

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D24 said that ‘everybody’ at school was talking about PSAT scores. Word on the street was that you needed the equivalent of a 1450 to qualify as a NMSF. She didn’t get the equivalent of that.

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Our S24 didn’t even take the PSAT this year. He’s studying for the ACT and we just couldn’t justify pushing him to take a different standardized test. We’ll see how he does on the ACT in February. I hope he can ignore the (P)SAT chatter in the meantime.

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Same here with D24. Her friends thought she was crazy skipping the PSAT but she had taken it as a sophomore, as well as a practice ACT that year, and knew ACT was a better fit. She’s been studying for upcoming ACT in February and we saw no benefit of another standardized test.

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In reading about how some people feel about tests, grades, rank, etc, it makes me think a little bit about Albert Einstein.

For those who don’t want to read the article below, these are some of the parts I’d like to draw attention to.

A gifted student, yes, but a well-behaved, successful, attentive one? Not so much.

The trouble he did have came when he took the entrance exams for the illustrious Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, Switzerland.

Naturally, being Albert Einstein, he was two years younger than the other applicants and, being Albert Einstein, he performed admirably in the math test. He excelled in math and physics, but it was the non-scientific subjects he performed poorly in. As a result, he was not accepted.

Continuing his studies at the Canton school in Aargau, Einstein would apply himself and, on returning, earn his place at the prestigious school in Zurich.

Also, there were reports of severe temper tantrums and possible developmental delays and/or dyslexia when he was young.

https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/did-einstein-really-fail-math/

Here’s a kid who was strong in some areas and weaker in others. His teachers weren’t universally singing his praises either. He didn’t get in to the “top” university on his first try and went to a safety instead. But guess what…after spending some time studying at his safety school, he reapplied and got into his Top X school. Not unlike how many people go elsewhere for undergrad and then pick the elite name for grad school.

I have no clue who the other people were who DID get into the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich while Albert Einstein was turned away. But 125 years later, we’re talking about someone who didn’t get in to the top school.

And let’s make no mistake…there’s absolutely no need or expectation whatsoever that everyone’s going to be like Einstein. But if it helps anyone get some perspective, the PSAT scores, SAT scores, ACT scores, college rankings of schools that grant you admission, etc. None of it matters in the long run, and not even past the first semester of college.

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D24 skipped the PSAT and took advantage of that morning to sleep in. She was exhausted from her Fall Sport and not in any state to perform well. Junior year is brutal- need to find ways to make it a little less so.

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S24 is happy with his PSAT score; I am happy with it also. I think with a little bit of studying he will be able to submit with his applications. I think his score indicates his abilities more than his gpa/rigor. Need to register for the March test.

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Anyone else’s kid do worse this time around on the PSAT? His score went DOWN 20 points from last year​:roll_eyes::weary:

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Sorry, @coastal2024 ! My D21’s verbal SAT score went down after studying, so I hear you. For two of my kids, it’s so dependent on their state of mind that day.

S24 is actually taking the ACT today. He gets extra time due to dyslexia, which is great. He probably still won’t finish some of the sections. It’s such a test of endurance and focus! He’s best with verbal communication, so this is a lot hours of reading and calculating. He’ll most likely apply test optional, but he wanted to give this a try and have a score just in case. :pray:t3: :crossed_fingers:t3:

Anyone else have a kid at the ACT today?

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We WERE going to have D24 take the ACT today, but she’s got a choir thing going on during that same time so will have to do ACT on a different test date. It’ll probably end up being the 4/15 ACT test date. Good luck to your kiddo today!

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S24 just got home from ACT. He said it was “way different” than the practice ones he has been doing and that there was :a lot more reading:. He is not a kid who ever worries about time and almost ran out of time today. He says he is sure he did terribly. I guess we will see. He will definitely take it again end of the school year when he has had a full year of algebra 2 under his belt. And at least now he knows what to expect in terms of the test.

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S24 is still in post-test zombie mode. He said it was hard and he didn’t finish the science section. But, he did it and it’s over!:+1:t3:

I’m just hoping he improved over the one he took for practice in the spring. He has put in about 2 hours a week doing practice sections this fall.

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Proud of S24. From his practice ACT (taken under testing conditions) he improved 10 points in Reading, 10 points in Science, and 8 points in English. Only 1 point in math, but that’s okay–at least he didn’t go down.

He’ll still most likely go test optional, although it would be great if he could just omit his math score. Is it unusual to have a 12 point difference between the highest and lowest score?

In any case, this is a big win (especially for a kid with ADD and dyslexia)!

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That’s great! S24 just got his ACT scores and did better than anticipated. Math is still a work in progress (22) but he is starting tutoring in January so I think that will definitely help. But overall he is pleasantly surprised with his fist attempt of the ACT and now he knows what to expect.

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D24 finished her KEYS summer research internship application today. It’s for a bio research unpaid full time 7-week program next summer at U of A. very competitive and given her GPA, I don’t think she’ll get in, but if she makes it to the semifinalist round, I’d consider that a success. It’s been good practice so far for college apps which are coming up next school year.

Hope everybody is surviving the crazy weather all over the US and that you had a happy holiday.

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