<p>D1 took it yesterday (Wednesday). Pleased with the math, thought the writing was much much harder than per usual. Doesn’t think she’ll make the cutoff. I told her it is what it is, and onward to SAT Math II in November. There was no time to take it at the end of last year, unfortunately.</p>
<p>My D’s school required all 9th-11th graders to take it. Nice thought, but probably a waste of a lot of money. D took it in her German class with a lot of sophomores and most of them had no idea what it was, had never heard of a National Merit Semifinalist, and “finished” the test quite quickly. At least that made for a very stress-free enviornment for D!</p>
<p>Our state paid for all sophomores to take the PSAT last year, that made it a lot more palatable for my D2 who was not happy that her mom was insisting she take it ;). She wasn’t happy with her scores, which may have been the best thing that could have happened, as it made her understand why mom and D1 were saying that she needed to prep for the real thing. She sat the SAT last Sat (couldn’t pass that up) and the PSAT is this Sat. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that she’ll be done until APs and SAT IIs in the spring, but a winter ACT is possible.</p>
<p>D took the PSAT on Wednesday. Said she “didn’t think it was too bad”. With so much else going on, she did no prep. Interestingly (to me) our high school reported that only 16% of our school’s students take the SAT. I encouraged her to take the PSAT because she tends to test well, and thought it was worth the (admittedly really small) chance that she might qualify for National Merit scholarship - and we are looking at whatever opportunities come our way for potential merit scholarships. Don’t know whether or not she will wind up taking the SAT in fall - will depend on where she decides to apply which is a very open question at the moment.</p>
<p>For those whose students were babe to prep for the PSAT, are you encouraging them to sit for the SAT in November or December? I am worried that if we wait until the spring, there are those pesky class exams and APs. It would seem that the fall of junior year is a good time, since the PSAT got 'em warmed up. Does anybody have a better strategy?</p>
<p>S just took PSAT. He will take SAT in Jan and ACT in Feb. This gives him several weeks to do practice exams in each and also get back PSAT results to see what areas need work.</p>
<p>Most of our juniors take the SAT in March. That way they will get the PSAT results and have time to work on areas of need before the SAT. I have higher hopes for S on the ACT, and I think I will have him take that in December in case he wants to retake it later on. He will have 2 AP tests in May, and has no need for SAT II’s.</p>
<p>My son took SAT on 10th and PSAT on 17th. He said SAT is harder than PSAT and both CR part are more difficult.</p>
<p>Hello, everyone. I’m the mother of a Class of 2011 son. He plays varsity football and soccer, as well as club soccer, has a 4.5 weighted GPA and was inducted into the National Honor Society last week. Unfortunately, he missed both the NHS induction AND the PSATs that same day because he was sick. (Didn’t want him throwing up on his graphing calculator!) He took the AP world history exam last spring and did not do well on it, but I’ve heard it’s one of the most difficult ones. </p>
<p>Can someone explain to me just what is an SAT II test? Is it a subject-area test that is similar to the AP exams? Do only certain schools require them, but not all schools?</p>
<p>This whole business is making my head spin. When I was a SENIOR in high school, probably along about January, we all began thinking “Well, where shall we go to college?” and the guidance counselor is who you had to go see if you were pregnant or caught skipping school. This is much more complicated these days, but thank goodness for the Internet!!</p>
<p>Thanks. Kellie (cgpm59)</p>
<p>D2 also took both this month. She prepped for both this summer and wanted to take them before she “lost it all” ;).</p>
<p>She’s been saying lately that she’s getting more comfortable with attending our State U since she may have failed them both. When I asked her if she really felt that she’d done worse than on her practice tests, she said that she’d rather think she did poorly and be happily surprised than to think she did well and then be disappointed. Yup, she’d definitely an ento-kid.</p>
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<p>Hi Kellie and welcome to CC and the jr parent thread!</p>
<p>Yes, they are subject tests and many, but not all, are similar to the APs. They’re usually easier than AP tests. </p>
<p>SAT II requirements vary greatly between school. Some don’t require any, others want 2 (only Harvard and Georgetown require 3), some recommend but don’t require them, some don’t require any if you submit the ACT, etc. So you have to check each college website for their policy.</p>
<p>Thank you, Entomom. That is very helpful re: the SAT II’s. He’ll be taking the AP U.S. history exam and maybe one other this coming spring. I’ll check into specific school requirements on the SAT vs. AP exams. We’re also trying to decide whether to pursue football or soccer in college . . . which is something like going to the grocery store to buy fruit and trying to decide between strawberries or a 10-pound watermelon!! It’s all fruit, but, boy, the result sure is different!</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks again, and I’ll keep reading.
Kellie</p>
<p>My son took the PSAT last Saturday and will do the November sitting for the SAT. I think it’s funny that we will get the SAT scores before the PSAT ones. We’ve been visiting some colleges and I want the scores to know what schools are really in his ballpark. Our plan is for him to take the AP tests for the AP classes that he is in, and we’ll decide on more SAT II’s (he took the US History this past Spring after doing AP USH) after getting the SAT scores. My hunch is that he won’t be applying to schools that require SAT II’s and the AP’s will be the ones that save us money.</p>
<p>D is also taking the Nov SATs after having taken the PSAT’s last Saturday. The thought was that if she needed to retake the SAT again, she could do it sometime early next spring (before the AP exams and the SAT IIs). I’ve been telling her that if she focused hard on doing well in Nov, she might be rid of all the parental nagging very soon. So far, apparently, that hasn’t been a strong motivator :-)</p>
<p>Weathered the AP Bio storm - now, it’s AP Pysch. I was hesitant about her taking this, figured she was adding to her already large load. H was in favor of her taking it - and she jumped at it when she got the chance to add this class at the last minute. </p>
<p>She texted me yesterday, very upset. She ‘bombed’ her latest test - although according to her, others in the class are not doing much better. Teacher hasn’t given back the test - she only knows her score. So, she really doesn’t know what went wrong on the test. Gave her some advice - asked her to talk to the teacher outside of class and figure out what she needs to work on. Resisting the temptation to send the teacher email asking her what happened.</p>
<p>All sophmores and jrs take the PSAT at S’s school. They administer the test during the school day. S took it Wednesday the 14th. He really had no comment (like all questions about tests) about how well he did. We live in MA and the cutoff is something like 222 for NMS. He got a 198 last year so it is unlikely he will make the cut for NMS. </p>
<p>S took the SAT last June and we are trying to figure out when he will take it next, maybe March. He does the question of the day, and is taking a math prep class. His school does offer a Princeton review class jr year, but with sports it is unlikely an athlete can fit it in. We are satisfied with his test results from June (although I hope they increase next go round) that I am not pushing any more test prep. </p>
<p>Welcome cppm59! It seems like a lot of school want to see 2 SAT2 tests. It is usually suggested that you take the tests at the end of the school year when you have finished the subject. S took Chem and USH in June. He will probably take the math2 and another one next June. The tests are only 1 hour long and you can take up to 3 in one sitting, so he might as well take at least 2. </p>
<p>We have started visiting schools. S has a favorite already, but I am not sure if it was because the admin did such a good job with the presentation or if S really likes the school. I was surprised when S told me what his favorite was.</p>
<p>arisamp, I feel your pain. Your D’s plan to talk to the teacher sounds good, especially as that’s what all our kids will need to do when they are off on their own. The silver lining to having a tough time in AP classes now is that the kids won’t go through the experience of bombing a test for the first time in college 
Seriously, I really do believe there’s value in early, limited failure. </p>
<p>D1 is still having a rough time in AP Chem, but she called me one afternoon to tell me that she GETS it, finally, and she thinks she’s going to be able to do OK in the class. More students have dropped out of the AP class and gone to honors, but when D1 asked her teacher if she should drop, he said no, she should stay in AP. He thinks she just needs to figure out how and what to study. Since he’s told other kids that they should transfer out, that’s a positive. D1 will see how the next test goes, and make her decision based on that. </p>
<p>Sore throats galore at the Tove household. Both D1 and D2’s school sent home notices and emails saying please, please, please keep your sick children at home.</p>
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<p>Hope everyone feels better soon. Notice from S’s school states a 4 day mandatory absence from school if you have a fever >100°F. Yikes. I can’t imagine losing all that time from school, expecially if you don’t have the flu. I have had kids spike a fever and feel perfectly fine 4 hours later.</p>
<p>SlitheyTove, my D took AP Chem last year as a 10th grader. She did very poorly on her first test, between C and D. The teacher encouraged her and others in the same boat to drop the class. She decided against it. I bought her a study guide for the text book and “Chemistry Problem Solvers” by REA. Somehow she toughed it out, ending up being one of the highest scorers in her class.</p>
<p>Our school is requiring a kid to be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing meds before they may return to school. Youngest son had a fever for 4 days, and then I had to keep him home for another day just to make sure it was gone. Luckily, 2 days of the fever fell over the weekend so he only missed 3 days of school instead of 5. I have been busy sanitizing door knobs, TV remote control and everything else he touched (no books, unfortunately!) hoping to keep the rest of the family from getting sick.</p>
<p>Falling sick is the one thing D can’t afford to do!! She’s exhausted most days - up at 6 or earlier in the morning, staying after school for cross country and then up late most nights with ec’s, homework and studying. I put my foot down and insisted that she not go to practice today - although she did complain a bit, I think she really needed the rest. Hopefully, the extra rest will prop her up a bit. I am scared that as exhausted as she is, she is so susceptible to the viruses circulating out there…</p>
<p>SlitheyTove - thanks for the encouragement. I’ll stay away from contacting the AP Psych teacher - at least for a little while. Will see what D gets from her next week…</p>