<p>The SAT II English test is multiple choice questions only. No writing. I’m not sure if any of the subject tests have a writing component.</p>
<p>SlitheyTove - we seem to have the same schedule at our house. ACT in April, APs in May and subject tests in June. D went online and registered for the subject tests (all without prompting) !! Wonders will never cease. She also said that she has indeed done some ACT prep online.</p>
<p>She thought the SAT on saturday was ok - she didn’t like the essay prompt she received. But other than that, everything was “ok”. Aargh - for a kid with a good vocabulary and having just completed the SAT, you think she could find better words/sentences to describe it!! Oh well, we’ll just wait for the scores…</p>
<p>So, do most selective colleges want the writing as part of ACT? Is there a choice not to send the writing? It’s too bad, because actually he’s a great writer, but his penmanship is not going to help him.</p>
<p>I’m chuckling as I read the comments about handwriting. My oldest has such tiny, messy and light handwriting that as part of his SAT prep, we bought him a handwriting book and he practiced! It worked.</p>
<p>My youngest tested Saturday. It sounds like it went okay but not great. He thought the math was very easy, but isn’t happy with how he did on the CR. I wish he would have studied as if he had he might have been “one and done.” We need to have a meeting some time and sit down with the calendar and figure out what tests he will take when. The June SAT date is right before finals for him. He might leave the next day for a summer program which would mean taking finals early. No matter what happens with the summer program he is going to have a stacked schedule that week.</p>
<p>ldinct - You should check with individual colleges. Most colleges on my S’s list want either SAT I or ACT with writing.</p>
<p>ldinct, it seems to vary from school to school. Some schools want the SAT I and subject tests, OR they’ll take the ACT with writing. </p>
<p>I’m wondering if there’s any type of accomodation (i.e. using a laptop) on the writing part for bad penmanship. </p>
<p>Anyone’s kid thinking about senior year courses? D1’s latest thought is to take the four mandated AP classes (English, Bio, Calc BC, Econ/Govt) and the required for graduation health and life skills during fall, then only have four classes in the spring. Well, five, counting her outside language class. Her argument is that five AP tests next spring will be plenty. I’m thinking that we will have sent in a deposit check for A College To Be Named by AP test time next year, and if she doesn’t want to take all of the AP tests, the school district’s threat to not count the courses as AP on her transcript won’t really mean much. She tends to go back and forth on what she wants to do, so it will be interesting to see what she finally decides upon.</p>
<p>Idinct–I asked the same question in the SAT/ACT forum and it was recommended to us to go ahead and sign up for the ACT w/writing for peace of mind EVEN tho the writing score seems to be lower for many students compared to the SAT writing. Just more relaxing to know you did ‘the whole thing’ in case a college that unexpectedly gets on the list requires it.</p>
<p>Feel free to search all the forums for this same subject, there’s a few threads about it.</p>
<p>arisamp— our D1 was also not very forthcoming about the SAT Saturday,she’s a good kid but has been rather tired lately and her attitude was definitely “it’s DONE, let’s move on to the rest of the weekend”.
She knows there WILL be more studying if the scores aren’t where we need them for some merit aid, we’re not too picky compared to a lot of families as far as the tests but we need all the financial help we can get!</p>
<p>I really wish LuckyBoy had been able to take this past SAT as was planned. Instead he spent two weeks in Austria on a school-sponsored exchange (what an experience!) and will have to sit the SAT in May, right before APs. Yikes! I haven’t even discussed SAT subject tests with him yet. I think I’ll leave that to the guidance counselor at our meeting Thurday ;)</p>
<p>LuckyBoy has 4 AP exams this year (no APs are allowed before junior year). Thankfully he has an every-other-day exam schedule. I cannot imagine having to take two on the same day!</p>
<p>Hi all. My S2 took the SAT on Saturday, also, and as is always the case with this boy–he felt it went “fine.” In the past, his feeling has almost no correlation to actual results. I’m hoping for the best. 
</p>
<p>There is a great desire in most parents and kids to only sit a test once–the stress of it! But our HS GCs (who are very knowledgeable) recommend kids take the SAT in Oct of senior year also, having observed a positive jump in scores due to factors such as having completed more schooling, having taken AP and SAT II exams, and having grown up. We groaned, but tried this with S1, who had a good SAT score from his March junior year (but not tippy-top) and was celebrating that he was done. His 2nd sitting his score went up over 100 pts, and that may have made the difference in merit scholarship offers–he received three.</p>
<p>Oy!</p>
<p>So while I haven’t mentioned it to S2, I see an October SAT in his future. </p>
<p>Like many of your kids, S2 has AP exams in May, as well as SAT IIs for the correlating subjects (English and Bio). He’ll take a third SAT II in June.</p>
<p>One day at a time!!</p>
<p>Well it was in the box today
—The SAT Jan sitting (Q and A service–which we paid for after kiddo got the scores…)
Should be helpful because what kiddo thought was wrong on the math–is not–little silly mistakes…sigh</p>
<p>Hoping with some prep that June SAT will go better.</p>
<p>Here it’s:
ACT April
APs May
SAT 2s May
End of yr/school exams May
SAT1 June…</p>
<p>Tentative Sr schedule
AP Calc BC
AP Stat
AP Physics
AP Eng Lit
AP Mod Europe Hist
AP Comp Sci
study hall
lunch</p>
<p>The school doesn’t generally allow any APs before Jr yr…so the ony ones kiddo got to take this yr were AP Chem, AP Latin Virgil, AP Eng Lang, and AP Calc AB.</p>
<p>I am amazed at the kids who are taking APs in freshman yr and wonder how that works–does that happen across the board with Calculus, Chemistry, Physics etc…or is it in the histroy/humanities area. I have only met one kid who by 9th grade she was taking all of her math at a local college as there was nothing at the highschool for her…she was way beyond calculus…</p>
<p>Also–When counting sciences vs maths etc…
is computer science a science or a math (since the pre requ are math courses)?</p>
<p>Lastly–how do you get those cute smilies–?</p>
<p>2xfog, you can find the smilies here: [College</a> Confidential - Smilies](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/misc.php?do=showsmilies]College”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/misc.php?do=showsmilies)</p>
<p>AP policy varies from school to school. Some don’t allow students to enroll in APs until junior year, some start with them (including in humanities) in freshman year. There’s also a divide in schools depending on if students need to take the regular class before the science APs, or if they can dive into the AP with no pre-req. Taking Calculus by 9th grade seems more common these days, but a 9th grader who is already finished with Calc sounds like a rare bird to me.</p>
<p>My S is in an IB program. Some students take IB classes, some IB/Honors, some IB/AP. In order to take AP Science classes, they have to take the Honors version first and do well. Many take Honors Science in summer school. They don’t allow students to take AP Calc AB until Grade 10.</p>
<p>At our HS, kids can take one AP in sophomore year - AP US History. I like that, since colleges compare you to the kids at your own High School, not allowing them too early, or too many, works well. My son is taking two AP’s this year - Comp Sci and European History and will take English and US Government next year. I think two AP’s is about all he can handle anyway. Schedule-wise in our school, it’s probably not possible to take more then three in a year. Our kids have to turn in their fall schedule choices in February.</p>
<p>Thanks
:rolleyes:</p>
<p>So is Computer Science AP a science or math when colleges count yrs…as the pre-req is all from the math dept.</p>
<p>anyone else tired…we had a heavy weekend of a regional sports event in difficult weather…and add spring ahead…
we all need B 12 shots! ha ha</p>
<p>Our hs switched to exams in March. It has been great generally because before they were the always the day after memorial day which I hadn’t celebrated in 15 years. The only issue this year was they were the week before SATs and S was pretty burnt out by saturday. But now two weeks off to relax. Not looking forward to AP and SAT 2 time, plus he’s got to take the SAT over again, think his GC recommended he take it in June and not wait until Oct. Are the History AP and SAT 2 similar at least?</p>
<p>AP US History and SAT II US History are very similar, which is why I had my son take it. He’s done with SAT II’s though. None of the colleges that he’s looking at require them.</p>
<p>Kathiep, keep in mind sat ii’s can help for placement in college classes (math, english, social sciences) also, not just for admissions.</p>
<p>Welcome Idinct. Great group here, I have learned a lot. </p>
<p>H and S are planning to drive to CMU Friday, long, long drive, almost 500 miles one way and they are not leaving til after school. We looked into flying but it would have been almost $700 RT for the both of them. H will probably wish he had spent the money by the time he gets back either Sat or Sun. There are a couple of other schools in PA S is interested in but they are several hundred miles away from CMU and we will have to visit those on another trip. </p>
<p>Have relented to S regarding major. H and I have been pushing engineering, math or science which S is good at. S has been pushing business. We have all but begged him to major in eng/math/science and then we will pay for him to get an MBA, but S will not be swayed. I have asked S to at least start off majoring in math/sci/eng and then switch if he doesn’t like it. I explained it is easier to switch from eng to business then the other way around. I am getting no where, so I guess if nothing else knowing he will major in business helps us narrow down our very extensive list.</p>
<p>Starting more intensive review for SAT1 in May. He has 2 AP’s he will be taking in May and SAT2’s in June. I am so looking forward to summer. (not sure why, then we get to hound him about starting he college app essay) Hoping that this round of testing finishes it, but we are also looking for merit money and may ask him to retake SAT in Oct if he doesn’t raise his score much from when he took the test last year.</p>
<p>S applied for a job as a jr counciler at the summer camp he attended for many years. Got his app in too late last year and we haven’t heard back yet this year, so I am pressing S to make some calls and find out where he stands. It is like pulling teeth. </p>
<p>Hope everyone gets the scores they desire for those who just took the SAT.</p>
<p>Have to say I am sooo grateful I found CC years ago. My very smart senior nephew is worried how he is going to pay for college. I sent him and his parents links to many of the threads posted on cc last year but I think they figured that since my kid is not yet in school I didn’t know what I was talking about. So now the reality has hit and because their smart son did not apply to schools known for good merit aid they are worried and shocked at how much it looks like they will have to come up with. They assumed that their son is so smart schools would throw money at him. I passed on info to them about financial safeties, but it doesn’t look like they paid any attention. Hopefully, some of the schools he has yet to hear from give him more money than the ones he has already heard from.</p>
<p>I get very frustrated that high schools do not let kids/parents know that they need to consider money from the get go and safeties need to include financial safeties.</p>