<p>Regarding the ADHD issues being discussed, my son also takes Melatonin and has been diagnosed since 3rd grade. Melatonin really helps him sleep! I am breathing a sigh of relief - my son took a practice test for the psat and did great…initially he tried a Barron’s diagnostic test and didn’t do as well, and then did some review from the book which helped, especially the math tactics and key facts. At the same time, though, we decided that the Barron’s tests seem somewhat harder than the actual tests. Some of the Barron’s reading questions had tricky answer choices whereas the college board psat practice test was much more straightforward. So I am happy today. I hope he does as well on Wednesday. He also just started tutoring a 4th grader last week and it seemed to go well, so I am feeling a little more relaxed!</p>
<p>PSAT seems like a four-letter work here. Ds2 doesn’t want to do any prep because he’s afraid if he doesn’t do well it’ll hurt his confidence going in. Two weeks ago, he did a practice PSAT through some group trying to sell their tutoring services and did great, so he wants that to be the last thing he does. As he says, “I’m clutch on test day,” and he’s generally correct. So all I’ve got him doing is going over the writing tips in a PR review book.</p>
<p>Here’s a question: He might still have x-country practice that morning. He leaves the house at 5:30 to run at 6:15. If they have practice, should I let him do it? Part of me thinks keeping with the regular exercise routine would be better for him than an extra 90 minutes sleep. What do you think?</p>
<p>I would think sticking to the routine would be comforting and that exercise would help him be alert for the test. If he feels he would rather have the sleep I would respect his choice but otherwise I would say stick to the routine.</p>
<p>My daughter did the real test online from collegeboard(2005) and scored better than I expected. Except I told her not to worry about the exact timing. Her sister took the same test and it accurately predicted her real SAT score. Her CR+M came very close to her sister and she took in January of her junior year. There is still a few months left.
On side note. Nothing beats peer pressure. She found out one of her friends, who is very close to her in terms of academic ability, took the real SAT in Sophomore year and came very close to perfect score. Because of that she quickly finished her grammar book. But I’m afraid to say it’s still one of her weakest area.</p>
<p>I’m starting to agree with S2 about the futility of the PSAT. His HS, once again, has no National Merit semi-finalists this year. They may have had a couple commended students, but that and $3.26 will buy you a cup of coffee. Our school is just not competitive with high achieving suburban and private schools, even though I think we have plenty of smart kids. So…S2 will take the PSAT (with the rest of the juniors in the state - thanks Rick Perry) but I’m not holding my breath for anything. I’m sure his SATs will be fine. We’re just considering this practice.</p>
<p>Thanks again to RobD. I have the labels printed for tomorrow’s college fair. DH asked DD about college fair and she pulled a scarlet o’hara, “oh fiddle dee dee, I will think about that tomorrow.”</p>
<p>It is so interesting to see the dynamics across the country with SAT’s and PSAT’s. Here in the northeast, the PSAT’s are key (of course, except at my d’s new public school)! Every school has the psat’s in 10th gr, and then 11th counts a lot. We have a lot of commended and NMF’s in our state. The index is high 220. My d’s old school had 12 NMF, and 25 commended last year; and some of the rigorous private schools had 20 NMF, with 35 commended so that raises the bar. SATs are not taken before winter/spring jr year, except in 7th or 8th grade if you are a member of john hopkins cty or duke tip. my d is taking her test on saturday in NY, bec all the schools in our state take it weds IN school. Since our school doesn’t take it in school, we have to travel to a location that gives the Saturday test. A true nightmare, because that is also homecoming dance at her old school. My head is spinning and still no college visits out of state. We had school today, but she took the day off since she would have had it off at her old school, and most of the state has off. They had them come in today to cover for the hurricane missed days. She’ll do her psat studying and she could use a mental health break for sure.</p>
<p>S3 and I went to a Yale Admissions Information session yesterday at a local JC. I don’t think he has a chance of getting into Yale, but I think the information session was good for him and hopefully will give him an incentive to work harder. Of course he thought it was a little boring. But he did come home and study a little for the PSAT. I knew that the Ivy’s didn’t five athletic scholarships, but I didn’t realize all financial aid was “need-based”. Which I guess makes sense because with all of those spectacular students how do you figure out who gets merit aid? I really liked his descriptions of the residential colleges and the competitions between them. It sounds so Hogwarts like. Are all the Ivy’s like that? </p>
<p>RobD: I love your idea about the labels for the college fair. What did you say you put on them again? Name, address, email address? Anything else? Our college fair is Wednesday night and if S3 doesn’t have drama I am going to encourage him to go.</p>
<p>TX5: We were actually planning on attending the same Yale Info session yesterday, but had to much going on with HC. A family friend is visiting Brown, Yale and Harvard at the end of the month and I have asked for the “cliff-notes”. I will pass along any info I can.</p>
<p>S has another study prep with the tutor today to get ready for the PSAT this week and ultimately the SAT in Dec. He is also taking a full SAT “practice” test on Sunday. He will get the results from this test in about a week to 10 days. Which is helpful since he won’t receive the results from the PSAT until early Jan and that just won’t work with a SAT test date in Dec 
We keep reminding him that all of the studying and prep will pay off.</p>
<p>I found RobD’s message a few pages back and made two labels, because everything did not fit on one. First label:
Name, address, telephone number.
Second label:
e-mail
high school name
high school graduation date
intended major
EC’s she plans to continue</p>
<p>I had the 5160 size labels.</p>
<p>Guess what? We didn’t go. She felt she really didn’t want to see any of the colleges on the list. I am fine with that because it is a darn beautiful day to rake.</p>
<p>^^ Thanks Bernese! I will make the labels and then if he doesn’t end of going no biggie.</p>
<p>Thanks Bernese! I couldn’t remember exactly what we put on them 
I have to say that they did catch the eye of most of the reps she talked to; D usually responded with “well, my mom thought it would be a good idea!” At the very least it was a conversation starter. And I know her info can be read. </p>
<p>School for us today; Columbus Day isn’t exactly a big deal here in the South, unlike our past experience living in NJ where it was cause for a parade. But no school tomorrow (parent teacher conferences.) D has some things planned and I’ve asked her to look over the previous PSAT tests & results. She assures me that she will tomorrow night. </p>
<p>Bad parent confession: I didn’t schedule any parent teacher conferences. 1st time ever in 16 years, counting preschool. D’s doing fine, I’m familiar with the course content since D1 had taken all the classes & I know the teachers. The block of time for conferences is 1-7pm and it was just going to be tough to make that work, with my work schedule. </p>
<p>I’m wondering when the mail will begin. D2 checked the “no mail” box on the prior 2 PSATs and hasn’t taken a SAT/ACT that counts, so I’m sure the deluge will begin shortly after October 20th (when the October 1st SAT results are available.) Her attitude is that she won’t look at mail from any schools on her list…guess I’ll be opening a lot of mail.</p>
<p>megpmom- I understand about the booster clubs & the teacher’s lack of information for publicity. My D is in several community theater groups and we have built up friendships with other kids & parents who are now in the booster clubs at the high school. We have a small group of dedicated parents & we do all of the fundraising, publicity,costumes, sets& whatever is needed. Since we have a good core group we just get it done. The teacher is happy that we do so much but we do have to ask for dates, and other information. We always ask early for help from other parents but the same small group of people do everything in the end. The other parents miss out because if you are not involved in your child’s life you miss so much! I started doing costumes for musicals six years ago when there was one month to go before showtime & no costumes had been made. It has become my creative outlet. I am a veterinarian by day & volunteer by night!</p>
<p>I also want to comment on the stress level of our kids. My D is gifted in many areas & makes excellent grades. She is usually very calm & cool. But the other day she had a meltdown about a minor standardized test at school. She said that she knew that if she did not do well & that it would disappoint me & ruin her life. Well, this test was insignificant and she is allowed to take it until she passes. She made a perfect score on the test last year, so I doubt that she failed. The lesson for me was to be aware of her stress level & to try to reduce her stress instead of adding to it. Junior year is very tough!</p>
<p>I echo socialdramamama. In our school, they do PLAN in 9th, take a retired ACT in 10th and the real ACT in 11th (state-administered). DD’s scores were lower in reading on the retired ACT compared to the PLAN, and she was initially concerned. Then she remembered they asked for volunteers to use the clicker instead of filling in the circles on paper. She said the clicker really threw her for a loop and she did not go back and check her reading answers. It doesn’t count, but caution your kids about being guinea pigs. Good luck to the kids taking PSAT in the next 6 days.</p>
<p>No PSAT prep here at all. We are in NY state and D will not meet the hurdle for NM. So no need to stress about it here. She is doing spotty SAT prep. We are struggling here with her motivation. SHe is a great kid and very motivated socially and with her writing. Not so much with what she has to do to get to American University. She has a million groups of friends so there always seems to be something pulling her attention away from studying. No one can say this kid does not have a great life!</p>
<p>Soccer season is coming to a close so D will have more time to buckle down.</p>
<p>I’m very worried about the stress level of this year as well. We have a lot of personal stress, but my d is manifesting in physical ways that she never did before. She’s always had fatigue from the hashimoto’s but she’s been experiencing so much nausea since she started this new school. I’m wondering if she is allergic to something (the school!) or it’s the stress. She eats breakfast, but doesn’t eat again until 2:30 or so. She won’t touch the school food, plus she doesn’t want to be alone in the cafeteria so she sits in the library. i warned her to just keep drinking water and bring a protein bar. She is so repulsed by the kids eating in the classroom. I just don’t get that at all. There should be no reason for that. Some kids apparently take classes through the lunch period.</p>
<p>We got psat results last year in early december (maybe that’s just 10th gr?). Also, they told my d she has to take a special test that sophomores in public school take in order to graduate. We are both disturbed by this. She does not want to go and review all last year’s subjects…this is so ridiculous. Does anyone else know of a state test taken in sophomore year? </p>
<p>We are also refusing to do the summer school computer class, so i am going to the supt of schools to discuss that. My d did word and excel in 5th grade since they were on laptops, so they should just let her take an exemption test but not sit in summer school for 2-4 weeks for 4 hours a day. That will definitely NOT happen. </p>
<p>We visited Yale last year, but my d did not like the quad. She also did a lot of international symposiums up there on weekends with her other school, and she didn’t care for the classrooms. She’s going to spend a weekend in her friend’s dorm room the weekend after the PSAT’s…her friend was lucky to get a single room in a nice dorm for freshman year. It’s very rare. She’ll probably go see Brown in November as this same friend has family up there, and she goes to RI quite a bit. Harvard and MIT we passed - my d loved the outside look of it - but she’s not MIT material unless she applied to their theater dept!!! (lol). I wish she was strong in science and math as STEM is where all the jobs are especially for women. I’d love to have her find a cure for some of the rare diseases in our family!</p>
<p>Spent the weekend visiting Northwestern, Carleton, and attending U Chicago open house. Even though they are all different, D liked them well enough to keep them on her list. Each had different strong points in her mind. (My older D was the same way - after visiting BC, BU, and Tufts several years ago, she said she could be happy at any of them. She did narrow it down after attending accepted students days though.) We were in Minnesota on Sunday, and since there were no official tours, the Carleton admissions office arranged for a student to show us around, which I thought was very accommodating of them. The weather was beautiful all weekend!</p>
<p>mamabear, my ds1 is at Carleton so let me know if you have any questions. He loves it.</p>
<p>When you are on your visits- do you find most students are Seniors or Juniors? We had to miss out on the Syracuse U open house due to last minute changes in the soccer schedule. </p>
<p>What do you do with younger siblings. S who is a freshman has no interest in joining us.</p>