<p>I got a big laugh out of the thought of a Sponge Bob Squarepants CD player. </p>
<p>Some years back I bought H a pair of Sponge Bob flannel pajama pants - very bright yellow. He wears them happily inside the house, but says he is embarrassed to go outside and get the paper off the driveway, in case the neighbors might see him.</p>
<p>Would have LOVED to have seen the Sponge Bob CD playerâŠLOL</p>
<p>S took the SAT as a stand-by on Sat AM.
He was supposed to report by 7:15 to wait in lineâŠ
Friday night was our HUGE rivalry Football game, which meant that no one was in bed before 12:30am.
Sâs alarm didnât go off until 7:06 
I heard an âOh Crap!â and then the footsteps running down the stairs. (We live about 35 mins away from the HS).
Prayed for no speeding tickets and for a decent test.
He called afterwards laughing while telling me the days events.
Wore the shorts he slept in, threw on a sweatshirt and thankfully remembered to put on shoes.</p>
<p>He feels good about the math and completed all of the reading questions but one.
The time on the essay got him He wasnât able to finish his conclusion paragraph.
But if he can pull of a decent score from all of thisâŠthe Dec 3rd test should be a cake walk!</p>
<p>MDMOM: Just out of curiosity how many people were stand-by? And did everyone make it in? Just in case we ever decided to do that.</p>
<p>Sacchi: That is funny that your husband wonât get the paper in the Spongebob pajamas. I walk my dog every morning early and there is a guy who comes out in the shortest robe imaginable to get him paper. I would much rather he was wearing Spongebob pjâs.</p>
<p>TX5: I think he was the only one going stand-by. Which makes sense since most Srs are done by now and most Jrs wait until June. He said that several class rooms were used and there were only 9 students in his room.</p>
<p>Signed ds up for the January SAT, and I told him I was taking advantage of the four free score reports, including sending the score to his biggest reach. âThat feels like pressure.â :D</p>
<p>My junior D just got her Oct ACT score, 30. I did ask her if she was ok with me looking at the score first and she was ok. I was reallly worried about the test because she had a flu that morning and was sneezing and coughing throughout. She also said she was always the first one finished in each section and then went to sleep between sections.</p>
<p>At least now we can start looking at summer programs. Knowing her, she will probably want to take it again. My son got the same score a few years ago as awell junior and was done.</p>
<p>All this talk about testing, DD is hearing it, too, at school. After talking it through, she decided to do the March SAT, âNationalâ April ACT. This year, the ACT given by the school (what they call the âStateâ ACT) will not include writing, so most kids will have to take the âNationalâ test if they want the writing section. Budget woes in our state, I guess. </p>
<p>I know there was a lot of talk last year on this thread about when PSAT scores come back, but I didnât pay attention because DD didnât take it. Do the schools pass out the scores or will there be a national score report coming in the mail? Before or after Christmas break, or does it depend on the school?</p>
<p>PSAT scores are distributed by the school and when you get it depends upon the schoolâs policy. Our school distributes PSAT scores before Christmas break. </p>
<p>I havenât signed S2 up for any tests yet. Traditionally, our school hasnât emphasized the ACT, but I think I may have S2 take it just to see how he does. Heâs way too busy through February to even consider a test, so I guess itâs Spring testing for us.</p>
<p>Weâre on pins and needles here waiting for grades this Thursday. S2 has brought his precalc grade up from a 56 to a 76 the last time I checked. Just as long as heâs passing! He has an important audition next Tues and âno pass, no play.â Just wish the precalc teacher would post grades already!</p>
<p>Our school doesnât release scores until after the winter break. :(</p>
<p>The end of the quarter was Friday for my D. Yesterday and today have been work days for teachers, so they can finish grading and recording assignments. As of this morning, all of her teachers have now reported final grades. There is both joy and sorrow in Mudville as my D has earned not just her first grade lower than an A, but her second as well. Only her semester grades are reported on the transcript, so she can certainly still improve those grades with a good second quarter.
There is such a difference in the number of grades in AP Lang and APUSH. She has 38 grades recorded in AP Lang and just 5 in APUSH! I loved those few grades when my S was in APUSH because he often got many 0âs for missing assignments in courses, but not in APUSH because the only grades were tests. My D, however, is very organized and racks up many 100âs on the homework assignments that my S either misplaced, forgot, or just plain didnât hear the directions correctly! On the other hand, the heavy weighting of the essays in AP Lang didnât allow her hw work grades to help her much. For the first time, her fall sport really took a toll on her ability to keep up with the work at the level she is usually able to. Still so very proud of her for what she was able to accomplish with such a very hectic schedule!</p>
<p>BlueshoeâŠis your season over too? I am surprised our girls managed so well with the FH. D is so burned out and only one quarter finished. Today is a day off for the elections. Hardly any voters but D is relishing the extra day to work on some projects. I am working from home but taking breaks, obviously. We are going to have lunch together and enjoy the lovely fall weather in VA. I thought HS was hectic and difficult by my S at CMU has hit a new level of busy with his classes. He works continually â every friday and saturday night â he is hopeful that this is the crunch semester (prerequisites for his minor are really weed out classes) but I think some universities are just plain hard. D is hoping to go somewhere that is challenging but there is a life outside of academics.</p>
<p>I think our school released PSAT scores the same week that winter break started last year, at least to the sophomores. But they have a junior class college night scheduled for the middle of December and Iâm hoping that scores will have been sent home prior to that.</p>
<p>famm, Dâs team lost in the regional semifinals to the only team that had defeated them this year. They were in the lead late into the second half, but were unable to hold them off. It was a bitterly disappointing loss, but they had a great season culminating in a 16-2 record. D and I went to Williamsburg yesterday for retail therapy and to revisit W&M. It was a great, warm day and we had a lovely time seeing campus in its beautiful fall colors, but my D is still not feeling itâŠon to Charlottesville and beyond.</p>
<p>Our school released PSATs last year at an evening presentation of some sort. I think the presentation was by Princeton Review âexplaining the scoresâ to you. I just picked up the scores. But I do remember it being after others on CC had received their scores. Last night was âcounselingâ night where they explained graduation requirements, college requirements, etc⊠I knew everything but went anyway to chat with my friends. Tonight at the PTA meeting there is a college counselor coming. I think I will go just to see what he/she has to say.</p>
<p>BlueshoeâŠthis seems like a potential thread topicâŠcollege visits and retail therapyâŠI definitely could lure D to more schools if it meant a shopping trip as well (she needs some winter duds for sure as she grew another inch or two this past year). Does anyone have recommendations for shopping/college tour hotspots? Obviously, NY, Chicago and Boston are slam dunks but perhaps memphis has a heretofore undiscovered retail golden mile or Durham has suddenly grown a shopping area that makes the stop at Duke just a little bit sweeterâŠWhat is there (shopping-wise) in Willamsburg or nearby? With my son I was careful to combine art school tours with plenty of time to visit museums and galleries. With D, I realize that making time for off campus restaurants and shopping may be the key to finding âfitâ. Has anyone discovered a surprising college/retail area combination?</p>
<p>A visit to Mall of America puts you less than an hour from Carleton, Macalester, St. Olaf and a bunch of MN state schools.</p>
<p>famm, Williamsburg Premium Outlets are just 5 or 6 miles down Richmond Road from W&M. A warm day this time of year is a great time to go shop. Tourist traffic is down from the summer months and the Christmas crowd has not ramped up yet. D and I leisurely strolled through her favorite haunts and never stood in a line once. Three skirts and a couple sweaters later, the pain of being one game shy of the state playoffs has been significantly softened.:)</p>
<p>Funny, we were just talking about testing over dinner tonight 
I realized that the March SAT conflicts with a regional competition D will be in, and the April ACT conflicts with the state competition (which HS teams in our area are pretty much given an automatic invite to.) Our HS administers the ACT to all juniors in March, but like BerneseMtns district it doesnât include writing. She got her October SAT back & CR & W were excellent but math was a little lower than Iâd expected; the buzz on the SAT forum is that it was a tough curve. Plus I donât know if sheâll need to take any SAT IIs; sheâs supposed to finish the last once over of âthe listâ by this weekend so we can schedule some visits. That will also let her know if she needs to pencil SAT IIâs in. Blech. So she needs to take at least one more test with writing. She decided to take the SAT in January and the ACT in February.</p>
<p>Our HS officially distributes the PSATs in English classes in January, but for kids in the know who go ask in the guidance office, they can get their scores before Christmas break. And she will. We talked about that tonight too. She knows that she âshouldâ score high enough to make NMSF based on all other testing, but that SAT threw her for a loop. I told her it would be nice, but itâs not a big deal if she doesnât. She did her best & thereâs nothing she can do about it now. </p>
<p>If I told D that weâd go shopping at every college visit, Iâd never get her to visit even 1 school. The kid hates shopping. Maybe ice creamâŠ</p>
<p>We never anticipated that there would be so many conflicts with the dates of the SAT & ACT. We registered for the Dec SAT last night & there were no seats available anywhere near us so my D will have to drive pretty far. Dec is a popular date because of the seniors trying to raise their scores one more time. We are going to go ahead & sign her up for the rest of the year. There are several dates she cannot take the test due to competitions & performances.</p>
<p>^^^^ I agree w/testing date conflicts. Had I not looked into it a year ago when S was a soph we would be scrambling this year. Fortunately we signed him up for the ACT last June and he had a very nice score so he is done. The Sept/Oct/April dates this year all had/have conflicts with other committments and the December date is also iffy for him this year. That would have left Feb/June - I have some friends who are just now looking into testing dates for the school year and wondering why they didnât look into it all sooner. I think our school does a pretty decent job with the college guidance beginning in Freshman year but not sure this information and the idea of planning far in advance was ever part of that guidance. Thankfully we have loads of info here on CC!</p>