<p>As far as the college visit, spring break seems the most popular time. Last spring we went to UNC Chapel Hill, and they reported 1700 visitors in 1 day. Better to pick a day when the school is in full-session to get a true feel.</p>
<p>âThis post gives me hope. Mechanical Engineering with 570 SAT II Physics was accepted to Penn.â</p>
<p>DrG: thanks! That gives me hope too! You made my day.</p>
<p>Re Greetasola post - I have two very different daughters. My first took great pride in taking as many APs as possible and was focussed on getting into top sci/math schools. This was truly her choice to push herself. And now sheâs enjoying herself tremendously at her top choice school (MIT). My second daughter is the âwell-roundedâ type who enjoys many extra-curriculars and tries not to stress too much. If I were to push her to take more APs in order to be competitive with kids like my first daughter, sheâd be miserable. Instead she takes a few and challenges herself only to the point where she doesnât stress. As parents, weâve just got to accept some things about our kids. She got her PSAT scores and theyâre only 1 point above last yearâs. Sheâs nowhere near NMSF while my older was a finalist. D2 will probably focus on improving for SAT, but again, she doesnât want to stress and will accept that there are schools who wonât give her a second look. She (and I) will live with that.</p>
<p>to David 1126, if your sonâs SAT scores mirror the PSATâs, I would strongly advise him NOT to re-take the SAT trying to get that math score up. D1 took SATs once and got the same scores as your son, with the exception of math - she got 730. She was advised by an insider that MIT - and all the other top schools that accepted her - were fine with those scores - even to the point that if she were to retake in an attempt to get the math score higher, there might be some concern that she was too much of a perfectionist and might have trouble accepting that her test grades might be lower at the top sci/math schools. They worry about mental health and possible suicide attempts with perfectionists. You know there were two suicides this year at MITâŠ</p>
<p>Congratulations, MomofNEA! That is a WONDERFUL surprise! </p>
<p>I laughed at the comment about the red and green squiggly lines in Word. I swear to some degree spelling aptitude is something you are born with. I can spell very well, as can my middle son. My last born son (9) is a good speller. My husband, who is otherwise VERY smart and my D13 canât spell to save their lives. For whatever reason, they donât hear sounds or something. My D will even ask the 9 year old how something is spelled! Sheâs very smart though⊠itâs just like a missing gene or something!</p>
<p>mom22girls-Thank you for that advice and support! I think if my Sâs SAT was the same as his PSAT we would have been tempted to re-take it - that is really great to hear that schools would not quibble over a few points. Iâve had the impression that places like MIT want everyone to have 780-800 on Math! He is so set on engineering that, and like Poppycock, I would be so sad if he didnât make it based on something like that. He is planning to do the AMC12 this February so hopefully he will do well there and the Math 2 SAT will be in June along with Chemistry. Anyway, I am up earlier than usual on a Saturday because I just took my S over to take the ACT. His HS wants everyone to take both ACT and SAT to see which one they score better and then repeat the one they prefer. He is armed with pencils, snacks and confidence from his PSAT, which makes me happy. I went through a bit of confusion regarding calculators for the ACT and I wonder if anyone else had this problem. My son usually uses the TI-89 graphing calculator but we realized ACT does not allow that one. At first I thought he could only use a four-function one but then we realized he was able to use a more sophisticated one, just not certain ones with built in Algebra systems. So I ran out to the store late last night and picked up a Texas Instruments scientific TI-30xIIB which was the best I could find at short notice! It does not have graphing but does have Trigonometric functions. He seemed happy with it which made me feel relieved and like I accomplished something. I hope the lack of graphing doesnât hurt him. Anyway I think he is more focused on the SAT anyway and I am probably wasting my time worrying!</p>
<p>FineartsâŠD is also in an IB program. I agree her writing skills (and thinking) have soared. I recently found an econ commentary of hers on the printer and thought it was an article not a hs paper. She was doing great until these last couple weeks. She is now exhausted and her peers who are also IB are feeling the same. Sor far she is able to keep up with the work but I think her brain is working so hard during the day she is getting headaches again (last year we had a long bout of Post Concussive Syndrome). I too worry about Senior year since it looks like the bulk of the work is going to happen toward the middle of SR year. </p>
<p>D does love IB, so will not consider dropping down to the AP path (only other choice at our school) I am leaning toward keeping my S on the AP path instead of IB. </p>
<p>D was considering dropping the musical season but they do need to do what they love as well. But putting off HW until 7 pm is pretty tough.</p>
<p>Been reading CC for years and finally joined! My junior S just got PSAT scores back: 234
Woot! Woot! CR 77. M 77 W 80. Up from last yearâs 206. He was tutored this fall before PSAT and then took November SAT: 2280 CR 680. M 800 W 800. (10/80) Retook last weekend to get that unfortunate 680 up for his schools. Hope itâs not too many scores since I chose to save his 8th grade talent search score (2180) Heâs definitely not a perfectionist, just a good test taker. Now Iâm regretting my decision after reading earlier posts about no more than 2 scores for highly selective schools. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Marin, I canât imagine any college holding that eighth-grade score against him. It certainly proves his high score was no fluke.</p>
<p>vandy, I agree about natural-born spellers. Iâm one. In second grade, my teacher quit letting me compete in the weekly spelling bees because I won every week. I got to be her âassistant.â Bogus. But donât judge my spelling by this forum. I get going and donât catch all my typos!</p>
<p>Ds2 is off to office hours with the congressman to set up when heâs going to work over the break. He wonât get a lot of hours, but Iâm glad they asked him to come back and that heâll be busy instead of under foot and/or bored.</p>
<p>He finds out Monday, I think, whether he made varsity. Cross your fingers! Heâs been trying out with the varsity and doing well, he says. Also Monday, heâll find out which and how many days they have to practice over the winter break.</p>
<p>And, of course, weâre still awaiting PSAT scores, but I donât expect those until the last two days of school, the 19th and 20th. Yâall are making me feel less nervous. All these high scores make me wonder whether he got lucky and knocked it out of the park, too!</p>
<p>Well, we have had quite a wild month. Daughter (Jr.) took the PSAT and within two weeks, sat for the SAT. She didnât say a whole lot about the PSAT test (I shouldâve noticed that) but did say quite a bit about her SAT test day. Weâve now got both results back - 209 on PSAT (major letdown for her) and a 2260 on SAT. All in all, weâre very proud of her and she is excited about retaking the SAT at the end of the school year just before her subject tests.</p>
<p>Hi Everyone
Started off my weekend with dhâs holiday party. Not the most fun for me,butt he was glad I went. Last night was an ornament exchange from d13 8th grade class. Its fun to get together with moms I haven;t seen in a long time.</p>
<p>Vandy, my oldest s10 had PSATâs that were about 1550 (3 subjects). He took the SATâs twice and after a Kaplan class, scored lower!!!
He is at a small Cal State, which wouldnât appeal to most people. His grades are good and heâs a RA this year and plans to apply for next year. Heâs really matured through doing it, made alot of friends and we love the free room and board!!!
Meg, dd did the egg drop this year. They could use 4 sheets of copy paper, regular scotch tape and a plastic grocery bag. They also dropped from the top of the bleachers. The egg had to be in the grocery bag to prevent messes. They made a cone with a sheet and used tape to put spikes on the outside of the cone, to help absorb the shock. Very interesting. They also just did the bridge project with pasta. That didnât go as well.</p>
<p>Christmas presents: primarily gift cards and video games for the boys. Dd has kind of a unique hobbyâŠshe decorates cakes, so she got some stuff for that. </p>
<p>Have a wonderful weekend everyone</p>
<p>Julia</p>
<p>Maringirl, My s took the SAT as part of the Duke University TIP (Talent Identification Program) in 7th grade. After one year, those scores stopped showing up on the official score reports. So, I would not worry about that 8th grade SAT. It will not show up, unless you request it to stay. Even if you do request it to stay, colleges will understand why it was taken in middle school.</p>
<p>Giggles. Yâall are prolific! </p>
<p>Havenât been here in ages, thought of this place when my silly D13 panicked herself looking at her 2010 PSAT scores by mistake this morning. So I sent off an email copying her to her GC asking for the code. Guess Iâm waiting at least until Monday to know whether Iâll see her 2011 scores anytime soon.</p>
<p>Waves hello to all the new, and all the familiar.</p>
<p>I guess it is time to start taking this all a little more seriously again, though I donât want to! Weâve seen the stress levels growing here too - and the moodiness to accompany it. Itâs Nutcracker season, she has an extremely rigorous load for her⊠</p>
<p>Select Concert Choir
IB History of America HL
IB English 11 HL
IB Math Methods SL
IB Spanish 5 SL
IB HL 1 Physics
IB Chem 1 SL</p>
<p>Câs and Dâs are appearing this year at mid-quarters, improving mostly to Aâs and Bâs - but gosh what a difference a year makes! This is getting serious!</p>
<p>Congrats to all on the improving PSAT scores and all other successes, I have a lot more back-threading to do.</p>
<p>Happy Holidays!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>S is a junior taking 5 AP classes (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science II, US History, English) and 2 Pre AP (Pre calculus, Physics). I did not think it would be too bad because he was scoring around 700 on Math and 700 on Critical Reading on SAT practice tests at home. (He scored 690 Math, 690 Verbal on Oct SAT). I was wrong. I believe, he should not have taken more than two or three as a junior. Now he is stuck in them because dropping a class would mean taking an F.</p>
<p>Well, Big-Bad-Dad, 2260 SAT is great. It is ready âin rangeâ for any IVY. Why re-take? save the energy for something else, if I were her. Or try ACT. some schools super-score between SAT and ACT.</p>
<p>hi paraz, and mnmom,
same here - D13 has heavy class load this year (4 AP and 2 H). 1st Q grades had Bâs and Câs. She also has 15 hours dance each week. Some days she had to skip dance classes because school report/project due next day. Staying late at night is quite frequent.</p>
<p>But I would say this is expected ⊠they are challeged and they will learn how to deal with it in the process. Also I read somewhere that getting 1 or 2 Câs on AP/IB wonât throw you off, specially if they are taking heavy load in that particalar year. Addission officer can tell from the transcript.</p>
<p>good luck to all.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Heck yeah that isnât fair! Sheesh!</p>
<p>Very exciting basketball game for my 13 year old S today. They were behind the whole game, essentially, then caught up, got fouled with 9 seconds on the buzzer, made both free throws to break the tie and Victory! S didnât play much at all but it was exciting nonetheless.</p>
<p>Putting off getting ready to go to Dhâs firm Holiday party. Ugh. Being a non-lawyer in a group of attorneys is not my idea of fun. But I will smile and nod, smile and nod!</p>
<p>VBC mom. Thanks for sharing your sonâs experience. I would be thrilled if D breaks 120 on M+CR on the PSAT. Last year she was about 150 on all three. It is particularly tough for a kid when they have siblings that are great test takers. Our state colleges are excellent but it has become so competitive and lots of grade inflation that lots of kids with over 4.0 GPAs are turned down if they donât break 1900 on the SATs. </p>
<p>Yet, as long as she doesnât take this as a measurement of intelligence, I have no worries for her. She is a very determined and smart kid and I have no doubt she will do well wherever she lands. Funny, but I used to worry more about my âgiftedâ kid because I wasnât sure if he would ever learn to work hard or know what it is to persevere. Luckily, he is in a college program which is really stretching him and he says it is the first time he has ever had to study for a math or computer science class and he is actually working hard for the first time in his life. </p>
<p>Next year I may be starting a threadâŠâWhere did your kid in top 5% of class with crappy test scores get inââŠ</p>
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</p>
<p>whonrock - mine is in the studio about 20 hours a week between classes, rehearsals and assisting with the babies; also has a part time job at Old Navy.</p>
<p>I donât know how these kids juggle these insane work loads! She REALLY wanted to do the Musical - but no dice. Not enough hours in the week.</p>
<p>Good morning . . . congrats on all these great PSAT scores! S was only hoping for a 214+ for NMS in Ohio, but it wasnât meant to be. CR/M was about what we expected, but the writing (which were his highest scores on practice tests) killed him. He earned a respectable score in the 98%, so he should be commended, but no NMS scholarships for S. </p>
<p>He took the ACT yesterday hoping for redemption. I tried talking him into waiting until spring. Like all your kids, heâs been buried with school, work, and ECs, so he didnât do any prep other than the practice test he took two weeks ago. Plus, he has a cold and he looks really tired. He insisted that he was fine. Come to find out, half of the junior and senior classes had begged him to take it and get a 35-36 to outscore a boy who scored a 34 and apparently needs to be humbled. lol </p>
<p>S did an egg drop in AP Physics this year too. The goal was trying to make the substance as thin as possible. His group did a cornstarch mixture. He said the winner did a really thin cake; the egg looked like it was going to bounce right off, but it worked. </p>
<p>S is taking 3 AP (Physics, Euro, and Art History), plus dual college credit Precal, Computer Science, honors Chemistry, and English. At his school, thatâs as heavy as it gets. Itâs swim team season, so heâs really spread thin right now, but doing a good job staying on top. I think heâs really learning time management and what it means to really have to study . . . great prep for college! </p>
<p>Not all APâs are created equal . . . if he had 5 APâs like his APUSH class last year, he would have been fine with the load, but wouldnât have been prepared for the exams. His AP Art and Euro classes are really demanding, but he thinks heâs been really well prepared for the exams. Last year, it was a month before the test and he realized heâd have to teach himself the 20th century since they werenât far enough along . . . thatâs the first time I saw him really study! </p>
<p>Good luck to all those still waiting on PSATs! Just think . . . this time next year weâll be stressing over college acceptance/denials . . . followed by scholarships/financial aid!</p>
<p>Love how the thread is taking off 
Nothing like those scores coming in to make it all âreal.â Congrats on all the scores; having gone through this once I know they all end up someplace that has what they need, but it is an angst inducing process.</p>
<p>No scores yet here for us; I am alternating between zen and utter impatience but the scores will be what the scores will be whether D gets them on Tuesday or in January. The thing that is making me crazy is that she is getting NO college mail at all, not even emails. She says that she checked the box to be included in mailings, but since she wonât open any mail from a school that isnât on her list, I guess it doesnât matter anyway.</p>
<p>Christmas: no one is getting a really âbigâ gift this year, primarily because they have them already. And we certainly donât do things like buying cars D2 is violently opposed to e-readers (she feels they ruin the book reading experience) so D1 is wrapping her present in an old Nook box. Bwahaha. I did do the gift comparison yesterday and D2 was the winner in the clubhouse both in volume & value so I need to pick up a few more things for D1. But I am uninspired when shopping. </p>
<p>Midterms start later this week so there is a lot of studying and project work going on. The formula for semester grading has changed for this year, and there is a lot of grumbling about it. Midterms are now 25% of the semester grade, with each of the MP grades counting for 37.5%. When D1 started HS midterms counted for 15% and then they got bumped up to 20%. Some of the teachers feel it makes what they do in the classroom over the 18 weeks less important, and kids are stressing that even if they have a solid A going in to the test, they could still drop to a B.</p>