<p>Again appreciate the insight/affirmation from blueiguana
Ds1 began the standardized testing with SAT in November and achieved admirably…720CR, 660 in other 2…sort of felt premature taking before having PSAT results in hand, but also wanted establish early baseline and spread out other attempts…also will have 3APs and 2 SAT2 at year end…along with regular finals…DS1 will give another go at end of January hoping to improve the math score…xmas first!</p>
<p>If other’s can benefit from my novice poor planning last go-round I’m glad to share. 
For S2 it worked out fine as he didn’t have any EA/ED schools on his list so he was able to utilize the October and November test dates for a retest on one subject test and a second go on the SAT1 to bump a math score. He did have one rolling admission (which I recommend to everyone if it remotely fits your students list) but he didn’t need the higher scores from Sr. year for that.</p>
<p>S3 is a different animal (aren’t they all!), and may have EA/ED schools, or may end up needing Sr year fall test dates despite starting earlier. I’m just trying to be open to a different approach given a different student, but incorporate what we learned previously, as well as what I learn from others experiences here on cc. No matter how long I’m here I’m always learning something new!</p>
<p>Has anyone ever talked to a teacher(s) about homework loads? DS is a jr, excellent student, but this year is just deluged with homework. He figures he does more hours of homework a day than he has hours of class. He is very involved with ECs but this has never been a problem before. Lots of new teachers in the school this year and some are just crazy with the homework. Other great students (seniors in the school) are dropping out of ECs this year left and right when they should be leaders in these activities. I have been contacted by other parents of good students who have the same concerns with kids staying up until wee hours trying to keep up and then developing new onset migraines, etc. THere was talk about going to the new teacher of one class in particular en masse to discuss our concerns but I think parents are afraid that anything they say will affect their kids grades. New principal this year, too, and my previous encounter has me feeling like he is afraid to go to bat for the students with the teachers. Very discouraging. Our family life is really affected. We’re unable to leave for a weekend because kids have to do homework. DS can’t even take driving class because there is no time. He says he no longer looks forward to school because his 'life is homework". Really sad because this kid loves to learn. I just see the life sapped out of him and the stress level is way high. Any advice?</p>
<p>^that’s a tough one. If it were me and my child was getting inundated, I too would be nervous about speaking up (fearing repercussions). But I think you need to say something. Either to the teacher or to someone in the administration. Is there a health and wellness committee or some semi-neutral liaison you could approach in the administration maybe by asking about the migraines? Then maybe the conversation will naturally flow to what’s causing the migraines and then maybe you can broach the subject about course load?</p>
<p>I do know that at back to school night the teachers at our school are up front about how much hw to expect from their class (ie time commitment). My S3 tends to slog through things so I know lots of times it isn’t the assignment or the teachers expectations, it’s my students pace. Did the teacher you are concerned about give any indication what to expect as far as hw commitment outside of class, and has this been consistently exceeded? If she didn’t give an idea is there a problem with a student advocating for himself/herself as a first step in asking how much time the teacher expects them to be spending on the out of class assignments on a nightly or weekly basis. This is a common figure to give and she should be able to answer. This sets the stage to follow up if either the time she is asking for is beyond what is reasonable OR she is off base as far as how long these assignments are taking the majority of students to complete. The follow up is then based on the answer she gives, but that’s where I would start.</p>
<p>I will say that it is very hard with a new instructor to know what to expect and every school has it’s notoriously difficult subjects/instructors. Our kids know that APChem (lab/lecture double block) with honors calc is a lethal combination their jr year. This is a math/science progression and most students will sacrifice APUSH knowing the additional time for reading and written hw needed will just push them over the edge and everything will suffer. If the student wants the humanities they are going to give up the AP Chem and not take an AP science their Jr year, or take AP Bio and step back off honors language 4 (Spanish or French) and take the regular version. It is an incredible balancing act, but for kids with varsity sports, debate, robotics, etc. they have to weigh the heavy hitting AP time commitments and piece them together like a puzzle, knowing there is only so much time in the day. With a new instructor you are absolutely in the dark and it can go either way.</p>
<p>That sucks, MrsPepper. I second Classof2015’s idea but I’m unsure if anything will come of it. New teachers tend to be way more heavyhanded than old ones who know what they’re doing. </p>
<p>That being said, I think the current academic culture is not conducive to learning. There’s barely anytime to relax and explore ideas in a more meaningful way. Fortunately (or unfortunately) my school restricts us to 4 classes per term, but due to schedule conflicts, I’m IS-ing 2 classes and taking online/correspondence courses for 2 others. 6 classes is actually not that bad, but it’s sometimes difficult to learn material without any guidance.</p>
<p>To manage, I’ve really restricted my involvement in ECs. I have a few main ones that I care about and the rest, I participate in if I have time. I also dropped a self study I really wanted to do (Physics C). I don’t know if any of you guys have read How to be a high school superstar by Cal Newport but he does a really good job elucidating how a talented student ought to take a moderately rigorous courseload (i.e. not so much work that it drowns you), work smartly and focus on a few ECs that are meaningful so you have a good work/life balance and remain desirable to more selective universities. The philosophy is really good in theory but I find it difficult to practice, especially when the school and teachers are not receptive 
.</p>
<p>Re mspepper - About an hour of homework per class per night is the norm for some schools. Getting some done in the afternoon and on weekends is essential. These schools are not the right fit for every high school junior, however. I suspect most high school juniors do a lot less. I haven’t heard of anyone getting migraines from homework until now. </p>
<p>I would definitely say something to the administration if the stress of junior years is causing physical illness. I hope it all works out.</p>
<p>S '14 got his first trimester grades today. He pulled all A’s with 3 AP classes for a 4.6 for the trimester. That pulled him from a class rank of 11 to number 2! Number 2!!! So excited for him :)</p>
<p>There was a post that the first person has received the PSAT score. Good luck to all waiting ds won’t be the hunt but I hope he goes up from last year. After 2 psats and 1 sat test he is switching to act in feb.</p>
<p>When are the PSAT results coming out?</p>
<p>FireLion: PSAT results are sent to the high schools and then they decide when to distribute them. Some schools give them out before winter break, while others wait until January. Your child’s guidance counselor could probably tell you when the school will hand out the scores.</p>
<p>Thanks for the PSAT results heads up… I just emailed DD’s GC to ask if I can pop in to get a copy tomorrow… No sense in waiting for the next 6 weeks or so.!</p>
<p>PSAT scores. Would love to see them. S starts prep tomorrow night. I would ask the counselor, but she probably doesn’t know what they are. D13 lucked out, they had a great one we worked with through last spring and she even wrote D’s rec. the new one is fixated on community college and didn’t know EA and ED were different.</p>
<p>89Wahoo - How frustrating! Especially when you’ve just had a good experience with another GC. In your case I can see a value in having the scores to share with the tutor. We’ll be waiting. We love our GC but she’s tied by the policies of the department and this is not something worth calling in a favor for, for us. I’m sure she’s swamped with Sr’s going through anxiety of impending EA/ED announcements, as well as getting credentials out for all the last minute requests for RD. S3s score will be the same in January so it’s nbd for us to wait.</p>
<p>So we got DD14’s first SAT score back. She was supposed to take the 11/3 SAT but it was postponed due to Sandy. This was a disadvantage in two ways: it put a gap in the time she finished her prep course and actually taking the test, and it landed on a morning after a big late activity at school. With that said, she got within 100 points of her target score. So not too shabby.</p>
<p>She took it again on Dec 1 so we are hoping that one went a little better. Either the 2nd score is the one we’ll use or maybe she improved enough in Math to superscore between the two. She walked away from both test feeling similarly so we will see.</p>
<p>She is a really anxious kid so putting the pressure on backfires. Trying to honor who she is. I would really like to put the SAT behind us and maybe take one shot at the ACT in the spring. Then if she is unhappy with what she has to submit, let her take a last shot at one or the other early fall of senior year. But I will leave it entirely up to her.</p>
<p>How annoying to know that PSAT scores are out and our school won’t release them until winter break! Does anyone know why we can’t just pull them up on our collegeboard account?</p>
<p>DD knew homework would increase substantially junior year and it’s been a huge time suck. She’s up until midnight many nights a week. She has seven classes (block schedule) and it’s about 5 hours a night plus usually a full day on the weekend. Even her regular history class is extremely demanding. DD takes it in stride–I guess she knows she’s not alone in the boat. </p>
<p>It does seems a little ridiculous that now the “standard” is for high school students to take college-level classes in order to boost their admissions chances. I understand that students should be challenged and meet their rate of learning. I’m just not sure that AP and dual-enrollment or online college classes are the answer.</p>
<p>As a junior this year, DS rarely goes to bed before 11:30 on weeknights.</p>
<p>Go2mom, I agree. The whole arms race is crazy. One group of kids is increasingly stressed doing far too much… while many others are shortchanged and unprepared for higher education.</p>
<p>DD spent two hours trying to do an assignment because half the grade (out of 100or so points) is based on"how it looks". She has two tests this week for the AP classes and a ton of other homework. It is almost given now each teacher expects one hour or more with the homework and that means more than seven hours a day. On top of that, the students need to spend extra time to study for the AP classes so they can prepare for the AP exam. I am on board for homework that is needed. But not for assignments that take up a lot of time Uggh… Kids need time for ECs especially for something they are passionate about.</p>
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<p>We’re in this boat since my youngest refuses to do extra outside of school and didn’t like homeschooling as his two older brothers did. Youngest ('14) rarely has any homework… and when he does it often takes 15 minutes or less to finish.</p>
<p>Test scores at our school reflect this - even our high kids are often “average” as my guy is. I often find myself wondering if he’ll even finish college with no actual work ethic for academics.</p>
<p>I’m not wishing he had 7 hours per night, but a happy medium would be nice.</p>
<p>Looking for (and paying for) colleges with him will be far different than with my top stat kids (sigh).</p>