<p>"Question. Are any of your kids doing any college prep stuff this summer? Thinking I’ll have S14 take some practice SAT tests, but not for any good reason besides “why not”. </p>
<p>DS’14 finally opened up an SAT prep book today. He worked on it for a little over an hour. He is going to do a few problems each week and then get a little more into it at the end of the summer – PSAT in October.</p>
<p>oncmom: I’ve heard the HPME programs are real pressure cookers. I also heard from our college counselor that NU’s chemistry class is extremely challenging and that a lot of kids who are looking to pre-med/engineering drop those majors after that class. D14 is currently studying for both honors chemistry and honors pre-calc finals. Brutal. She will be taking AP Chem and Honors Bio (our school doesn’t offer AP Bio) next year. How are your daughter’s grades in math/science? </p>
<p>glido and the rest of the group :)-- I’ve told D that SAT/ACT prep is her summer job. I expect her to manage her own time but to get an hour or so a day of study in. I don’t care when she does it but it needs to be routine like brushing her teeth. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask. She’s got some great summer fun activities (including HOBY World Congress–any of your kids going?) and camp and family vacation. She’s pretty responsible so I’m hoping that I can avoid being the nag!</p>
<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>DD14 is doing the College Board online course… she has been logging on a few times/week + on weekends… usually 1/2 hour/session. Or longer depending on her work load/EC’s. She will devote more time to it once school is over. Before she heads off to her summer program for the month of July. Would it be too much/too pushy to ask her to do it while she is away??? LOL I know thats pushing it!</p>
<p>Since school just ended a few days ago, my son’s taking some time off. Then, he will begin an intense training schedule for cross country season. When he is not lifting or running, he will be doing a boatload of summer work for APUSH. I’m hoping that he will devote 30 minutes or so a day to prepping for the ACT, as he will take it in October. </p>
<p>29happymom26: Love your idea regarding test prep. I have offered my son tickets to see his favorite ice hockey team play if he reaches a certain score on the ACT. Usually, I do not use incentives for scores, grades, etc. This time, I shall, because he knows he needs a specific score if he hopes to land a full tuition scholarship to some of the schools on his list.</p>
<p>NewHavenCTmom: Let your daughter enjoy her summer program. I certainly do not believe my son will do any test prep while at his running camp, not would I even suggest it.</p>
<p>Lol I know… I said that was pushing it… but she also needs to do well on her PSAT/SAT to get some good scholarship $!!! She wouldn’t have time anyway!</p>
<p>Junior year is going to be a bear so D will be taking it easy this summer, enjoying her EC’s – which take up a ton of time – and studying some for the PSAT. I’m trying to enjoy the time we have left with her. I cannot believe how fast these last two years have gone by. </p>
<p>Momreads: why is your son doing APUSH in the summer? Is this a prep class?</p>
<p>Agentninetynine: APUSH is taught in one semester at his school (fall or spring). To help lighten the workload for the class, the teacher has summer assignment packets. So, before leaving school last week, my son had to pick up his packet (which includes a DBQ, a free-read book list, a textbook and two more supplemental texts) to do the assignments. We’ve already chatted about setting a timetable to get the work done, so he does not feel too much pressure.</p>
<p>My DS also has APUSH “homework” this summer, but I’ve yet to see him open the books! His is a year-long course. </p>
<p>He’s been out of school for 2 1/2 weeks already. He has a 2-week ACT study course and the ACT under his belt already. Less than two weeks before he leaves for his 10-day hike in New Mexico. After that, I’m not sure what he’ll do the rest of the summer. </p>
<p>A friend asked the other day about going to visit colleges - just two moms and two sons. Maybe that will get him interested in looking! Have any of you started touring colleges yet? How did it go? Sounds like a great trip to me!!</p>
<p>The APUSH summer homework in our school was so extensive that my older S dropped the course the day he first sat down to do it :-o History was never his <em>thing</em> and no way was he willing to work that hard for a history class. </p>
<p>S’14 has also decided not to take APUSH and will take honors US history instead. He didn’t fit in the usual grade 10 history (more recent world history, ancient having been covered in grade 9) into his schedule last year (not his fault) so he still needs to take that to graduate. But recently his guidance counselor has said she can get him an exemption to take psychology instead, since it would be “awkward” for a senior to be in 10th grade history class. Not sure how I feel about that but he’s thrilled because he also hates history classes. </p>
<p>He will be taking AP Calculus AB next year, and also signed up for Statistics in place of French. I want him to switch back to French. Statistics (not AP) is not an honors-level class in our HS and the math department head told him she did not think it would be a good fit for him. also I want him to take a 3rd year of French in HS (he took french 1 in MS, and then 2 and 3 so far in HS, so he would be in French 4 next year if he takes it). It does fit his schedule so I think he should do that. But he has been dragging his feet on changing it because he suddenly “doesn’t like” the French teacher.</p>
<p>mathmomvt: You may want to mention to your son that if he takes French 4, he may not need to take a foreign language in college. Some schools operate that way. My son just completed Spanish 4. We do not have a fifth year, and AP is an online class. So he will need to visit with his teachers to keep his skills up. </p>
<p>beadymom: We’ve done two college visits, and they went well. My son liked the two schools. To help jumpstart the process, I did some research using his wants, including big school, great rec facilities, big-time athletics, AC (he wants to go to school in the south), lots of majors and academic opportunities, and came up with some possibilities. Then, I recommended that we stop at one school en route to his grandparents’ home near Georgia and one school on the way back home. He liked that idea. He’ll get a chance to see a Big Ten school this July when he attends camp there. So, do a little research and see if you can interest your son in visiting. I just told my son that I’m not spending his senior year driving here and there every weekend to see schools. Senior year is crazy for kids (and parents) with everything from tests to AP to prom and everything in between.</p>
<p>beadymom – if you visit schools with the other mom and her son, maybe you and your son have a separate tour experience (instead of walking alongside your friend) so your child is free to form his own opinions about the school. Sometimes, our kid’s impressions are so fleeting and fragile they can dislike a perfectly good school based on some random comment from a friend. Of course, the opposite is also true!</p>
<p>@beadymom,</p>
<p>We began during dd14’s freshman year…the main reason was to keep her focused on the bigger picture. And for her to see what she needed to be doing NOW… instead of getting to her junior year and not be preparted. We won’t do any visits this summer b/c I want her to see the school in action. </p>
<p>Our latest tour was of schools in NJ/PA
Princeton–amazing–puts Yale to shame as far as I’m concerned. DD wasn’t all that impressed. She wants to see herself on college campuses… some diversity. We did see some blacks on campus, but not enough for her to feel comfortable… who needs comfortable in that type of setting? and that type of education? LOL just kidding!
We had the pleasure of grabbing a bite to eat while there… Delicious! </p>
<p>We did 4 other schools… she hated Villanova… it was very ice boxy/toaster ovenish… no character… drab/boring… again no diversity. We saw more brown folks @ Pton. Which I found to be odd. We had lunch here, the food was horrible. Massed produced slop. From what we were told is that it’s because the dining hall is “all you can eat”. </p>
<p>Her fave by far was UPENN. Lots of interest/excitement/flavor at this school… its weird that I felt this way, but there was an electricity in the air. Lots going on as we walked about. The buildings were amazing… nice, nice school… </p>
<p>She even liked Seton Hall… I was not impressed. But my opinion doesn’t matter does it? :)</p>
<p>We will do Amherst, Conn College, Vassar, Columbia, and Bard in the fall…</p>
<p>At our HS APUSH is usually taken by sophomores and is a year long course with summer assignments. D loves history and enjoyed the course, but it was tough. Now we wait for the test scores.</p>
<p>This summer she is preparing for the PSAT/SAT, spending about 30 minutes a day working through one section of a test. We’ll probably save ACT prep for later. She has experience with it from the Duke TIP and did well.</p>
<p>Along with the test prep, she has summer reading for AP English Language and AP World History and she is taking an online psychology course through our state flagship. She is enjoying that, but is looking forward to taking Japanese in the Fall.</p>
<p>No official college visits yet. Of course she has spent plenty of time on big sister’s college campus and also through the orientation for the early college program. She has looked at some brochures arriving in the mail and is filing the ones that look interesting, but we haven’t made a list. She knows finances will be a huge part of the decision and scholarships will play an important part.</p>
<p>Can any of you whose children have taken APUSH explain what makes it such a difficult/time consuming class? I’m horrified that some kids are only allowed a semester for what seems like an extremely demanding year long course.</p>
<p>The semester system is really awkward for AP classes. If you take the class 1st semester, there’s a long gap before the AP exam. But if you school runs on a Sept - June calendar, 2nd semester runs late Jan through mid June, but the AP exams are in early May, so you get much less than a whole semester to cover the material. </p>
<p>In our semestered HS we have four 90-minute blocks per semester, in which students usually have 3 full block classes, one half-block (elective usually) and a half block for lunch. Here it seems like the majority of the AP classes are a full block in the fall plus a half block in the spring (the English and History classes all fall into this category – for one of the English classes the 2nd semester half block is optional). Chemistry and Biology are year-long full blocks. Physics and Calculus are co-taught in a year-long full block, so they actually only take one full block each. I can’t think of any that are a half block all year (phys/calc is the closest) although that would most closely imitate a non-semestered schedule.</p>
<p>In theory having a 7 45-minute classes all year is “equivalent” to having 3 90-minute classes and one 45-minute class each semester. And you “should” be able to do double the homework in each semestered class, since you have fewer classes at once. But as I said the scheduling is awkward.</p>
<p>@pdxsuzanne D has taken chemistry and had 91% ( still a B grade) and in Biology she is 96% A grade. She took this as a sophomere. For Math, She has completed Algebra 2 ( 9th grade A grade), precal( 10th grade-A grade) . </p>
<p>She will be taking AP biology, Ap stats, Anatomy, Pathology, Forensics, Biomed research, Ap Eng. Literatue as a Junior. She will take AP chemistry as a Senior and AP calculus as a Senior.</p>
<p>Our school also has the 4 block semester system, but electives use the full block. APUSH is the only class that runs both semesters and is a two credit class. There are a few electives that are only half credits, but instead of meeting for half a block, they meet for nine weeks. Drivers Ed and Health are this way so usually a student takes both to make a “full” semester for that block.</p>
<p>Students that don’t take APUSH (2 credits) take Early US History (1) and Modern US History (1) to meet their graduation requirements. I think APUSH is not necessarily more difficult due to the amount of material since it covers the save “information” over a one year period (for our HS), but the students get a more in depth understanding of the events. D had no problem remembering the facts but she didn’t enjoy the essay writing as much. I personally think it was a great experience for her. </p>
<p>We did have a good laugh recently. My older daughter is taking a History class through the CC while home this summer. The book she is using is the same book that D’14 used in APUSH, just a newer edition!</p>
<p>@ Agentninetynine , MY D took APUSH as a sophomere. It is a year long course and loads of assignments. However, she enjoyed the class. She was ok with quiz , but essay writing was not her strength. She got a A in her class. Awaiting her AP scores and SAT US history score. This is her first AP exam.</p>
<p>Momreads - I’ve been doing some research as well. We’re looking toward electrical engineering related schools. And think we’ll probably be going East for this tour. I’ll be looking at schools that might be along the way, as well as whatever may be our final destination! 
I was hoping to look at one or two on our way or while we were in New Mexico, but I will be transporting a whole car load of boy scouts, so any touring is out on that trip, now! And you’re right - AC is important when you’re touring Southern schools! I can’t imagine living without it! haha</p>
<p>Classof2015 - You make a very good point! Although the boys are very comparable academically, they don’t necessarily share the same views on other issues. While one may like a large teaching/research school, the other may be more interested in small liberal arts. The upside is we will probably visit some colleges that we may not have even considered on our own. And I can see if one boy really likes a school (or dislikes it!), influencing the other.</p>
<p>NewHavenCTmom - sounds like you’re prepared! What is your D wanting to major in? Have you looked at any schools in Mass. yet? Just wondering your take on those.</p>
<p>@oncmom – Sounds like your daughter is very bright and capable. Have you talked to a college counselor yet about her coursework? The reason I ask is that when we met with a counselor recently to put together my daughter’s junior and senior schedules, she advised us to take AP Chemistry and calculus as a junior instead of waiting until she was a senior. You might want to contact a couple of colleges that offer programs your daughter might be interested in to get their take. I seem to recall that some of these programs have earlier admission deadlines and she might be a more likely candidate if she gets AP Chem out of the way with her grade and test scores available to a university. My D is also interested in medicine but not interested enough at this point to fully commit to that type of a program That said, the college counselor advised us to have the AP Chemistry in the bag to keep her options open. Have you seen these threads on CC? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/774880-consolidated-listing-popular-programs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/774880-consolidated-listing-popular-programs.html</a></p>