<p>Good luck @conmama </p>
<p>@conmama I keep reading your posts and something always come in my brain…it’s like reading what I would have written 2 years ago about D. If you have a chance my first post addresses some of the same concerns.<br>
Your S may not be “not be as brilliant”, just a thought for you to consider.</p>
<p>I lurk on this thread but don’t usually post. I just wanted to reach out with some support to @conmama, too. Your son sounds like my own boy who is 10 years older than D who is my '15 grad. Like they say, “it gets better.” All the support you are giving him now will serve him well. </p>
<p>Keeping fingers crossed for you and your son @conmama </p>
<p>I am sitting here early in the morning while everyone else is still asleep, grieving for my son who is unaware of his scores. Two went worse, one drastically. I will list March score, then May. CR: 410, 450 (the only improvement), Math: 460, 450 (I worked with him nonstop on this the month before). writing: 500, 410. Essay: 9, 7. Total: 1370, 1310. I want to cry for him.</p>
<p>Thanks for you prayers and support. @Hoosier96 …my first son is like yours…grades came easy, almost straight A until 13 or 14. Had testing done, ADHD like symptoms, but not inattentive. High normal IQ…processing speed above normal IQ. They really could never give me a diagnosis. No motivation and lackluster grades all though HS. The same thing is happening in college. Vyvanse helps, I keep asking him why, as he’s not inattentive. He said he feels like doing nothing without it. I think he may have something called sluggish cognitive tempo, which is being studied, but not it’s own official diagnosis yet. Or executive functioning disorder, or some combination of both. In any case, he is getting better each semester, as is his maturity. Progress.</p>
<p>@elle…my 2nd DS, the 2015 grad, really does have ADHDI attentive, plus the psychologist said his IQ is normal, but maybe on the other side of the bell curve a little unfortunately. Working hard gets him a B. working hard with a straight shooting teacher gets him an A. Working hard with extremely complex subjects such as Chem gets him a D. He’s people smart, extremely well liked and has common sense. But sometimes he’ll ask a question that reminds me that his IQ is just a little, teeny bit not at the top of the bell curve. The SAT is a Cousin to the IQ test. And his scores are a blaring signal of that. </p>
<p>With his reading comprehension problems, etc. I knew he would never do extremely well. Just hoping he’d do better than this. I know schools superscore…but let’s be honest, they see the whole picture, all the scores. iI think they just say they consider the highest so they can say "our average GPA of our students is this or this, using the highest scores. I don’t think it’s really necessary to do that, if the see all the scores. </p>
<p>Of all the state schools, he really fits into the 3rd tier directional school in our state. Hoosier, I think you know which one I’m talking about. We will tour in the fall and like you said he will bloom where he is planted. That’s the one the stupid College counselor made that remark about.</p>
<p>But these scores just send a gut wrenching message to him and reinforce those inadequate feelings that he is not smart. Thanks for reading my dissertation this morning and sorry for all the typos. Picking and pecking one handed on my mini iPad.</p>
<p>Hugs to you, conmama,but before you throw in the towel…have him try the ACT. You can check the ACT red book out of the library and have him just do a practice section for English and Math. Those two sections are the most straight forward in questioning.<br>
Also if he gets extended time at school you need to apply for accommodations. They make a huge difference in results.
My D tested without on ACT and then with accomodations she gained 3 points. </p>
<p>Hang in there…</p>
<p>Conmama, what is your state of residence? </p>
<p>@conmama I am going to send you a message so look for it in your box</p>
<p>@conmomma I guess you have posted enough to allow me to pm you? If you want you can PM me…</p>
<p>@Hoosier96 I will be looking for your message. I will ask if he wants to take a practice Math and Reading ACT…just to see. I don’t know if he will want to, he’s pretty burned out with SAT tutors, Chem tutors and Alg Tutors right now…plus the disappointment of SAT altogether. Honestly, I’m not sure he would do much better. My other son didn’t do any better…they were comparable scores on each. Let me give you an example of my son. He’s not “dumb” by any means. He aced Algebra 1, which i know is easier than Algebra 2. He does well in other classes. However, he will understand difficult algebraic problems, but then I might ask him about “what is the average”. and he doesn’t know what I mean. You can see that working memory not working “average, average, what is an average”. See what I mean? @bunheadmom, we live in IN.</p>
<p>Sent you a pm it worked this time; I will always be technically challenge</p>
<p>conmama - Does your son have a major or career goal in mind? (If you mentioned this in previous posts, I apologize.) My son’s SAT scores are also unspectacular, but I’m hoping that they will be sufficient to get into college for his major (Physical Therapist Assistant, a 2-year associates degree program). We’re also considering trying the ACT. Does anyone know if the ACT is better or worse than the SAT for a young person with high verbal IQ but poor (low average) working memory?</p>
<p>@kidzncatz He doesn’t have a major or career goal yet. He is going to take an elective class next year about exploring careers and college. We are also going to have him go to a career counselor, they do a battery of tests, then chart out about 120 different careers ranking them based upon your answers (about 600 questions)…all different types of questions. They don’t know your grades or SATS, it’s based on personality. I’m very interested in seeing what they say. He does very well in History classes, and if he talks about any classes, it stuff he learned in those. History really interests him. He is a people person, so something like what your son is doing would be of interest to him, I think. He loves his weights class and is a tennis player (not varsity, though), but has made the team all 4 years. I’m interested in your question about the ACT and poor working memory.</p>
<p>@conmamma did you get my pm? The person I recommended can answer your question on working memory and the ACT. </p>
<p>@hoosier96…I did get it and posted a lengthy response. I wonder why it didn’t go thru? Darn. I’m going to go and check from my side.</p>
<p>Elliemom…did you get my response, too? When I go to my “notification”, I don’t see any sent posts that I’ve made. After I wrote them, I did hit send, or something like that.</p>
<p>@conmama - Sounds like our sons have some similarities. My son’s main interest is in weight/strength training, I.e., “working out”. He also enjoys history and has done well in his APUSH class this year, though I don’t know yet how he fared on the APUSH exam. I’m not encouraging non-vocationally related majors for him, though, as I have an adult son who was a National Merit Finalist, graduated from an elite LAC majoring in Archeology, and now is underemployed and living in my basement at the age of 40!</p>
<p>@commama got it-- :-bd </p>
<p>@Hoosier96…good! I was worried there for a minute. @kidzncatz…I’m also more about “trade” type degrees for my son. Don’t know what that would be yet, though…neither does he. DH and I were talking about how different our country is then 50-60 years ago when we had a strong working class. The minority of kids out of H.S. went on to college…truly the academics. The remainder found trade jobs where they could support a family well and live the american dream…not feel inferior because they don’t have a college education. It’s not like that now, with our middle class shrinking. The kids balk when I mention trade schools, like that is beneath them or something. They’d probably make more money learning how to be a good plumber, or electrician than floundering around trying to find a job with their 2.3 GPA out of business school (that will be older son if he ever graduates). The world has changed. My brother, who has severe ADd-hyper active and inattentive, dyslexia and depression at age 46 (believe me…these things ARE genetic), has had problems holding down jobs ALL of his life. I don’t think he’s had a job at anytime for more than 2 years. he tried to be selfemployed as a graphic artist. His wife works, but I know they live hand to mouth and handouts from parents and their church. I’ve seen the bad side of what these disabilties can cause. Thankfully, he is on meds now…but you can’t undo the past 20 years. I just really want to help my son more than my parents were able to help my brother…they didn’t know about ADD, meds, etc. I keep getting off topic today.</p>
<p>@conmama - I highly recommend having him take the ACT in June. You can still sign up. Some kids perform way better on it. When I was in HS, I was one of those kids where the ACT percentile rank was way higher than the SAT one. I know you want to go in state, but myself and others here have made some OOS suggestions that could be very suitable, within a day’s drive. I believe IN is in the MSEP - check that out as well. </p>
<p>If you and he are concerned about being “behind the peers in the 'hood”, maybe an OOS school with a fresh start is exactly what he needs? Why not visit a couple this summer? Getting away from the local kids and meeting new people may really help him. </p>
<p>Sorry about your anguish. </p>