Parents of the HS Class of 2015

<p>mihcal and welshipixie, thanks!! I asked my H. He actually has several of Attenborough’s movies. We’ll start watching very soon. Can’t wait!</p>

<p>We really liked both “The Birds” and “The Mammals” by Attenborough, he has a quiet and informative style without trying to be too flashy, and the camera work is fantastic. If you want a sample, look at “Attenborough in Paradise”, which features the family of birds of paradise, who are truly visually stunning.</p>

<p>The year she was 4yo, my D2015 wanted to dress up as David Attenborough for Halloween. :)</p>

<p>Yeah, we watched a lot of nature videos!</p>

<p>oh my, one of D15’s FAVORITE books is Life of Pi. Fantastic.</p>

<p>Hi</p>

<p>mistakenly created a thread for the same group (HS class of 2015/College 2019)…</p>

<p>S1 interested in poliSci… Have taken SAT last Saturday; </p>

<p>WOuld closely watch this thread to learn more</p>

<p>Hi murugan! Glad you found us. </p>

<p>Why did you have your S take the SAT already? Is he trying for some special program that requires it to be taken early?</p>

<p>murugan – be a little careful with planning SAT testing. Colleges want fairly fresh SAT reasoning scores. Of course, if your S has a high enough PSAT in 11th grade, he’ll need to take a “confirming” SAT within a fairly short window of the PSAT in any event. In checking around about SAT Subject exams, the (selective) colleges that want to see them want scores during the high school years, but they don’t have to be “fresh”. In fact, MIT suggests that the subject exam be taken immediately after the course work is done. Finally, if your S is taking the SAT as an 8th grader, you know that the scores won’t be retained without your specifically requesting that the CB keep them? That can be an advantage of the 8th grade “practice” SAT, though I think most kids do it through talent search in the winter. We’ve just attended our very last talent search award ceremony. There was a girl collecting an award posthumously for her brother. Very, very sad. </p>

<p>The school year is finally, finally done here! The last concert was yesterday, and it was fantastic. (For those who know music, they played, among other things, the Shostakovich Chamber Symphony, reputed to be the hardest thing in the string repertoire, and really did a very impressive job.)</p>

<p>Now I have two teens asleep, and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.</p>

<p>Mihcal1 and IjustDrive
Thanks
S was just practicing SAT and he seemed to have enjoyed the experience. Now he claims he understands what his strengths and weakness are. Glad to hear a 14 year old say that to a parent :))</p>

<p>IJustDrive, my S is just doing to get familiar with the test…</p>

<p>Thanks for welcoming me. Will keep looking for more inputs and learn from them</p>

<p>Hi, my S also took the SAT (in May) for practice. Does anyone have older children who did this that can post how they did in 8th grade vs. how they did in 11th? </p>

<p>I’m glad to have found this thread of 2015 parents!</p>

<p>3tosend: this thread may give you some information:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/78732-7th-grade-sat-act-scores-30.html?highlight=seventh+grade[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/78732-7th-grade-sat-act-scores-30.html?highlight=seventh+grade&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Doing SAT in middle school seem to be a good practice if the kids are willing to do it. </p>

<p>Will your students do PSAT in 9th grade or later?</p>

<p>Thanks herandhis. My S will do PSAT in 10th, I think. Will do SAT one more time in 9th; not eligible through academic talent search program to do it any more after that. He’s willing to do it, so I figure it can’t hurt.</p>

<p>My D11 had around a 195 pSAT in eighth grade. Her highest score was in 10th grade 221, I think. For the SAT we had her try it on May of her 10th grade to see where she was and if she would need any tutoring. She sat it again fall of 11th and then May of 11th grade. Her score rose about 100 pts each time. She was thrilled with her 2290 on the 3rd attempt. She was so happy to be finished with testing by the end of the 11th grade, especially when her friends were complaining in the fall of her senior year. We plan on following a similar pattern for D15.</p>

<p>Don’t forget to have your kids take the SAT subject test as they complete those AP classes. The subject test dates are not offered as frequently as the SAT. These kids get busy in high school and believe me, sometimes it gets difficult to schedule.</p>

<p>Thanks, Gibson. And great tip to remember for the subject tests!</p>

<p>I asked the school about PSAT. they don’t think the students should take it in 9th grade “because it doesn’t count toward anything.” My D. will take it in 10th. </p>

<p>My D. will be taking algebra II. (she took geometry in middle school.) She is pretty strong in math. but didn’t go too advanced because of courses offered in school are limited. For students like this, when is a good time to take SAT subject Math II? Can someone share your experience? What does math II cover?</p>

<p>PSAT doesn’t count for anything in 10th grade, either. Only 11th grade counts, and only for NMSQT. But some people like to take it earlier for practice. </p>

<p>It also might be prudent to take the PSAT early if there’s a possibility that the kid might matriculate to college early (rather than completing the typical 4 years of HS).</p>

<p>Since there is a lot of overlap between the two tests, some folks recommend killing two birds with one stone by prepping over the summer after sophomore year, and then taking both the PSAT and SAT in October of junior year. </p>

<p>The SATII MathII covers topics through pre-calculus: [SAT</a> Subject Test Math Level 2](<a href=“The SAT – SAT Suite | College Board”>What were SAT Subject Tests? - College Board Blog)</p>

<p>It’s best for a kid to take SATII Math2 when s/he has completed pre-calc, if that’ll happen by the end of junior year. Otherwise, s/he can take it at the end of Algebra II, but should go through the College Board study guide to fill-in any gaps (e.g., trig). In any case, it’s a good idea to review older material that might have gotten stale, and prep for the particular kinds of “tricks” that show up on the SAT.</p>

<p>Um, PSAT doesn’t count towards anything in 10th grade either! </p>

<p>At both our local high school and the magnet that D’12 attends, PSAT is only for 11th grade. At our local high school, all 9th graders take the PLAN (ACT’s version of PSAT) at the end of the year, which is a non-standard time for administration, so it’s not quite normed right for end of ninth grade. It’s basically a way to see if the kid is on track for the ACT, which is part of our state NCLB high school testing.</p>

<p>By all accounts, the best time to take SAT Subject exams is right after completing the coursework. (MIT strongly advocates this approach on their admissions web page.) The right time for Math II is right after Precalculus/Trig. You can get a list of the topics and a sample exam at the College Board website. I’ve heard from others that it’s best to take Math II before calculus because there is no calculus on the exam, and the student may not be as comfortable with some of the topics if you wait so long.</p>

<p>D’12 took Math II and Chemistry after completing the topics in 9th grade, and was pleased with her scores. We (and her GC) were a tad concerned that the scores would be too old for this fall’s applications, so I made a bunch of phone calls to various admissions offices. The basic answer I got was that 9th grade SAT Reasoning scores would be considered “stale”, but the primary concern with 9th grade SAT Subject scores was that they could be higher if taken later, not that they would be stale by senior year.</p>

<p>The kid who finishes high school early can still qualify for NMS after taking the test in 11th grade, the award will just come after a year in college. There are elaborate instructions on the NMS web site.</p>

<p>Well, D2 (2015) did do a ‘practice’ SAT this past Saturday just as she did in 7th. This one was very poorly organized. Of course she got there by 7:45AM but the test did not begin until 9:30 (!!) so went much later in day than we had planned. Oh well, at least she got the practice in.</p>

<p>Thanks all for the advice on SAT II. D. can finish Trig/Precal by the end of 10th grade, if all goes as planned. So she can take SAT math II at that time. She is good at math but really does not have any plan to go to any field in science, at leat that’s what she thinks now. So maybe a history or English language would be the second SAT subject test she’ll take. But who knows, maybe in HS she will find science is actually a lot more fun than what her middle school teacher could offer.</p>