<p>DS’16 will be taking the psat next week at school. He is doing great in all his classes including AP Gov. Hope he keeps it up.</p>
<p>Hi drmom and Dragonfly-</p>
<p>I also have a S’16 as well as a S’13. Held off on joining the '13 thread until last summer. Lets see if I can wrap my mind around the '16 thread. My S’16 is our baby-youngest of 5.
(I know, but we had him when our oldest was twelve and we had no idea what we were getting into at that time, re:college stuff!)</p>
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<p>Too funny…my son is in the Gemstone dorm (he’s a Banneker Key scholarship recipient as well), and his sister is in the same dorm (though she’s not in Gemstone or the honors program). He’s on the 2nd floor and she’s on the 5th floor…it would be pretty cool if they know your daughter. 
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<p>@Critter, my oldest was a month shy of turning 12 when we had our youngest. So like you, we have a 26-year-old and a 14-year-old. (We also have 18-year-old twins in between.) Pretty interesting dealing with the age difference, right? </p>
<p>@Dragonflygarden, your freshman is taking an AP class? Very neat and good for him!</p>
<p>DD2016 seems to be doing well and she’s really settling in. She came into this year with a huge affinity for her high school because her beloved older brother just graduated this year, and he loved everything about the school. She’s made some good friends and, so far, the JV volleyball team she’s on is undefeated. Woot!</p>
<p>JenPam- yes here they put the IB kids right into AP Gov in 9 and AP Euro for 10. DS’16 is not in IB but his older sister 2013 is so we knew it could be done. AP Gov is his test to see if he will keep up with the work load. He is doing better then expected (A). Even DD’13 says he is doing good on tests and such.</p>
<p>@Dragon, it’s interesting that you mentioned the PSAT…I hadn’t even thought about it until my DD2016 told me tonight that she forgot to ask for money to register for the test. Apparently the deadline has passed. I told her I didn’t care if she took the test this year or not; honestly, I don’t even remember if my older kids took it as freshmen. She can take the PSAT free as a sophomore, and then of course it truly “counts” in her junior year. Now she gets a pass from having to take the test, and I get to take a break from caring too much about whatever scores she might get. ;)</p>
<p>At S’s school, I believe they all take the PSAT - even in freshman year. The test is being offered tomorrow - we’ll see how he does. Almost at the end of term 1 - finals are this Thursday/Friday. He then has a short fall break - will be so glad to have him home, even just for 2 1/2 days :)</p>
<p>D2016 takes the PSAT on Saturday. She has done no preparation so I don’t think it will go well as she is not a great standardized test taker.</p>
<p>She is also in AP Gov: running a B+, but doing little work. Retook a test today because she is finding she can no longer wing it! She’s a smart girl, but I think the days of getting by on what you know or read once are screeching to a halt. It’s hard to stand by and watch the crash and burn, but I can only to so much. She did do a bit of review last night and again this morning, so I hope the light is starting to come on!</p>
<p>Hello everyone! </p>
<p>D16 isn’t taking the PSAT; which I am ok with because I was worried that it would be too much pressure for her right now. She’s been doing well in high school and I want her to stay focused on her school work, and she isn’t a great standardized test-taker.</p>
<p>arisamp- Glad for you getting the kiddo for a couple of days.</p>
<p>Hope everything continues to go well (or get better) for everyone.</p>
<p>How did those who take the PSAT feel about it? DD16 was glad to have a day to spend in the auditorium watching movies. 
Plus, no homework!</p>
<p>DD is taking the PSAT right now. Our school goes with the Saturday date. Less and less kids seem to take it…not sure why.</p>
<p>My DS’16 said the PSAT was easy. He took it last year in 8th grade also but was only in the first semester of Geometry. Now that he is Algebra 2 he felt like he knew all the concepts on the math section.</p>
<p>Just a quick question for those of you whose kids took the PSAT this year–do your kids usually have trouble with standardized tests and is that why you had them take it in 9th grade? Where we live, I don’t know anyone below 10th grade who usually takes the PSAT. My older son (who’s a freshman in college this year and has always been a good test-taker) took it for the first and only time in 11th grade and was a NMF. D16 is also a good standardized test taker so I was going to have her wait until 11th grade also. Now I’m wondering if I should have her take it next year for practice.</p>
<p>re: the psat, where we are the district pays for all freshmen to take the PSAT, so they ALL take it. I don’t think he would have taken it otherwise. The state pays for sophomores and then junior year when it counts, the kids have to pay. Makes no sense to me, but there you go. 30 years ago, I think we took it cold as juniors with no prep, but it was a different world then.</p>
<p>Son took it Wednesday. Typical for him, he found the math easy but the vocabulary section a little more challenging.</p>
<p>D was the only freshman at the PSAT at her school. She struggles with standardized test settings so this was just another chance for her to take one and at $14, cheap. She thought the math was hard (she’s in geometry now) and the English much easier than the ACT last winter.</p>
<p>She did like it better than last winter’s ACT.</p>
<p>In this area, the SAT is paramount, but my older daughter (freshman in college) had more success with the ACT. I’m going to have D2016 take both tests when the time is right (but not now).</p>
<p>S took the PSAT on Wednesday - thought it was easy. We’ll see what the scores say 
At his school, all freshmen take the PSAT. At our local high school, you could opt to take the PSAT as a sophomore and you were really encouraged to take it as a junior. Nothing for freshmen. Guess the early practice he has now doesn’t hurt.</p>
<p>Spent a great weekend with S who was home for fall break. Don’t think I’ve ever cooked that much for a weekend with just us family at home! He spent a long evening with some of our closest friends (he was the only kid, but he loves hanging out with his six parents as he calls it!), spent another afternoon/evening with all his buddies! He only had to send out a facebook message and about 18-20 of them landed up at home. They had a blast! The last day was all about doctor’s appointments and some shopping before he headed back today. His bag was loaded with food and more food :)</p>
<p>Now, back to counting down the days to the next holiday - thanksgiving!</p>
<p>Coming out of lurking and joining. DD took the PSAT a few weeks ago – she thought it was tough – so, we’ll see. She will be taking the SAT and ACT in the next few months for practice. Our school district in general has been doing a less-than-stellar job prepping the kids for standardized testing – and several years ago there was a big push to have the kids take standardized tests before they had to.</p>
<p>High school transition has been ok – she is in a big school (over 2,400 kids). The good news is that she knows a lot of the kids b/c of Drama Club, Choir, Science Olympiad. </p>
<p>I guess my big surprise is that the kids seem so grown up – at 13, she’s among the younger kids in the high school, and she has friends who are turning 15 – and somehow they seem more mature than DD. She will always be playing catch up with her friends who will be able to drive before her, have more privileges than her, etc. Sigh.</p>
<p>My S has already brought home the class sign up/planning pages for classes for sophomore year next year.</p>
<p><em>sigh</em></p>
<p>It feels like this year has barely started. He is not a musician or artist. It is going to be hard to pick elective classes already for next year since band, choir, and art are not in the mix.</p>
<p>I don’t know about others, but I learn a lot from this board.</p>
<p>Wow-</p>
<p>You guys with freshmen taking the PSAT-mine always wanted to wait until soph year, and here almost no one takes it until they are juniors.</p>
<p>carlson- Our S '16 had his bday in the summer…he turned 14 then. Both of our boys have summer birthdays and we were considered odd for not holding them back for sports, (teammates in grade tend to be a good year older) so I know what you mean. Still, if they are bright and ready for school, I couldn’t imagine holding them back.</p>
<p>bajamm- soph sign up already? Yikes! Ours will be in the spring-March at the earliest.</p>