Wow ending school on May 11 and 19?? Geez that’s early!! My D’s last day of school is June 24!
Anyway, thank you for your insignts. It never occured to me that different kids are taking different tests so each class will be pretty sparce for two weeks. I just don’t like the idea of skipping classes…
@262mom…what state are you in? Texas Math state in at the end of May. We are headed there to compete with math teams. I wish is was closer because there is so much stuff going on the last part of May. Our lives will be crazy!!!
@dfbdfb …at my Ds school the dual credit profs come TO the high school so the kids don’t have to drive. We have a Jr college within 5 miles and a regional/directional branch of UT less than half a mile up the road.
@HiToWaMom Here too, everyone goes aback to their regular classes before/after AP tests.
No excuse forms were given.
Different kids miss different days so maybe they can do make up on different dates.
I didn’t realize the seniors finishing a week early here too. The last few weeks will be pretty chaotic with not much learning I suppose. We finish May 28th. We started August 18th. I do not like early start. August is still summer!
@payn4ward , Yeah, I don’t envy the early start in mid August!
I just checked the AP schedule. My D’s first test is AP Lang on Friday morning. No AP test is given that afternoon so she won’t be able to say “many kids will be missing from class for testing!”
Oh well, unlike many kids here on CC, my D is not really into school. She enjoys learning what she is interested in but overall, her focus is more on friendship and how to have fun in life. Sigh.
I just ordered three books for the eventual bonfire of un-looked-at books:
Princeton Review Best 380 Colleges
Fiske’s What To Do When For College (this one was super cheap)
Fiske’s Guide To Colleges 2016. I’m hoping that D1 will want to pick them up over the summer and start making some general choices.
And monkeys might fly out of my butt.
I’ve been asked to speak tomorrow at a test prep orientation for parents and students that is taught by a lady who tutors D occasionally and who also leads a large test prep for the PSAT. She has been impressed by our Ds dilligence and effort in test prep.
I have 5 minutes to give our story and talk about the importance of test scores in the search for merit. Any tips?
I am so glad I am not the only one sinking a fortune into a multitude of test prep books & college app/process etc. books - my DS only looks at test prep books under duress and often exclaims it is nothing like what he’s been doing or approach of the class etc. However, we are finding 5 Steps to a 5 for Physics 1 pretty challenging & helpful — but ambiguous too unfortunately – but with the guidance of a teacher/tutor it has been helpful somewhat. AMSCO for US History - highly recommended - barely read so far!!
I even ordered AP Chem book last week. :)) :-&
I got the Princeton Review Best 380 Colleges on my kindle. So no bon-fire.
I also have Fiske’s Guide To Colleges 2016. It’s like a telephone book. I’m semi-done with it so will be sharing it with a neighbor.
I’m sharing our pristine PSAT books with another neighbor since DS19 will very likely not touch them.
I watched Frank Bruni to calm my nerve :))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgN20O3VYgQ
@Tgirlfriend
I read your “Did I miss something?” question and thought it would make a perfect caption for your semi-confused-looking pug avatar (soooo cute)!
My kids get out of school May 26.
For all those college review books, don’t forget to check your library! We’ve gotten out five so far, with our favorites being Fiske and Insider’s Guide.
ooh - I do have a book to recommend - about college essays - it really helped me understand a good way to approach these for the common app. And the examples and process used to get to a powerful essay are also instructive. “Write the College Essay that Gets You” In by John Dewis http://smile.amazon.com/Write-College-Essay-that-Gets-ebook/dp/B01DARWQYW?ie=UTF8&keywords=college%20essay%20dewis&qid=1462232717&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
I have no connection to this - just sharing – if you have other good resources please share too!!
@MotherOfDragons I literally laughed out loud
@MotherOfDragons – you are so funny!!
we have the same weighting (non) scenario as @262mom. However our district does not rank and for that I am glad as we have the same situation with a number of 4.0’s that have not taken honors or AP classes. I do wish I knew what options GC’s have for checking the box on “rigor”. If I look at our schools profile sheet, there is a total of 23 honors or AP classes available. S will have taken 9 and I’m just not sure where that falls.
My student only has 2 AP tests, underachiever around here lol. He will go to school before the Physics test tomorrow and after Language next week. We were not given any other option.
@itsgettingreal17 and @Tgirlfriend don’t forget OSU is also Oregon State University 
Who, while I haven’t looked am farily positive does not require SAT
We don’t get out of school until the end of June.
Good idea on getting Fiske from the Library. Our counselor is planning to buy the newer version and will loan us here 2014 one but this would be good in the interim.
I learned from my oldest----I borrow all prep books and college guides from the library! In fact, I returned 6 today :))
Well we are back from the Robotics World Championships and ds is in hardcore study mode. 5 AP tests in the next two weeks along with 2 tests and an English essay. Thats just wrong of those teachers. Once he survives these two weeks he will be skating! He will have three more weeks of school but very little work.
My ds is finished with testing but a little advice on the math sat subject test. He struggled with finishing it on time for some reason. Have your dk take a practice or two if they are willing to make sure they work fast enough.
Good luck to everyone these next two weeks. I’ll just set up a food station in the kitchen and hope to catch a glimpse of my ds at snack time. Ha!
We are reusing D15’s 2014 Fiske Guide for S17 - colleges can’t have changed that much in 2 years!
Can I melt just a little bit? You guys understand, right? Trying to keeping a sense of humor as I wonder how DS17 will get through his AP tests, waiting for SAT scores, deciding about SATII’s, & taking the June ACT 2 days after finals end, - all during LAX season. We’ll have about 5 days to tour colleges between the June ACT and a LAX tournament -unless his team makes the playoffs - and he’s not really sure which colleges he wants to tour. Anyway, the day after the tournament ends DS heads to the mountains to be a camp counselor for 9 weeks. Can’t even think about when he’ll do his common app essay.
Finally, the worst of it is that despite a wonderful private school where he has thrived, the way they run their math curriculum he can’t take AP Calc next year unless he takes pre-calc this summer - and he decided to take the job at camp instead. So while he got solid ACT scores his first time & grades with a total of 7 AP’s and the rest honors, he won’t have any calc. This sends me spiraling because he wants to major in Mechanical Engineering and we’re chasing merit. I think his guidance counselor will explain that he will have taken the most rigorous curriculum he could, but because he didn’t test into a certain level freshman year he can’t do the AP calc 
Fortunately, he doesn’t stress because he has me to do that for him. It will all work out, right?
Think I’ll have a glass of wine…and thanks for listening.
Thanks for the book recommendations & suggestions to try the library. We have already purchased quite a few, but I will check the library before we buy any more!
@Tgirlfriend, we’re in Illinois. Luckily math team states is a 1-day event and in driving distance for us.
@jmek15 I’m sure it will all work out! I don’t really know much about admissions to Mechanical Engineering programs, but I know that percentage of high school students who take calculus is MUCH lower than it seems on this forum. It sounds like your son has excelled in the math curriculum that is available to him, and has a great summer job lined up!
@jmek15
Go ahead and melt – here’s a glass of wine! I think your S will be fine as long as the GC explains the situation. 7 AP’s and honors will certainly convince adcoms he doesn’t avoid hard work. I’d say they’ll be really impressed with his camp counselor job too. I think there’s a part of the CA where you can “explain things” so he could mention choosing a job that is really meaningful to him over taking a single summer class instead. Have you finished that wine yet? Here, have another!
@jmek15 is there any way he could take at least pre-calc online?