@jedwards70 at our HS Dual Enrollment isn’t offered but there is a very strong AP curriculum. My S14 is in his first year of college. How many AP credits that he was going to be able to use varied depending on the College…whether it was public or private. He is at UVA (OOS) and started with 39 AP credits that were accepted. It has helped him wave out of some early requirements. He also will be able to Double Major. Just our experience.
Hello all! Wondering if anyone here has started to think about SATs yet. For my older daughter (2015 grad), she did her SAT test prep the summer before junior year so she wouldn’t have to have one extra thing to do during the school year. However, for 2017 grads, they have to decide whether to take the SAT before March (in the old format) or in March or later (new format), and test prep classes this summer are still prepping the kids for the old format.
I think we might just sidestep the whole thing and have D’17 take the ACT instead.
My S17 will be taking the SAT May 2 and taking the Math 2 subject test in June. I want to see how he does on the old SAT before worrying about preping for the new SAT. Also, I want to see how he scores on the new PSAT. If he is in the running for NMSF then he will have to take the SAT and score w/in a certain range. If he isn’t in qualifying territory, he will likely gravitate towards the ACT or the new SAT. He is definitely a strong STEM kids with weaker English skills.
The only reason we are going this route is that his sister did qualify as a NMF, and I believe that S has the same potential. The scholarship opportunities if he qualifies are substantial, but the SAT would then be required.
I am hoping to avoid the new SAT entirely. Too many unknowns, plus CB has already stated that it will take them seven weeks (or longer) to release results of the March exam.
@mtrosemom – why do you think your son will need to take the new exam? If he qualifies for NMF, I would think he should be able to achieve the confirming SAT score. (Isn’t it 1970 or in that range?) I would think that anyone who could score 220 on the PSAT should be able to score 2000 on the SAT. Now, no guarantees on this new PSAT, but that is another issue. I am more comfortable with the old exam format b/c of all the practice tests in circulation. Although perhaps the absence of test prep will allow the more natural test-takers to shine. Who knows!
My son will sit for the Math II in May. Took a practice test from Blue Book last night with one remaining so I think that will be the extent of the test prep as there aren’t any ‘real’ practice tests in circulation beyond the two in the blue CB book.
@CT1417, there are different qualifying score for different states. If he qualifies (our states range has been between 205 to 212) AND he scores the 1960 (that was the cutoff this year), then we would be good to go and he might look to the ACT. Frankly, I am completely unfamiliar with the ACT. I took the SAT years ago and my D only took the SAT. However, I think that S is more suited to the ACT or the revised SAT solely because he is a math and science kid. But like you, I am more comfortable with the old SAT because the practice books are tried and true. I guess we will evaluate what to do after his May test and the PSAT in October. I just don’t want him having to retake tests during his senior year. I would LOVE for him to be one-and-done! Also, the score range he will need to achieve on any of the tests will be determined by the type of colleges he targets. ~X(
I didn’t realize that you have to take the SAT in order to be eligible for NMF. So if you just take the PSAT but not the SAT, you don’t get the official recognition?
D’17 is definitely more math-y than her big sister, and although she dislikes her AS Chem class she is acing it. So I thought the same thing, that the ACT or the new-format SAT would be better for her. But I don’t like the idea of waiting till March for her to take the test the first time – May and June are always crazy around here because of extracurricular stuff and then final exams, and I would have preferred to have her do like her big sister and take it once in January and once in March.
If she does ACT test prep over the summer I may encourage her to just take the September test, and then she’ll have plenty of options for when to take it again, or even to take the new SAT if she does well on the PSAT (which will be in the new format). Is there any reason it wouldn’t be a good idea for a junior to take the ACT that early? Anything they won’t have covered yet? She’s had bio and chem, but will be taking physics next year.
@dustypig, I think it IS a good idea to take the test(s) early. S will be a sophomore when he takes the SAT for the first time. We waited too long with D15 because he winter sport conflicted with about every SAT test date. She first took the SAT in May her junior year. Thank goodness she scored well because she had enough to do senior year w/o studying for annoying standardized tests!
Yeah, I’m thinking, it might even be better in terms of math, since her just-started calculus class won’t have had time to drive all the trig she learned this year out of her brain! She’s already forgotten all her geometry and will have to review.
@mtrosemom, I’m glad to see you in this thread! We can commiserate about having just finished getting out 2015 grads out the door and having to turn around and start all over again with our 2017 kids!
I just got a letter in the mail from my S’s school inviting him to a test prep course for the PSAT for next year. The letter said that the material would be based on the material in the new PSAT. Unfortunately, he will be gone all summer at a summer program and can’t go. He took the PSAT field test in January but wasn’t in one of the groups that got the new science section. I’m not sure how or when he would prep. He is so busy already. I know it has to be done but without a time turner how can he fit it in?
@mtrosemom - I forget that some of the states have lower cut-off scores since CT and surrounding states have fairly high scores (218-221 in CT the past several years, I think).
I held onto my older son’s QAS booklets so have those for sophomore son to use for practice. I have also borrowed a couple from friends with current Jrs so that my son can use recent real tests for his practice. The plan is to have this finished by next December. (Fingers crossed!)
Agree with @dustypig about these students moving too far away from the math.
For those considering waiting for the new format SAT next spring, add APs and the Jr Prom to an already busy May. I prefer to keep the May & June dates for subject tests, primarily because there doesn’t seem to be enough time to sit for a three & a half hour practice SAT on the weekends leading up to the May & June dates whereas a one hour SAT II practice test was possible.
@jedwards70 - how nice that a PSAT prep course would even be offered! I don’t have any idea for PSAT prep as I don’t think I will have access to anything other than the little CB releases and/or posts on Kahn Academy. Hopefully prepping for the old SAT will be enough.
@CT1417 S’s school doesn’t offer the course to everyone which is really unfair to kids who would like to take it but didn’t pass the threshold during their sophomore year PSAT. If a kid is in level math, they wouldn’t have the math skills to do well sophomore year. I wish they offered the prep course during the early fall to all the kids. I pre-ordered the prep book from Amazon for the PSAT 2015. Hopefully, that will help.
@jedwards, my S’s school is also offering a PSAT prep online course and (hopefully) a practice test before school begins, but they are offering it to everyone who will be a junior next year (small school so it isn’t overwhelming). Their school was a test center for the new SAT and PSAT tests in December and February. We are still waiting to find out how he scored!
As far as all of the standardized testing goes, I also am afraid that S will be too far past the math they test for in the PSAT and SAT and will score lower than his ability because he will be rusty.
@dustypig, It is crazy to go straight from one college experience to the next. And the “journey” we were on with D will be very different than S’s journey. He will target different school, both in size and focus. He is NOT a liberal arts kid. All that hard work with D only eliminated schools for S. OTOH, it is kind of fun visiting the college campuses for the first time. ;))
S took the SAT in March. Will retake in May and take subject tests in June. We want to get testing finished as soon as possible so that he doesn’t have to prep for the new SAT during junior year.
@mtrosemom I didn’t realize they would get score info from the PSAT field test. That will be really helpful with prep if they do get it.
@Felicita How nice that your S will have his tests done. Lucky you! My S is definitely not ready yet.
@jedwards70, I was (unfortunately) wrong about getting scores from the field test. They just get the experience, not the scores. I really would have liked to have seen S’s so he would know where to focus his studies. He did like the new PSAT format better than the old PSAT format.
@CT1417, Barron’s and PR both have practice tests in Math 2. Whether I can get DD to take them, that’s another matter. 
I got back yesterday from a week of being a chaperone at my daughter’s 6th grade camp. She was less of a grumpy tween at camp, and I tried to give her space. It was fun, but boy do I have a lot of email to catch up on. So, I’ll procrastinate here…
What’s that about “the best laid plans”? The fall schedule for our community college came out, and the evening math classes that were always offered for post-Calculus BC courses are not offered. All those classes are in the morning when he has to take high school classes. The class he would take at the local UC is usually only in the morning. So, he and I are sending email to community college math professors, people I know at the local UC, and his school counselor to find out what his options are. I doubt I’ll hear from anyone until Monday, though.
He technically needs another year of math on his transcript to even graduate from his high school, because they don’t count Algebra I and Geometry taken in junior high and he skipped Precalculus. The district doesn’t normally accept online classes, but it would sure be nice if they would accept CTY online classes, because they have plenty that would fit him and that would be easy to schedule. There is statistics, but he rolls his eyes at the idea.
He was planning to take the intro to Geology class over the summer at the local UC. There is still room in the summer Linear Algebra class, which would be the next class for him. But 6 weeks to learn linear algebra while also working lots of hours in a lab sounds crazy to me. (I never even got that far in college math.) So, there is pressure to decide by the May 1 summer registration date.
Next Friday he’s going to be at Carnegie Mellon with his hacking team because of a competition they did well in. They’ll get a tour, sit in on a computer science class, and have lunch with faculty. He sent an email asking about an tour of physics/astrophysics on the side, since that’s actually his likely major instead of computer science. My husband is chaperoning that trip, and also has them booked for one of these “escape rooms”. I hadn’t heard of these until one was featured on the Big Bang Theory show. Looks fun!
I’ll write some about old/new PSAT/SAT/ACT after I catch up on more email.
Ynot-D is on an east coast tour as we speak. They’re visiting some HBCU’s, Georgetown, NYU and Temple, plus doing some sightseeing. None of the cities or schools are ones we went to last summer so it’s helping D flesh out what she really wants. D isn’t taking nearly the advanced level of math as your son, but is lobbying to take an online language class next fall instead of Japanese 3. It’s not something the school usually allows, but there is no local class in Swahili that would work. We’ll see. We’re still putting the summer schedule together-D didn’t get into the super selective program she had hoped for, but there are several other shorter options plus her dancing and volunteering to go with.
I signed my DS17 up for the June 6 SAT. He’s taking AP tests on May 4 and 5, so the May 2 SAT would be a problem. We’ll decide about future old/new SATs and/or ACTs based on his June score. He has a shot at NMSF based on his sophomore PSAT, so he should at least be able to get the confirming SAT score, which is a fair bit lower than last year’s state NM cutoff of 222. I’ve read somewhere here that someone asked the National Merit Corporation, and the confirming SAT score (~1960) can be on the old SAT taken before the 2015 new PSAT.
I think either the old or new SAT will be better for him than the ACT. He likes to have the time to check his answers, and I think the time pressure on the ACT would work against him. He’s a STEM kid, but from what I’ve seen, the ACT’s “science” section is mostly graph interpretation. He’d spend time fuming “that’s not science”. I agree with @CT1417 that he might (who knows…) have an advantage on the new PSAT and SAT since he is usually a natural test-taker and likely won’t prep as much for the old SAT as many other kids do.
He’s taken 2 SAT Subject tests, and I think is done with those unless there is some college placement advantage to the Spanish subject test that he can’t achieve with whatever AP test score he gets next year.
He’s prepping for the SAT some with PrepScholar, but he hasn’t set aside the time to take any full practice tests or prep for the essay. (Sigh.)
Written driver’s permit test scheduled for April 29!
@sseamom Swahili sounds so interesting! I hope the school can allow that to work for her. Even Japanese sounds interesting compared to the Spanish, French, and Latin offered here.
We’ve decided on Southern California for summer vacation this year. Does anyone have any college suggestions for an out of state student to visit? Our S is really undecided about what he wants. I know he would like to dance in some way (doesn’t have to be a major), he likes a big city feel, and he is not into the party atmosphere but likes to meet new people with similar interests (video games and comic books). I think Pomona would be a good campus to visit for him. Any other suggestions?
Is anyone else glad that this school year is almost over? Can’t wait for summer.