770 without preparation is really good, @3scoutsmom! Which month did she take the Math II test? I saw the Jan, March, May and Jun dates, but my DD’18 will have final exams from 1/26-1/29, and the exam date is 1/23. I think maybe best to wait until March. I’m still debating on whether to take AP test on World History or not, @3scoutsmom you mentioned that your son will take the AP but not the subject test on World History? Are they almost the same or which one is easier? Can you ask your DD’16 for us? Thanks!
My D18’ just finished honors pre-cal and will have honors trig for the spring semester. Should she plan on taking the January Math 2, or wait until May after she’s completed trig?
@jjkmom She took it May 3rd 2014, after AP’s and before finals but as close to the end of the course as possible. My kids are usually doing stuff out of town during the June test dates. AP and SAT II test share much of the same material but aren’t the same. DS’s class will focus on the AP exam, he really doesn’t have any need to take the World History SAT. It’s more important for us that our kids take the AP exams because the colleges that they will likely attend award credit for AP exams, most schools will not award credit for SAT II.
You need to look at what SAT II exams schools your child might apply to require, most are just “any two” some like MIT require one Math and one Science so World History wouldn’t count at all.
For a good list of schools the require or “consider” SAT II test, google prepscholar.com/complete-list-of-colleges-that-require-sat-subject-tests (I can’t post the link because it’s a blog and posting links to blog is against CC’s TOS) You can see several that consider SAT II tests but most don’t require them. The Math II test is the one that is the most requested by colleges.
Math II has trig on it, so wait until they’ve completed trig before taking it. On the flip side, don’t wait a year after completing pre-calc/trig before taking the test. Best to have it fresh in their minds when taking it.
Remember that the group of kids taking a subject test will be self-selecting and fairly confident in their knowledge of the subject. This is even more so for Math II. 770 is a great raw score but because of the self-selection, that translates to a 69th% percentile for the Math II. An 800 was in the 81st% percentile last year. Physics was slightly less stark.
This is an odd coincidence, our school grades on a 100 point scale I just calculated calculated DD16 and DS18’s unweighted GPA and and they are identical right down to the repeating decimal! They’re both actually happy to have matching GPA’s of course DS18 says he plans to increase his to out do his sister but she says that doesn’t matter because she’ll have graduated by the time he gets his second semester grades:-)
I am not an expert on SAT subject tests (or whatever they are called now.). My D16 did so much better on ACT than SAT that she never even bothered with them. And she’s had a wonderful admission season so far.
S18 is already in AP Calc, so I guess we missed the boat on the Math II test? I will talk to him about taking it this year. Next year he’ll be taking Calc 2 at local college.
@Booajo if your son is that strong a math student, then the Math II will not be a problem even if it’s been a while since he had basic trig. That’s unfortunate that he has to leave his high school to take Calc 2 though. My DD 18 is not a particularly strong math student (only Algebra II with trig this year) but her brother went to a magnet STEM school where a fair number of kids take AP Calc BC as freshmen or sophomores, so there was a great depth to the math offerings and kids didn’t have to take math off campus. Every once in a while someone ran out of math courses by senior year but that was not unanticipated so the kid planned ahead and just graduated a year early.
@2014novamom That is the downside of living in small town Midwest I guess. Luckily the 2-year college is just up the hill, so it won’t be a huge deal. By senior year, there are always a bunch of kids up there. He’ll probably be the only junior though.
I have to say, based on his sister’s app season, we are getting a big bump for coming from a rural HS. I think it provides a different kind of “diversity”.
My DD’18 HS offers up to AP Multivariable Calculus, but my DD’18 will take two more years of math which will be AP Cal AB and AP Cal BC! She is not a Math kid, but willing to have 4 years of Math, English and foreign language in HS. We are not sure about Science and social studies (History).
@jjkmom just fyi there is not AP Multi-variable Calculus exam, if your school weights it is likely weighted as an AP class but there’s not college credit for it. She might be board in Cal BC, at our school Cal BC covers every thing that Cal AB covers first semester and then BC second semester. Here most the kids that CAL AB that is covered at a much slower pace don’t move on to BC the next year. Could be very different at your school but it’s something to look into.
Thanks! @3scoutsmom , we always just assume after AB is BC, we will check with the counselor.
Any DC got any interested “college/career related” Christmas presents? I gave my DD’18 a drawing tablet to help her explore graphics design, and she also gotten a photo book from her aunt for her photograph interests. 
We went the musical route with S’18 this year. Xymox drum pad and a composition keyboard.
Cool gift, @dadotwoboys. My DD’18 likes to listen to music but had no patient (or talent) to learn music instruments. I invested ~8 years of time and money for her to learn piano, she would always had excuses to practice.
I played piano for about 10 years until I finished CM last year. I really like how I was able to learn music theory and how to play but I also never really enjoyed practicing. I hated piano growing up because I had to do it all the time so I’m not surprised if other people like me associate practicing with extraneous work. I think it’s wonderful that your daughter got the chance to learn it and it was probably worth the money and time. There is a lot more to take away from piano than just the music; studies prove that learning from musical instruments at a young age increase mental capabilities! Also, I have a drawing tablet as well and I lovvveee it.
Thank you @raffie , yeah, my two DDs never enjoyed piano lessons and practicing, however, after I stopped their lessons, now they play for fun more. I also hated my piano lessons when I was young, but now I’m still playing for my own pleasure, pop songs that I like, but can’t play any classical…
My daughter also took piano lessons for about about 8 years, and then dropped it. Although I wish she had continued, I don’t view it as a waste. She still likes to play for pleasure, was introduced to music theory, and can read music. The ability to read music and music theory knowledge were helpful in chorus (she participated in that for many years as well before other ECs crowded it out). Piano also sparked a general interest in other instruments and she took up the guitar and also taught herself to play the ukulele. She also dabbled in mandolin.
Now my son is a different story ha ha. He took lessons for about 3-4 years and still can’t read music competently!
FWIW, my son took MV Calc in college, and for his program, it is a college senior course, though originally they said it was a first semester sophomore course (he’s majoring in computers). The problem with taking MV Calc in HS at a local college is whether the student’s eventual college will accept the credits.
The only real advantage in my mind to take MV calc in HS is if your child will be a math major. Even Harvard has pre-calc classes.
While I agree in theory with you @rhandco, it has been difficult to stop this S18 from charging through the math sequence. We (and his teachers) have tried to slow him down several times, but he just gulps up the math and it doesn’t really seem fair to stop him. So now we end up with him finishing AB Calc (and maybe BC too–they do this self-study thing at his school for BC) his sophomore year. We will make him take Calc 2 next year (I don’t trust their BC and this is what my D16 is doing this year). But still means he will be ready for MV calc in HS. I don’t really care if colleges accept the credits–but I hope he won’t have to repeat courses that he knows well.
If a student is that strong in math, I say go for it. Even f their college won’t accept credit, they can probably place out. And it’s important to keep kids engaged and challenged in high school. Some kids are just voracious math students and it sounds like @Booajo’s son is one of those. Tons of kids took multi in high school at my older child’s high school, and his HS has 5 courses that require Multi as a prerequisite so someone out there believes that there are advantages to going beyond the standard high school math curriculum. Even the math classes that didn’t require Multi went beyond the typical curriculum, like cryptography and mathematics of finance.
@2014novamom I agree most of the top students in our high school take multi. D16 wants to be a meteorologist and while researching schools and majors was told by several people (including the head of the department where she will be attending school) that the single most important factor for success in meteorology is the level of math taken in high school and that she should take the highest math possible before college. She is currently in multi and will take Cal 3 DE this semester. She’s also taken intro to college Statistics on-line though it won’t be accepted in her program for credit she she took it for to gain knowledge.
I wish our high school offered crytography, DS18 would love that!