Raises hand - son is on for Saturday too. I just found the April 2018 test on reddit (hopefully its a legal one) so I’m going to have him do that tonight. He’s done practice tests from all the major publishers as well as the released ones online. He has a few more in the Barrons book so I’m going to have him just do reading which seems to be his weak point. His score is very good but we are looking to get the tuition exchange (for kids whose parents work at colleges) and its super competitive.
Good luck to all the ACT testers today! D is battling a cold/allergies and feels miserable 
so I am glad we did not choose to send any of the free test score reports.
Dropped DS19 off this AM for the ACT. He was nervous. Unfortunately, he had to take it at a school that he doesn’t attend . Hoping for a good outcome.
Good luck to today’s ACT test takers! I hope they feel confident and end up with their goal scores.
D19 also taking the ACT today. She felt good this morning. She’s taking the test st the same school as last time which she liked. She said the school is comfortable and modern. Good luck to all taking the test today!!!
D was getting good scores on practice tests until 2 days ago when the scores started to go down (her test prep instructor did tell her that the tests would get progressively harder). I hope it has not shattered her confidence because it is giving me an ulcer. Crossing my fingers and probably registering for another go next month.
My son also took the test today. He had to go to a HS in a neighboring state and the proctor said his driver’s license didn’t look like a legitimate form of ID. Of course, our DLs are much cooler looking. All went fine, but he did have a student in his classroom pulled aside by the proctor for cheating. Hoping scores are just little higher than last time. Best of luck to all of you as you wait for score release…
My son said the test was much like the recent practice tests he’s been doing and comparable to the April test I found on Reddit. He feels he did better than his first attempt in February. We are hoping for one more point. About ten days right?
10 days yes, but ours took just over 2 weeks in February. My D said it went smoothly and that either means she did well, or didn’t know enough to know if she did horribly. Lol. I sure hope it was the former. She also did the essay section, but I’m pretty sure you get section scores in 10 days and essay follows a few weeks later.
Just back from a quick 2 days of college tours in NC. We visited Wake Forest, Elon, High Point, UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State. I think D19 is still digesting it all and only eliminated NC State.
High Point.
I thought she would have eliminated High Point but said she is still considering it. It was a little over the top for me. Driven around in a golf cart for the tour, steakhouse that the students can dine at once a week. It started with the parking spot a digital sign with D19 name and state. It was beautiful but seemed shallow to me. Lack of any surrounding town or walkable area is a negative. The admission rep was pushy and annoying. Kept asking D19 if she was going to apply and when she said she wasn’t sure, he kept asking what she didn’t like. She finally said “it’s all just too nice”. I laughed out loud but he was not amused. At least she was honest. They did give us voucher for a free application.
Elon
I loved Elon but D19 did not care for our tour guide which soured the experience for her. It was our guide’s first tour. I though she did a great job. The campus is absolutely beautiful and the facilities are very nice. The basketball arena looks amazing. Cute little (very little) main street. Likely to get an early action application.
Wake Forest
Wake Forest was spectacular and much larger than I anticipated. I don’t think D19 was overly impressed any maybe a bit scared off by the high % of greek life. She is still undecided on that aspect. Reach school for her anyway.
UNC-CH
UNC-CH is hard not to love. We visited on Friday afternoon and it was very busy. Lots of people and activities. The town is just amazing and wish I would have gone there. She seemed to think it was too large for her. Again a huge reach school for her so not even sure it will get an application.
NC State
I could tell as soon as we drove up that she would not like it. Campus is way too spread out and broken up. Off the list.
We have just scheduled a SC tour for July: College of Charleston, South Carolina, Clemson and Furman.
Still one more week of school here but don’t think they are doing much next week.
Just realized our HS has updated Naviance with all the Class of 2018 applications and acceptances so my analytical side will likely dig into the numbers this weekend to see if it was as difficult a year as has been portrayed. Just looked at the schools we visited and will visit to see how the Class of 2018 at our HS did (458 seniors). The following are applications/acceptances/enrolled:
High Point: 4/2/0
Elon: 23/16/4
Wake Forest: 28/7/3
UNC-CH: 63/7/2
NC State: 12/4/1
College of Charleston: 19/12/1
South Carolina: 30/17/4
Clemson: 17/5/0
Furman: 1/1/0
@DCNatFan Might want to consider Wofford if you’re looking at Furman. About 30 minutes away. Another great liberal arts school in the upstate of SC.
@carolinamom2boys Thanks for the suggestion. Will see if we can fit it in.
S’s grades came in for the semester. Straight Bs in the core academic courses. 87 in APUSH and 89 (arrgh!) is AP Calculus. But he did manage to watch the entirety of “The Office” on the sly during homework/study/“I’m really tired-going to bed early” time. Reminding myself that although his grades will be a limiting factor for college admission, they are a very accurate reflection of his academic maturity, focus and effort. His great SAT score shows only his untapped potential.
I’m very afraid for what will happen when he is free to binge watch/binge listen ad infinitum at college. He just started puberty at 16 so he has been a VERY late bloomer (bless his heart, he looked like a 6th grader until the last year.) Maybe his maturity will skyrocket like his growth?
He really loves the small LACs we have toured and wants to go to one. I fear that we will go through this whole process, find a college that he loves, send him off and see a spectacular crash and burn in his first semester. Que sera, right?
@fwtxmom Your S reminds me of my D. She has a 3.5 uw GPA and gets all of her B’s in her core academic classes, but she also has a 35 ACT score. Her B’s are always the result of failing to turn in all the assignments or doing them late. So like with your S, I think her ACT score shows untapped potential and her GPA shows a certain slacker-ism and lack of maturity and focus. Like you, I worry about what will happen when she goes off to college and has less supervision.
@fwtxmom plenty of college kids do fine and binge watch! Fine is relative. While my S17 could likely have better grades than he does in college, he values downtime, social time and things like yes…bingewatching. They keep him sane. Balance is key. And if a bit of balance has him at B+/A- versus A’s…I can live with that. He is not a kid who cares about straight A’s. I might (ok actually I don’t but it’s possible lol). He does not. He went into college with a B+ average…and still has one, after year one is complete.
You may be pleasantly surprised but you may have to be ok with B’s to do so. That said, it depends on the kid. S19 also has a B+ average. He however doesn’t do or turn in work. I worry far more about the implications of that in college, than S17 who just doesn’t put forth 110% effort all the time.
Slackerism can also mean that they simply don’t see the value of things and thus, choose not to spend their time. In their mind, that’s not actually slacking, it’s choosing to deploy time and energy into areas they get a greater reward. And, if test scores support this habit (aka they do well despite not doing the busy work) it’s a hard battle.
I think my S has a twin! There must be a whole group of parents who hope their children figure it out when they get to college.
I actually believe that grades are a truer reflection of performance than test scores. High test scores may be an indication that a student has learned to take a test and can focus for a four he block of time, but not for an extended period of time .JMO. I think that more schools are considering this as a possibility as well as more and more schools are going test optional.
@carolinamom2boys Grades are certainly are a truer reflection of performance. I think we’re just saying that a mismatch between GPA and test score can indicate untapped potential. I also like the observation by @eandesmom that sometimes slackerism is an intentional choice to deploy energy elsewhere. There’s certainly some of that going on with my D19. For example, she liked the subject matter of her anatomy and physiology class but thought a lot of the homework was silly and unworthy (in her mind) of her time – especially homework that involved coloring anatomy diagrams. She barely managed B’s both semesters but could talk your ear off about the parts of the class that interested her.
What does higher grades and a lower test score indicate @Corinthian
It could indicate a number of things. Grade inflation is one possibility. I’m sure the proponents of standardized testing see it as a way to compare an A from School ABC to an A from School XYZ. A single low test score might be test anxiety or being sick that day. And certainly there are all the reasons the people at FairTest don’t like the tests. My D19 took both the SAT and ACT with audio accommodations for dyslexia and that helped her tremendously. Her 504 plan at high school provided for her to have audio accommodations “when available” but most of the time it wasn’t practical for her teachers to test her that way.