S19 finishes June 9th. This year has been bumpy with several teacher changes (medical & personal leaves, a mid year retirement) and we were just notified of yet another change this week which makes me so angry. S19 is doing well despite the inconsistency. I just hope this craziness doesn’t continue into the next school year.
S19 auditioned for a summer musical production last night. He says he’ll be happy to be in the ensemble, but was excited to be asked to read for two different parts. (Everyone gets cast).
School is done June 2. I’m really nervous DD’s grades will tank before this is all over. She’s worked so hard just to have it all disappear in the last few weeks.
I hope everyone’s kiddo holds tight and can get through this first year! I’m going to work on my “nurturing” rather than my “pestering” Wish me luck!!!
Well at least one more summer week is covered, S19 has been invited to attend the BSA National Youth Leadership Training, paid for by his troop.
Kind of makes up for the fact we aren’t sending him to BSA camp this summer.
DS16 completed NYLT last year @eandesmom . Good program.
S19 did not want to do NYLT. Will have to talk him into it at some point. Troop pays half, I think.
Our troop has a few kids working as staff at NYLT and at in-state and out-of-state Summer camps. That might be interesting to do at some point.
S has talked about doing staff at summer camp at some point, we will see how that plays out. I like the fact it’s full pay by the troop lol. He would have done summer camp, loves it and needs to get MB’s but used up all his “camp” funds from the bank of mom on his HS band trip to Ireland. At least now he has this and the 50 miler, better than nothing.
S19 finished his first AP exam (Stats) this afternoon. Let the games begin!! 
S19 finished his first AP exam (Bio) and first SAT II (Bio) this month. Indeed, let the games begin!! Reading all the posts on the March SAT “high” scores leads me to believe that the AP and SAT II scores will be more meaningful perhaps in these “games”.
I think GPA and class rigor will continue to be the most important.
S19 will take Physics SAT II in June. I thought I was the mean mom. 
DD has two Cs. Sigh. There’s likely little chance of pulling one up; Chinese teacher doesn’t like her (she’s too rambunctious and there’s a big cultural schism there, I think)… the biology grade is terrifying me, as the teacher is brutal. Oh well. Whatever. I can’t ram the information into her head, right? Her tech crew got nominated for a local award and she’s all excited about that.
I am amazed that any of your freshman can take AP classes and it hadn’t occurred to me to even think about subject tests yet. None of our other kids have needed them. And, if S19 doesn’t fix his grades right now he won’t either but…we do still have 6 weeks left here so I am hopeful.
Just found this forum! S19 is almost done with freshman year. We have a countdown posted in the kitchen. He needs the motivation at this point to keep those As. Some little slips in a few tests lately but has to hold it together for eight more days!!
Our local public school is nationally ranked and notorious for the stress but he’s done very well. Parents hear horror stories about late nights, bad grades, and anxiety but he’s managed to make the freshman soccer team (no small feat here), play travel soccer throughout the year, keep up with his art studies in private lessons, and volunteer at the local grade school with kids who need extra help.
Classes this year included:
Algebra II/Trig H
Biology H
English I H
French 2 H
World Cultures
We backed off on the Honors version of social studies for freshman year since we were worried about the work load. We should not have been worried. World Cultures was painful. Too easy and a waste of time. GC suggested we drop social studies for next year (to be resumed with APUSH junior year). Sophomore year schedule looks like this:
Pre-Calc H
Chemistry H
English 2 H
French 3 H
AP Computer Science
Advanced Drawing H
He’s decided to run XC instead of soccer next year so will do XC camp with the team this summer. He will also attend a Model UN camp (with the intention of starting MUN at school in the fall), work the soccer circuit as a referee to make some money, take weekly art classes, and volunteer/tutor grade school kids in a nearby neighborhood. He’s looking forward to a little less structure for summertime!
@eandesmom Our school doesn’t talk much about the subject tests for freshman. A friend of mine is a private college counselor and suggested our son take the SAT bio test just to see how he does. (We didn’t hire her. It was just a suggestion over a friendly lunch.) As you can imagine, he’s thrilled about that. The test is June 4th so it’s one week after his last final. I asked his teacher if kids in her honors class take the test and she said “yes, but we don’t go out of our way to tell parents about the test”. She thinks her class has taught what he needs to know, so I just bought a practice book and he can do a little practice that week before the test. We only know three other kids taking it out of about 150 in the Bio H class this year.
Who knows if he will need it, but he won’t be taking a Bio class again unless he chooses AP Bio senior year and then it will be too late for applications. My friend’s advice was - study a bit, take a few practice tests, and give it a go. If he scores higher than a 700, it would look good on any application. If not, you just don’t report it.
For subject tests, the thinking is why not take the corresponding subject that is currently being taken at school, thereby capitalizing on the content currently being learned anyway for finals. While taking the subject test for say Math II, a foreign language and English literature usually can’t be taken as a freshman since they won’t have covered enough ground to take those tests yet until say Jr. year, subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, US history, etc can and should be taken when they take the class at school IMO. An exception would be for those schools that require you to take say Chemistry first before enrolling in AP Chemistry…and in that situation, it might be beneficial to take the SAT Chemistry test when and if taking the AP Chemistry class and test (but there’s an exception for that as well…if the AP Chemistry course can only be taking Senior year, then too late to wait to take the SAT Chem with AP, better to take it right after the regular Chemistry class). For S19, his school is one of those selective schools whereby all subjects are taught at the advanced level, allowing students to take AP tests with the instructors approval. He found studying for and taking the AP Bio test prepared him very much for the SAT II in Bio. Not all his classmates prepared for and took the AP Bio test (only 3% of the class, the percentage that are currently getting a 97% and above in the class). We may do at least one SAT test a year in May/June, so that by college application time, we’ll have at least 3 to report to schools that require them.
Does anyone know if SAT subject tests are typically easier than the AP version? I would assume they are…
@eandesmom you are not alone. AP’s weren’t an option freshman year and to be honest, it’s just as well. This year has been one of adjusting to high school.
@ThinkOn I haven’t looked at the SAT threads. Denial, I think. How are the new SAT scores fairing? D16 only took the ACT, so I’m really out of the loop.
And to add more context, everyone in his freshman bio class was encouraged to take the SAT Bio back in Nov. (and I think all are in June). The instructor suggested Barron’s SAT Bio as a good intro and review for the test, which I think just about everyone ran out and purchased. Additionally, my daughter who attends a different school took Honors biology her freshman year and the teacher encouraged the entire class to take the SAT bio exam. However, when reviewing for the test using Barron’s, she found many topics that were not covered in her bio class, which is very different for my son who indicated that his class covered all topics. So I think it’s essential to purchase a prep book just to get make sure that all topics are covered for the test. But ugh, let’s wait for those scores to come out to see if Barron’s or any of this prep was worthwhile.
If you realistically think your kid is going to need subject tests than it makes sense to take them when the material is fresh in your mind. But, not that many schools require subject tests. I don’t know if you all have older kids or not, but subject tests are only required by the very top schools. My D16 never took any because she didn’t need to and her application list including 3 schools in the top 50. If you are targeting ivies and other super selective schools then you will need them. but otherwise you are just sending money to college board for no reason.
@homerdog it seems to really depend on the subject. Based on what I’ve read on these boards and talking to others, bio seems to be the most aligned, with SAT being overall easier given that it’s only an hour multiple choice test. Discussions of other subjects, however, seem to indicate that while the AP tests cover overall concepts, trends, and analysis, SAT tests are more fact specific, requiring intense memorization of information and to some extent, esoteric facts not required by the AP tests. For example, while the APUSH test would never provide a painting and ask who is the artist, the SAT in US History would. Hope this helps. Net, net…depends on the subject and strength of the student.