Parents of the HS Class of 2019 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
501

One more question for you all…do you talk about college with your (soon to be) sophomores?

Our S19 is aware of the pressure to keep his grades up and get high standardized test scores when the time comes. I try to just focus on the here and now and tell him that his only job is to study hard and do his best. No need to think much farther ahead than that. When he has a day or two where he’s lost some motivation, though, I do give him a little nudge and tell him that he needs to keep his grades up so he has more choices come application time. I definitely do not want to rush him along and our whole family agrees that every student will find a great school, etc. With a high achieving student, though, it’s sometimes hard to lay off knowing that he’s young and can’t see two years into the future when he will be greatly relieved if his grades are as strong as possible.

So far, the only thing he’s said about college is that he’s already sick of the academic rat race. He loves to learn and loves classes where the teachers are highly involved. He wants a college where students collaborate and don’t compete. Too bad that he’ll need to excel in the high school rat race in order to get to a college like that.:wink:

502

@Undercovermom1 based on the conversation tables, the message is that the scores are higher than in the past, thus making it a bit more difficult to differentiate between the top scores, and making each missed question more substantial. Nothing to do other than just understand the rules that are in play. My take away is since that the new SAT scores will be inflated to allow many to get high high scores, and since S19 attends a school where everyone is virtually taking the same advanced courses (only difference is advanced math which he is in and the choice of language), he will need to take those AP tests and slam dunk those SAT II tests.

503

I agree with ThinkOn on recommending Bio/Chem/Physics subject tests in May/June after taking each class or corresponding AP class for science/mathy kids. Getting into engineering majors, for example, require/recommend those subject tests even if the college does not require them.
Math 2 subject test is best taken after PreCalculus. Many don’t realize this and take Math 2 subject test after Calculus BC when the conic sections, trig identities and law of cosines have become foggy.

At our school, AP is taken after Honors class. Thus, if more than 1 AP science is desired, more than 4 years are needed. 6 years for 3 APs in phys/chem/bio. So kids “double-up” in science or math (if acceleration in math track is desired to reach calculus due to low placement in 9th grade.)
Many double up, take Chemistry and Physics or AP Chem and Honors Physics, or AP Chemistry and AP Bio concurrently, during sophomore and/or junior yr.
I think the whole thing is crazy, but it has become so common/mainstream that no one even think about how strange it is.

504

@payn4ward I think it makes sense to double up on science if the student is sure that’s what they love. It must mean, though, that they give up something else. Honestly, my experience with AP (30 years ago!) was a negative one. I took Calc BC and Physics AP and my university didn’t give me credit per se since I was an engineering major. They just moved me up and I was in class with mostly sophomores. Bad move. Too hard. Killed my GPA.

505

@homerdog unfortunately, its been unavoidable. At his high school, he participates in an activity where the upperclassmen really take the freshmen under their wings and he’s become very close with many of them. 3 got early admission to Yale, 2 to Harvard, 1 to Princeton, 1 to Stamford…all of this info in December. For those who got deferred, he waited it out with them, celebrating and adjusting for each decision they got. So completely unavoidable. But, luckily S19 is not easily stressed…the go lucky type. I tell him that his ambitions are too lofty given that he isn’t a legacy, not an athlete, etc. But his statement? Neither were my mentors. Sigh…will continue trying to level set…

506

I would NOT look at the SAT/ACT threads now. :wink:
It is a mayhem.

I would have DS19 prep PSAT quite a bit next summer and even take SAT for a practice in August or October of 2017, especially if you live in relatively low NM cutoff states.
Yes, they scheduled SAT in August '17 and removed March '18 testing.

Many schools are having freshmen and sophomores take PSAT as well. We will do couple of PSAT practice sets in summer just so as not to totally bomb the test and feel defeated.

507

@homerdog Yes, they give up study hall and/or lunch. :open_mouth: (and Arts, wood workshop, etc)

It depends on the colleges whether they give ample credit (state schools) or just place them higher (selective schools.)
Pre meds choose not to place themselves higher for GPA protection.
For Engineering, no one cares GPA, right? :wink: unless if one’s merit scholarship depends on it :frowning:

508

@homerdog

That is a really really good idea as we will be in the same boat, with no more bio. I am definitely going to look into it, makes a ton of sense and I bet S19 would be thrilled with the idea.

On the subject tests though. Could that fall under all testing history for some schools?

509

@payn4ward Totally studying for PSAT over the summer. Sophomores take it as a practice in Oct. Our son taking practice ACT and SATs through Kaplan this summer too. He’s taken both through NU gifted program but, in the past, has not studied at all. For these summer practice tests, though, I’ll probably have him at least do some online practice and get some timing tips from practice books.

SAT added a test in August 2017 which will be the summer before our kids’ junior year. We are shooting for that date for his first real test and he will do plenty of prep. If he can score well on that, he can check that box off really early.

510

@Undercovermom1 - yes, for my kid too (adjusting). We have no option for honors or AP in freshman year and no AP option for sophomore year either. Though honors is an option in sophomore year, DD isn’t gonna qualify for any of 'em. She’ll end up with maybe three by the time all is said and done.

511

It hadn’t even occurred to me to think of doing SAT 2 tests this early but the idea of doing it right after the class makes perfect sense. That is why I’m here even though S19 is my third child and the oldest just started college this year. Thanks for the thought.

With one finishing up her first year and one headed to college in the fall, thoughts of college are thick on the ground over here so S19 can’t avoid it if he wants to. My challenge is balancing the line between pushing a very non conventional kid to get the grades he needs to keep his options open and letting him free to chart his own course given that he makes extremely good (if not necessarily of value in the college admissions game) use of his free time.

512

@mom23travelers Totally hear you. S19 has so many hobbies I can’t keep track. It seems that I am the only one who is aware of this college admissions game as he is oblivious to it. Part of me is glad that he thinks just getting good grades and scores is all there is too it, but another part of me wonders what on earth he will write down for his EC’s.

513

@me29034 We have the same impression and had the same experience that you did. None of the schools that my DS19 applied to required them, and he never took any. DS19 will probably going same route as older son, certainly no superselective schools. He will take AP exams as part of school when he takes an AP class; otherwise no additional tests . My opinion is why take additional tests if they are not required? If they are required , that’s a different story . I think that I’d be making a "tentative " list of possibilities before I signed my child up to test.

514

@ThinkOn I think your son will just have to convey his interest in a lot of varied in his essays. I think the schools will like to see kids that do a lot of interesting things, instead of just the normal school clubs and standard community service stuff. My kid likes to play soccer and lacrosse, skateboard and snowboard, build robots. play drums once in a while, play video games, tutor kids in robotics, tinker with building things, learning about technology,mountain bike, read etc. So a pretty normal boy that likes to try all sorts of things. I can only hope that admissions people would realize that having kids with multiple interests are good for their school. Keep up with the good grades, do well on standardized testing and it will all work out.

515

@endesmom Re: full testing history. It depends on the school, so inquire at each school when time comes.
http://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-requiring-all-sat-scores-complete-list
I would imagine they would not focus on low test scores from freshman year if higher ones on later subjects are sent.

Colleges that require/recommend Subject tests
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/subject-test-requirements-and-recommendations/
http://blog.prepscholar.com/complete-list-of-colleges-that-require-sat-subject-tests

516

Thanks @payn4ward those lists are terrific. I would say the schools we are targeting don’t require SAT subject tests but will consider them as part of the application if submitted. If a student has good scores to submit, his application will get an extra boost. For $42 and one hour on a Saturday morning, I think it’s worth it if you’ve learned the material over the school year.

517

Well, I’ll delurk here—had planned to wait for it a while longer, but I’m liking the current discussion, so:

First, the introduction: My second child is in the class of 2019. Her older sister ( to everyone I recognize from the class of 2017 thread!) is your basic high-stats kid who wants nothing to do with the HYPSMs of the world; my rising sophomore, on the other hand, is taking a much more, um, irregular academic path (what do you call it when you flunk one class, but get straight As otherwise?), with a serious focus on fine arts classes displacing some of the academic courses a lot of people on CC would say one “has to” take as college prep. Fortunately, she has enough self-confidence that she doesn’t bother comparing herself with her sister, which is good, since their skillsets are radically different. She’s interested in something that combines fine arts and the hard sciences (possibly industrial design, maybe combined with systems engineering or computer systems if she can somehow figure out how to get that to work).

Talking about college with our freshman: We have started talking about college with her, both because she’s raised the issue watching her older sister go through it, and because her parents both have PhDs (and I’m a college professor, to boot), so she’s basically doomed.

On the subject of AP tests: She goes to a very small school (500 students, but it’s K–12, with under 150 in high school), and they only offer five AP classes, anyway (English lit, English language, US history, calculus AB, stats for the first time this past year—but English language is in the process of being replaced by an in-school dual-enrollment option), and none of them are open to freshmen or sophomores—so we don’t even have to worry about that.

I will say that, as a college professor, I look at kids taking AP tests more than three years before they start college, and I worry—does this mean they may be taking, say, second-semester biology (having gotten credit for the first semester from a test taken freshman year of high school) with the foundational basics that cold in their brains? That can’t be optimal for most students, really.

518

@dfbdfb Well, I for one am not into placing out of any college course, especially in the sciences and especially if the AP class was taken early. Our kids won’t be taking advantage of APs for credit unless we can get it counted for a course not in their major. (For instance, if our daughter can place out of math requirements with an AP test because she wants to be a history major and won’t need much math.) If the subject is in their major, I think it makes sense to start where most freshman start!

Also, I think our high school is so different than yours in that honors courses are offered for freshman and sophomores and then those kids have no choice but to take APs junior and senior year or drop back to a level that includes all students, which doesn’t make much sense. For example, our math sequence for our son will be Algebra II/ Trig H, Pre-Calc H, BC Calc AP, and then AP Stats. English is the same way - English I H, English II H, then AP Language and then AP Literature. Junior year and senior year rough around here for these “honors” type kids. Junior year will be rough for our S19 - BC Calc, AP Physics C, AP English Language, APUSH all in the same year. Thank goodness for French and Art Studio to have some breathers.

Direction from the guidance counselors is to only start honors curriculum freshman year for subjects you love. You can always move up to honors later down the path if your teachers think you can handle it. Of course, in reality, the competition starts early and most kids, if they test into all honors, give it a shot.

Interesting how each high school is so different…

519

Welcome to the discussion @dfbdfb and thanks for your perspective. It may depend on the objective for which one is taking the AP tests when not required to do so by the school I suppose. For S19, his transcript reads, in part, “…All classes are taught at an honors and accelerated level. For these reasons, X High School does not rank students.” Since biology is taught at the AP level, it seemed to make sense to take the test because he was doing well in the class and to put some teeth behind that statement provided on the transcript. S19 doesn’t appear to be interested in pursuing anything biology related and thus won’t be using whatever score he achieves to accelerate in college. But I must admit, once he prepared for the AP test, the SAT II bio and tests given at school are a breeze he tells me. Of course, none of the scores are out yet so we’ll have to see how all this pans out. No harm, no foul with the volunteer AP tests…if you don’t do well, you don’t report. If you do well, then you report to the schools to show them that you are prepared to take on college level work. Win win in my mind.

520

Rough day for DS19. He came home from school quite sad because he found out that one of his classmates passed away from brain cancer last evening . Because he was in 4 classes with this boy, he heard it repeatedly today, so by the end of the day he was quite upset. It’s hard on teenagers, especially boys , when the expectation by their peers is for them not show any emotion. No one wants to think about their own mortality , but certainly not at 15.