@shrimpburrito Thank you so much for the helpful information. I’m glad your daughter likes it so much. 3.7 GPA is a tough requirement! I’ve never heard of one that high for scholarships!
@Itisatruth, so very sorry for your D’s loss and your community’s. That kind of loss is devastating any time, and particularly acute so close to the holidays.
@typiCAmom, as you note, it’s a different level of awful, but it’s what you’re going through right now and I’m sorry about that, too.
@ShrimpBurrito Thanks a lot for the details. What an interesting major! I actually would be interested in more details! If you don’t mind, please share. D definitely will be applying to Canadian universities. Recently were doing a research on the University of Waterloo.
@ShrimpBurrito What a wonderful story! Congratulations of such a great package! D is also a Canadian born abroad. All relatives live in Ontario though. Do you mind talking through PM about establishing a residency?
@SilverGrass I just PMed you
@Dave_N - our S20 has same issue. low English Scores. he’s always always had a hard time with language arts. Yet he does so well in other areas. It’s frustrating. We are getting a tutor for him through our high school to help with the English Section. Have you thought about that at all?
@bgbg4us, we have thought of the tutor but have not engaged one yet. Frankly, DS20 did better than expected and is now motivated to try to improve. He intends to try again on the Feb 8th test.
I may be too rough on him, but as of now I’m in the “None of these methods to improve your score will work until you do!” camp. If he puts forward sincere effort and his score doesn’t improve, we might look for more professional help.
My first assignment for him: read any three books you want over the break. Anything that is more than 280 chars long.
My D20 has a language based disability and her LA related scores are always a bit lower than math, but not massively lower. She has resisted any accommodations and does not plan to disclose in the application process.
Anyone have a Cliff’s Notes-like study guide they can recommend for the English section of the SAT? I would like D20 to have something to study…but she won’t tackle a huge SAT English grammar study guide.
@bigmacbeth my kids found this book helpful
https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867
@3scoutsmom Thanks. That’s the one I’ve been eyeballin’, but hadn’t pulled the trigger. I was tempted to put it under the xmas tree, but figured that would just be cruel. She needs the smallest of nudges in her score to help me sleep better at night…
@bigmacbeth
We also got the books for DS from Erica and you can signup for the one question a day email (small dose everyday, wish we had done this a lot earlier as DS’ EBRW was still not on par) https://thecriticalreader.com
@vickiSoCal - yes my son had a speech based IEP through age 11/12. I firmly believe that whatever caused him speech difficulties stems over to his written language arts difficulties. yet, he’s bright – one time in the mail we got letters from the gifted office and the SpEd office on the same day! I think its too late to get any sort of diagnosis with it, right?
@bgbg4us didn’t you need the diagnosis for the IEP? Are you talking about special accommodations through College Board? If he has accommodations in his IEP or 504 that he utilizes, the College Board is pretty good about approving similar accommodations for their testing (SAT, AP exams subject tests, etc)
@bgbg4us my D20 was diagnosed with dyslexic dysgraphia just this July! And ADHD in April. Never too late.
We finally got PSAT scores on 12/20! Our whole school was delayed. My DD should be commended but didn’t score high enough for National Merit in NJ. She was hopeful so she was disappointed. Her reading score pulls her down. She only missed one question in math and no questions on the grammar part. All the other misses are in reading. She has a 504 that would give her extra time but she doesn’t want to use it. Hopefully she can bring up the reading for the March SAT.
But, she found out she made States for FBLA so that turned things around. Then, today she got her license! So she isn’t focusing on PSAT and we are moving on.
D20 is dismayed. Up until this point, she’s been a straight A student. This semester, she did several hours of Calc AB homework a night, saw a math tutor twice a week, and was still struggling to get a B. She took the Calc final today and apparently most of the questions were different from what the teacher told the students to review. D is sure she failed the final and will be lucky to get a C in the class. The final counted for 30% of her grade. I hope a C doesn’t hurt her too much with college admissions next year.
A lot of kids have trouble with calculus. It will all work out
Ok, D finally got her December ACT score. Went up 1 point overall to 32 composite (35E, 34R, 28S, 29M). Now the big question is does she continue to study for and take the ACT to get her science and math up into the low 30’s? One of the issues is that some of the colleges she is looking at don’t super score the test and only take the best single sitting scores, so even if she gets a better score in math & science, her english/reading scores could possibly go down?
What would you do?
@hgtvaddict I hate when teachers do that. I hope she did better than she thinks she did. One ‘C’ probably won’t make or break an admission, though. It’s the whole package for upper tier, and and stats for other schools. Either way, it should work out. I would be more concerned if she was going to major in, say, Engineering, and that she had a good base in calculus.