Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 1)

@dadof4kids - hope he feels better!

@dadof4kids I’m so sorry! Sounds like he might have it. Hope he fares well and your family doesn’t get it.

@AlmostThere2018 I have a friend whose 3 young kids have been out and about playing with neighborhood kids for a while. A couple weeks ago she got the call that a friend tested positive. She said “We should probably keep the kids in for a few days, but I’m sure they’re fine. We were at a party the other day anyway and anyone there could’ve had it too” and just went about her business like nothing happened. It’s pretty clear why we can’t seem to kick this thing!

This happens here too but, from what I’ve heard, people do try to get tested if they’ve been in direct contact. One of D21’s very good friends who she sees all of the time is a tennis player. One of the kids he plays with daily tested positive. So D’s friend got a test and D21 didn’t see him until he got his negative test back. Now, could he have still had the virus but got a negative test because it was too early? Maybe, but we let them see each other again after the negative test. That happened a few weeks ago and no more tennis players or friends are sick.

It is true that, if one is socializing at all, they could catch it. Even if you have a bubble of friends, those friends have families that are maybe going to work, etc. I don’t think there are many perfect bubbles out there anymore. Both of our kids have a set group of people they see but then those kids have siblings and those siblings see their own sets of friends and, no, none of these bubbles are socially distancing or wearing masks when with kids in their bubble. We’ve still had very little virus here but ticking up a bit.

Most people, and definitely our kids, are staying away from any larger group parties (indoor or outdoor) and aren’t spending time inside with their own friends. Almost always outside. They don’t go to restaurants inside either. When school starts around here, it will be very interesting. Masks are required but still seems risky to have so many kids in school.

Back to testing talk, I just moved D’s Aug SAT that will be cancelled to November. Found a private school that’s hosting it that’s 20 minutes from our house. It’s a very small Muslim K-12 school. I’ve never even heard of it. That score will supposedly come back on Nov 20 in time for 12/1 deadlines. I guess it just gives her another chance and we won’t have to eat the cost of that Aug test now if the Nov test happens.

I’ve been trying to register S21 for the ACT all morning, but can’t even get the site to load anymore. I am so frustrated with these test companies! It really should not be this hard.

@flyawayx2 Just went on the ACT site to see about registration and it says it’s “Down for Mainemtance.” We’re supposed to check back later. I’m guessing it already crashed?! How bad is this company? S is still asleep (we’re mountain time), so I’m guessing he already missed August’s test, but who knows


Just saw there isn’t an Aug test. Guess he’s shooting for Sept. If the site goes back up!

Re, who takes these tests starting junior year, I think the correlation is parental education, which tends to reflect socioeconomic status, as well as high performing schools. I’d be surprised if kids at the top magnets in NY aren’t taking them “early,” regardless of parental involvement or socioeconomics. But, for sure, there are lots of kids who get no advice from their parents or school to take the tests early.

At our kids’ school, unless your kid scores a 1570 or above on the first SAT after the psat, they usually take the next ACT as well. Our D did that, and declared testing done. Our S was playing sports every weekend and didn’t get to the ACT.

When he went to the July testing, other than one of his teammates who also hadn’t taken the test, all the kids he knew were retesting.

Fair, unfair? In comparison to the rest of the country, unfair. But, the system won’t be fixed during a pandemic. Maybe after seeing how this year goes, some schools will stay TO. But the underlying systemic inequities leading up to college will take many years to fix.

Trying to get on the ACT site and get a test and the website keeps crashing. Ugh

I will say something positive about ACT. You may want to bookmark this page, because it is probably the last compliment I will give them. But they did have the sense to postpone making changes to allow section testing and online testing to focus on the mess they have with regular testing. I don’t think they have solved that mess, but at least they aren’t ignoring it and just plowing through with changes as if nothing has happened.

It is a bit of a sad statement to the way things are going in our country that not being completely tone deaf and ignoring a major crisis merits a compliment, but it is what it is.

As far as S18 goes, I’m planning on taking him in to the local doctor office later this afternoon. They won’t commit to testing him, but I’m cautiously optimistic. If they don’t, the statewide testing centers can still get him in. But then the decision is whether to wait until Friday for a local site or do the 2 hour drive to get tested quicker. He still has a low grade fever, and even though he would probably be fine back at his place isolating by himself I feel better knowing I can check on him a few times a day. So I think we have lost the use of our basement family room with the big TV and the XBox for a while. His siblings will not be pleased, lol.

@dadof4kids Hope your S is better soon!

S got registered for Sept ACT. Though ACT site says there are various dates in Sept, there was only one date offered in our state. So, maybe they’re offering more dates based on population.

Finally got dates for Sept and Oct after refreshing. This is the second time the site says closed for maintenance and then pretty quickly is back up. Our seat is at a public charter school on the outskirts of a hot spot county an hour away. Could very easily get cancelled. I guess I will keep checking for a private school closer


Our CC says our private high school is concerned about people flying or driving in from hot zones - eg. Arizona - to take the exam so they probably won’t host. She also said ACT is being unresponsive anyway.

Spoke too soon. Not submitting. Ugh

I was finally able to get S21 registered for September, actually at his high school. It would only work on my phone for some reason, though it was still glitchy. I was debating trying for an October spot also just in case, but the available locations are all much further away.

@havenoidea I feel your pain. I’ve been on the ACT website for the last 2 hours. It keeps crashing and I have to start all over.

So far it is completely sold out here in CO except for one seat in September. That is assuming that I can complete the registration


I am so over this!

Help on the ACT site ! We were unable to login with existing user name and PW and were taken to the ‘welcome to MyACT’ and ‘If you have an ACT student web account, you will need to update your account to MyACT’. It won’t recognize my daughter’s info and said ‘unable to migrate. call this #’ and of course, I am not even put on hold, just too many calls, call back. Anyone else need to migrate to MyACT?

@2ndthreekids - Yes - it is an all new system and saved some former info once you get in. Doesn’t save former photo, so have to upload new one - but you can skip that and must upload a few weeks before test. My daughter “migrated” and requested the code by text (never arrived) and then the code by email and it came immediately. Keep trying and good luck - it is a hot mess !

Thank you. Dang it, we got the ‘we couldn’t migrate your data’ message. We’ll keep trying. thanks again!

The ACT website completely crashed. I’ve been trying for hours!
Can’t even login! Aaahhh!

Good luck. I’ve had luck after they shut the site down for maintenance. Last time it said check back in a few hours, but then in just a handful of minutes they were up again. I think they might do that to clear out the traffic. Good luck everyone.