This is actually the 3rd year hes done the preACT as its done in school. Each year hes gone up. Hes had no prep classes yet but I may have him do one before he takes the actual ACT. His interests are all over the place so we haven’t stressed too much yet. He won’t likely do the SAT unless he chooses a school that prefers it.
We’re starting our twins at a local
SAT/ACT prep center that has a great reputation in January…it’s definitely $$$, but I REALLY need these two to hit it out of the park on test scores since we are merit aid chasers …they both have the potential to do really well, but I don’t want to leave it up to them to self study.
Our PSAT for digitals students has been postponed to late January. Our school system held one for the in-person students (in our district, all students have opted for 100% in person or 100% remote for the semester) earlier in October and then was using the late October makeup PSAT date for the 10th grade remote students to come to school just for the test. (Our district pays for the test specifically for 10th grade students, so usually all 10th graders take it). But that turned out to be the day Zeta came through, so they cancelled the evening before, and now it’s in late January. S21 had 4 sittings of his SAT cancelled this year including one in March which was cancelled the night before (after he’d been studying for months). So to have the PSAT cancelled the night before due to a tropical storm…it felt so on brand for this year! ?
D23 did pretty well on it freshman year but much better on verbal. She is going to need to study for the math section for certain as math speed is definitely not her strong suit. I’d love for her to have a chance to take a mock ACT as well just to compare - I had her do a timed one at the end of freshman year at home, and her score was higher on that than it was on the PSAT at the beginning of freshman year, but some of that differential is certainly due to the fact that she had an entire freshman year in between, so I don’t know if one test is better for her than the other yet. The difference between the two was the equivalent of about 70 points on the SAT composite.
@Momof3B my husband was a political science major and now works for the CDC (but yes, there was grad school involved). It’s cool that Thing2 has something he is so interested in! I wish I had had more of an idea of what was a match for me at that age…I definitely did not and wish I could go back and do college all over again with a different major this time. S21 is considering political science, too.
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It is nice having the practice tests mandated into his school day. I’ve had a number of talks with him about how his effort will either give him options or limit them. In the end he has to deal with the consequences. He knows his grades will be high enough to get him likely free tuition at most Jesuits but those aren’t his first choice. But its a solid plan b.
Our school district pays for all 10th graders to take the PSAT, but we won’t get the results back until late Spring.
@nichols51 we’ve talked about the CDC!!! Grad school will definitely be in his future, and I’m hoping directly after his undergrad, preferably a 3 + 1 program, that will shape our college search for sure.
I wish my S21 had such a clear cut grasp on his future lol…he’s applied to business schools on all his college apps but specific major or what exactly he wants to do career wise is very much TBD.
@2plustrio - what is the Pre ACT? is that like the PLAN from maybe 7 years ago when my D16 took it? curious about it; must be offered by the school itself? Nice start to your kid btw. . . .
@Momof3B - a tip that helped my S20 out - learned here on CC - was to take the ACT when they offered score reports . -You paid a little extra and they sent you exactly which ones the kiddo missed in each section. Perhaps look at the ACT and see which dates offer this . . . . We loved it because we could see exactly what sections kids needed help with; and we got tutors for those areas. EG: timing, geometry, certain math segments, etc.
For example; our son said he ran out of time in English; and bubbled in the last 15+ questions in a minute. He had a 24 on that section. Once we saw that he had truly bubbled them in, his tutor focused on timing and his score rose 9 points. It was helpful.
The pre ACT is a 2 hour test similar to the actual ACT but without writing sections. Our district administers the test starting in 8th grade during school hours. Students get results about a month later. Im guessing its similar to the PSAT.
ACT is standard at our school with only a few kids doing the SAT.
Our school does it so every student has some exposure to the types of questions and such that will be on there.
Eta: The pre ACT gives the student the test back and a very detailed breakdown about what areas to study. Example for math my son needs to review geometry (he took it 2 years ago) and statistics as those were his lowest correct scores. Possible career paths are also noted.
Yes, same for the SAT - I’d recommend taking it the first time on a date that offers QAS (Question and Answer Service) for an extra fee (was $18 the last time we used it). I think the PSAT always provides this information, but for the SAT, it’s only available for certain test dates.
I am presumed positive covid pending testing Monday. S23 ended with an undefeated football season. He has a callback for the spring musical but unsure what the “performances” might even look like. Theres 10 boys and 24 girls with callbacks which are typically for the speaking roles or solos. He will be happy just to be in the ensemble like last year as he loves being on stage and performing.
However, grades are not great. The lack of motivation for school work has hit full force. Not sure how to light that fire right now.
just saw that the PSAT is officially being offered in January for schools; assuming for schools that couldnt take it in October. Guessing kids can still only take it once though. I’m glad that College Board is doing that for those juniors! (and sophomores for practice).
PSAT are only offered in our county for juniors. The twins are signed up for SATs Dec 5 but with Covid #s I expect it will be cancelled. They have been doing practice tests with masks at home and it doesn’t go well esp. with glasses. They have probably left the house less then 5 times since March, mainly flu shot and orthotist visits.
Im still battling covid, its been a rough week. We are assuming S23 has it as well. Husband and daughter have been spared and are healthy.
S23 was the only sophomore to be given a character role in the musical. Granted its a super small part and mostly insignificant but still an honor. All the other sophomores are in the chorus.
But doing online school this week has him telling me hes never going to college and taking up a trade because he isnt loving school. Now if he truly wanted to do a trade I would support that but he just hates online school so much he goes negative so quickly. This is hard for everyone.
Ugh, @2plustrio sorry you and S23 are dealing with COVID and that the online school doesn’t work well for him. I hope that symptoms subside sooner rather than later and that your husband and daughter stay covid free.
@2plustrio hope you all feel better soon
I was just thinking to myself today that miraculously no one in our household has come down with Covid yet…between my husband being a pilot, me being a Realtor (and extremely busy even during the strictest phases of quarantine!) and all three boys in marching band and in person school, I don’t know how we’ve managed to stay healthy knock on wood
Nothing new to report here…Both twins start SAT/ACT prep in January at a local test prep center…all of S21’s testing woes due to quarantine and cancellations have me paranoid now and I want them both to get their testing out of the way sooner rather than later. I hope they can both take an ACT & SAT the summer before Junior year starts and hopefully be one and done lol…terribly optimistic of me right?!
@2plustrio Sorry to hear you are dealing with COVID. Hope everyone is feeling better soon.
All virtual school is not going well for D23 right now. Fortunately, teachers aren’t penalizing for late work and she managed to pull it together and get good grades for Q1 but is already behind in Q2. We also had her see a therapist because we were concerned about how she was handling the stress and distance from friends. That led to an ADD-Inattentive diagnosis. Which surprised me but not D23 who said she’d been wondering about it for a couple years! The therapist thinks her anxiety is because of her inability to focus in class and manage all her deadlines. Apparently it’s not uncommon for bright girls with the inattentive type to slip along in school OK until the demands ramp up. And, that’s sure what distance-learning has done. So, I’m getting a lot more involved in helping her to review what she has to work on and plan and prioritize. And, aiming to have an after-school walking date every day since a big factor in her difficulties are that she’s so much less active. She seems to be in a better state of mind vs. a week ago now that she has a plan, less overwhelmed and should be able to get caught up by the end of the Thanksgiving holiday. And, the therapist has started a support group for teens dealing with distance-learning and she’ll join that once a week.
On the good news side, S21 got his first college acceptance so that’s a bit of stress relief for him.
That support group sounds like a great idea. I think my son struggles with the inattentive type adhd a bit as well. My oldest son had it so Im pretty tuned in but finding it harder with second kiddo as he is the more intelligent one and my oldest had LDs so they are totally different.
Congrats to your S21 for college acceptance!
National Honor Society invites came out yesterday. Thing 1 got his, Thing 2 didn’t…which makes zero sense because they both have identical schedules, grades and pretty much the same GPA lol. I told Thing 2 it was probably just a clerical error and to check in with his counselor tomorrow. Nevertheless, feelings were hurt and ego was bruised.
10th grade PSAT results come out on Dec 8. The week of Dec 8 all 3 boys will stay home and do virtual learning because the district is doing EOC testing (end of course/state requirements for certain classes and grade levels), so those not testing are being kept off campus…Dec 18 is the last day of school and end of the first semester, so final exams that week. Class rank for our 2023 kiddos will be released sometime in January…Texas with its stupid top 10% auto acceptance rule (top 6% for UT Austin) puts so much pressure on our kids. Thing 2 is already starting to obsess on his rank.
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oh momof3b - that sounds so stressful.
What is EOC testing?
It’s the Texas Education Agency’s mandated testing…end-of-course (EOC) assessments for English I, English II, Algebra I, biology and U.S history.
The twins are in a AP Humanities block (PreAp Eng II and AP World History together) so they are exempt from EOC right now since they will be taking the AP World test at the end of the year. They took AP Bio last year and are in PreAp Algebra II this year.
Hi all, long time, no post, and I am sure I speak for most (all?) when I say how much I hate the new forums!
PSAT results and S23 did … meh … 1180… He’ll have to study a lot to get where he thinks he should be. But at least it’s a benchmark!
He auditioned for mock trial and made it, so now he’s having a great time doing that. School has gone back to virtual through the end of January. Sigh.
I just keep trying to tell him how lucky he is that he’s a sophomore - time to regroup and get back in the groove in a year or so, if vaccinations work out etc etc. I feel bad for the seniors this year - hs and college, really. And juniors - ugh - this is such a crucial year!
I guess the way to see it is that everyone is having a horrible year, and everyone will be graded on a curve, no matter what they’re doing - job, college, high school, family, etc.
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