They used to take the ACT in school here late junior year, but my D17 was the last year they did that (which bumped her 32 up to a 33) before they did away with the Big Final Exit Exam requirement.
@AnonMomof2 My kid too! He missed the second part of state testing which everyone is boycotting here to prove a point. The school tried to lecture me about him not being in school that day and funding etc. . . and I was like āHold on. My kid lives for standardized tests. This is not a political statement.ā
@2plustrio Crap. Hopefully they renew. But I understand the stress and your best laid plans going to pot.
omg, I so hope you pull it out. Thatās terrible!
Iāve signed S23 up for the June SAT. Heās resisting and doesnāt want to do it. Heās very anti-Standardize testing from a political standpoint. In 6th grade he purposely tried to miss everything on the State exams as a protest.
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I get that rebellion. i wrote every word backwards once on a county-wide spelling tests (in the 80s) - i didnt want to be there. My S15 had a fraternity friend who did well on the ACT; then was forced to take it again for the state test and purposely didnāt try. This score was flagged, and he had to retake again to prove test #1 wasnt cheating. (or something like that).
anyway- good luck to your son; hoping he can make it through
Fight the system! I love this because Iām kind of rebel too. We always opt-out of the state standardized tests except for the PSAT and SAT (yay for freebies).
S23 is registered for the May SAT. If he hits his practice test score, then heāll be one and done.
Wow all this early testing! Great for your kiddos and hope they can cross it off! We donāt typically test until late summer or fall here, then have another round or two if needed. The Psat and Real-but-practice ACT are done for the first time, without any prep, in fall of 10th, and then based on the scores the school maps out a plan: which test, or both, and when. D23 will do both, starts maybe Aug maybe Oct, and yes always the hope for the one and done! She and the counselor set a lofty āone and doneā goal thoughāit will take more than one try I think. She is busy with 3APs right now anyway, so would not have time to prep this early I guess.
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My s23 just had to do the state required standardized tests. He chose b for every answer. As its not graded and has nothing to do with college, he didnāt see the point of testing his knowledge. He has no issues with trying his best when it counts but doesnāt like feeling like a dog being made to do tricks for nothing.
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The state-paid tests are administered during junior year, but we feel S is ready now so he may as well get it out of the way.
Interesting that your school maps out the testing plan. Is your child at a private or public school?
Private. I know I knowā¦but the public options are just very inferior where we are, unless we want a >30 min commute to work. Neither of us did private , yet we paid for k-12 for our kids because the alternatives are so different here. The college-prep perks are definitely a huge part of the benefit. Each kid gets a customized testing plan based on the no-prep baselines as well as classes they take etc.
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No judgment here! Families are entitled to make school choices that work best for them. We would certainly pay for private school if we felt our public schools were inadequate.
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So my D took a āpracticeā ACT test at home and got a 29. We were actually surprised and were hoping for a higher score. Sheās the type of kid who does well in school and has always tested extremely well on our state standardized tests. She prefers the ACT to the SAT, so this summer sheās going to take an on line prep course. We arenāt aiming for T20, but I do think she wants to go to a top LAC, so thatās just as tough. Hoping she can pull out a few points after this summer. The good news is that she has been so nonchalant about testing and that was an eye opening experience for her. She is now wanting to pay attention and do what she needs to improve her score.
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I need to vent for a minute and I canāt put this on social media.
I had an urgent message for a meeting with my boss to talk about āfeedbackā. I canāt shake the feeling my contract may not be renewed. Its been a rough year and the unit I am on has been stressed to the max with the staff being pretty openly vocal about their disappointment with the students. Iāve tried to smooth things over but I can see how someone could overhear and without context think poorly. Iām in grad school and having total imposter syndrome and donāt think I have the personality for my current job (cue extra anxiety for the talk with my boss).
Ive been stressed due to my son being inpatient mental health (and in jail), plus having prolonged symptoms after covid 6 months ago. So I havent been 100% which makes me feel worse. Then add in an abnormal mammogram, now having breast pain (could be psychosomatic) and I have an ultrasound next week so Im extra anxious but have to act all calm to not freak my husband out.
Ok. Stress dump complete.
Oh, no, that all sounds terrible! virtual support sent.
Many many many hugs. Iām sure the breast pain is psychosomatic. When is your work meeting? Sounds like there is a good chance they are looking for feedback if you are the one trying to smooth things over. And the good news is that a bunch of this will be resolved within a couple of weeks. You can do it. 24 hours in a day. Even the ones that suck.
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Update: Hereās my analogy about my job stress. Letās say Iāve sold Mercedes for years and Iām towards the top in sales. But now instead of Mercedes, Iāve been given a bunch of used Dodges that everyone knows are lemons but we all have to act like they are still top notch. No matter what I do, I canāt turn them into Mercedes. So now my coworkers are mad at me as Iām not on top of sales anymore and Iām no longer selling Mercedes. But it wasnāt my choice to sell lemon Dodges but Iāve had to try to make the best of it and I feel slimy and coworkers are looking at me different.
I still have a job but they are taking me off the used car lot and putting me elsewhere where I can be a top performer again without the negative opinions based on things beyond my control.
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@2plustrio - this pandemic has been really stressful, with constant changes as far as how everything was previously marketed as opposed to what we can do now. Constant changes as far as timelines and āthe rulesā and expectations. I completely understand your analogy and a lot of us have just been doing the best we can with what is available now that our traditional work is all crazied up. I am sorry you are dealing with all of this on top of a health scare and family trauma. I was reorganized at the end of last year - and I was very successful selling my lemons last year - I was angry. Now itās a few months later and I am taking it all much less personally. It is hard to go with the flow this year but most of us donāt have a choice. I hope that you are able to continue on in a position that will allow you to get the tuition benefits you were counting on! Please let us know how it goes.
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Thanks.
I work at a satellite where none of my ācoworkersā are employed by the college and although Iāve been there for years, they still donāt have 100% understanding of the collegeās goal and process.
I knew the coworkers were unhappy with me but I was glad to hear the boss at my college totally understands and supports me and knows Iām doing a great job.
It really just has been a rough year for everyone and I can see both sides.
Sorry to be so incommunicado lately - not sure when I posted last? Looks like end of March. Not much has changed except that Robotics club has pretty much disintegrated - not sure if from lack of organization or interest or what? So the update is my son will take English 3 (dual credit) over the summer, and then 4 AP classes (all STEM), 1 dual credit (US History), Robotics (class, not club) and Adv engineering. Very worried about this as he is already lagging in PreAP Precalculus and PreAP Chemistry but we did figure out (or rather he finally fessed up) that he was falling asleep by 5-7th periods - which is when those classes were. Had to adjust his medications (adhd) so that they last longer - doc said they were wearing off too soon. So far, it seems to be helping. Oh and he couldnāt sleep at night - like at all. Told him to stop screens at 8:30 - 9:30 p.m. If he canāt sleep, sit in chair or on floor and do a quiet activity like reading or fiddling with a project (no screens at all). Seems to be helping him so far.
Anyway I think he hesitated to mention his troubles because we had so much happen. Havenāt disclosed this I donāt think, on 1/29, my husband had a stroke and was in the hospital for 5 days. Then on 2/5, I was in a major car accident where my car was totaled. It has definitely been very rough on all of us (hubby still doesnāt have a job after being laid off last September). Add to this, my older son is having a lot of mental health issues that we have no idea how to deal with. He is at Texas A&M now but working on transferring to University of Houston. He refuses to come home though but he is currently in therapy. His psychiatrist suggested lexapro but wants another visit with him later this month before starting it.
Sounds like a lot of us are dealing with some tough times - hang in there - we are all in this together.
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I get it with the adhd meds. My son went off them in high school for a bit (and is off them in college, he goes on and off prozac now).
So scary about you and your husband. I hope you are both healing. That certainly is stressful.
Sorry about your older son. My college kid was inpatient mental health and in jail last summer (we laugh about it now). The legal stuff has been cleared as of just a few weeks ago luckily but I understand how hard it is to help from afar as my son lives 3 hours away and refuses to come home.