<p>I just got back from the Counselor’s office at son’s high school. It seems like S needs to take three more classes as a senior to graduate on the distinguished graduation plan, next year. They normally take seven courses each year at his school, so he will have a lot of free time in senior year. In addition, the three courses that he needs are not very demanding, Physical ed., Government and Spanish III. </p>
<p>Any suggestions on what he should do with the extra time? He could obviously use some of it on writing essays and preparing for the SAT in October. He could also use the extra time to shore up his ECs or do an internship and fill in other deficiencies in his ECs. Sorry to bother you guys with this again.</p>
<p>I was going to post this on the other thread, but since you mention here …</p>
<p>IMO, he really needs to take more than 3 or 4 classes next year if he’s looking at competitive schools, especially now knowing that one is PE. In our family, we require the kids take a math and a science senior year. Doesn’t have to be a hard one, but it would raise all kinds of questions to me to see such a lightweight senior year. JMO.</p>
<p>Hi entomom, Yep that is what he signed up for. However, today when we met the counselor, she told us, he did not need to take them for distinguished graduation. We asked her to leave him signed up for them anyway, for now. So, I am trying to find out, if this was the right decison? </p>
<p>I think, even with AP Physics and AP Calc he will be taking a very light load. PE, Government and Spanish III are not particularly hard classes. I was wondering what else should he be taking/ doing?</p>
<p>^ You are right, I completely forgot AP English Literature after AP English Language. So, there are four subjects required for graduation as I thought I heard the counselor say (but I could not remember what the fourth subject was). </p>
<p>In any case, thanks for helping me see that it is quite common in US schools, for kids to take more courses than they need to graduate. I think there is a consensus that instead of taking four classes and skipping the last three periods, he should stay and atleast take AP Physics and AP Calculus. I will look into dual enrollment to see if he can take an interesting third course too. Even so, it appears he will have a very light senior year compared to his junior year.</p>
<p>Some of that can’t be helped because of graduation requirements. My ds will be taking health and guitar next year because he needs health and a yearlong fine arts credit, and he put those off as long as he possibly could. They are unweighted so he didn’t want to take them any earlier as they’d lower his GPA. He’s also taking soccer to fulfill his final sports requirement but as a ninth period after school. This is the kind of thing that the GC needs to put in the letter or you put in the addl information section of the Common App.</p>
<p>The other reason we opted to wait on those easy classes is so that he can have an easier senior year without really slacking and going to school half a day.</p>
<p>Looks like you got some great advice. I will just pass on info I heard at Penn since you mentioned Penn as some place your S might apply. For the engineering school, they really like to see a Physics subject test. Maybe your S could study from a review book and with his Physics course work, do really well in the exam. They also indicated at a session we attended that they like to see kids take 5 courses in their senior year. I think looking for a Physics subject test and 5 courses in senior year will be common for engineering at “lottery” schools. </p>
<p>The other thing I’ve learned which has already been mentioned, is the Math II should be taken after precalc. It is not calculus based and he’ll be further removed from the concepts if he waits until next year. </p>
<p>Awesome PSAT scores!! Good Luck with everything!</p>
<p>I would also like to add from personal experience that Math Level II is best taken right after completing pre-calculus. The test itself is not too hard - it even has the most generous curve out of the subject tests if I remember correctly - and a 700+ should be easily doable with a sufficient knowledge of college algebra (algebra II) and trigonometry alone.</p>
<p>We are in Spain, where son is enjoying his time with the family/ grandma and polishing up his Spanish. He took the Math II in June as everyone suggested and scored 750. (I am very happy, since math is his achilles heel. Remember, his lowest subscore on the PSAT, was a 69, in math. ) </p>
<p>He took a practice SAT test last week, without prep for a baseline score. He did quite well, scoring 800s on all subsections, with time and answers to spare. So, it seems like he should be in good shape for the Oct SAT. </p>
<p>Unfortunately he only took one SAT subject test (Math II), since he had a fever and a cough and could not prep for the rest of the subjects. Now, he still needs to take at least one more subject test. He is taking AP Physics in senior year and wants to take the SAT Physics subject test in Nov. Any advice, if this is a good idea and if a semester of AP Physics will be sufficent prep. for this test?</p>
<p>Neither of my kids took the Physics subject test, they are both pretty good in math but don’t love it (D2 is so happy to be done with math forever) and liked physics the least of the sciences. In general, I don’t recommend taking a Subject test for a course one hasn’t finished the corresponding AP class. I’m not saying he absolutely should not take it, but that if he chooses to do so, he needs to put adequate work into prepping for it because it’s not a given that he will be prepared with half a year of AP Physics. What about taking the Subject test for one of the APs he took last year (AP prep is plenty for the Subject test which is less rigorous)?</p>
<p>If I recall, your S is interested in engineering and so is likely strong in math and physics. And I’m wondering, doesn’t he have to take specific Subject tests for some of the engineering programs he is going to apply to? Is that why he’s looking at the Physics Subject test?</p>
<p>If he decides to take the Physics Subject test, he MUST look at the CB website to find out what areas are covered and look at practice questions. And, he SHOULD get a prep book, sorry I can’t recommend one, you might want to do a Search on the Subject test forum here on CC.</p>
<p>entomom, thanks again. You are right, Penn and CMU Engineering recommend Math II and Physics subject tests. Also, we were thinking, since he will not be able to provide AP scores for these two subjects (Pre Calculus and Physics), it might be a good idea to provide them standardized SAT subject tests in these. </p>
<p>By the way, my son took Honors Physics in junior year and absolutely loved it. He finished with a 97% in the course and is looking forward to AP Physics in senior year. He also likes math but has had to work hard thru high school to get better at it. So I am thinking he will do okay in Physics</p>
<p>Perazziman-if you son took Honors Physics he could take the physics subject test now and not wait until later. He could possibly do well on it since has had instruction on the subject. Also you might want to post on the Subject Test forum on cc rather than the Hispanic forum. Most postings on the Hispanic forum dealing with issues affecting Hispanic high school students and college admissions.</p>
<p>Thanks itsv, I will check on the subject test forum too. I was under the impression he may need some background in calculus based physics for the subject test. I like to post here since the posters on this thread can see the bigger picture/ have more experience with guiding hispanic kids applying to elite schools ( such as MIT, Penn, CMU in the case of my son) than posters on other forums.</p>