<p>I will admit, mine is not so good on studying for these kinds of tests. Just to give you a benchmark, he scored 760 on writing (pre-new SAT), 720 on Math 1, 640 on Math 2, and 640 on US History. So, there you have it.</p>
<p>But, for whatever it's worth, he is at his first choice, uber-selective school.</p>
<p>I will admit I worried and nagged a bit about the lack of studying or fourth year of language, and ultimately I learned that it is in his hands, not mine. In the end, he was vindicated, but if it hadn't worked out, there were plenty other good schools he could have gone to.</p>
<p>It was a good learning experience for me! :)</p>
<p>I agree that highly selective colleges prefer to see breadth, but IvyP's thoughts that breadth MUST include a science is just incorrect unless one is applying for an engineering or science major. Yes, most colleges do not care much about major interest per se, since students change it numerous times. But it is only human nature for an adcom to comare the intended major with an SAT score, i.e., an intended math major with a 500 SAT M probably won't fare too well. OTOH, if taking an AP Science, it makes sense to take the corresponding Subject Test.</p>
<p>btw: Math 2 has a much better curve, and I strongly recommend it for any student completing precalc. </p>
<p>IvyP: 6 APs is a brutal schedule. What happened to Physics AB?</p>
<p>I might be confused too. But this is what my daughter and I agree on for an Ivy shot.</p>
<ol>
<li>Try not to get a grade lower than A- until it is an ultra hard AP.</li>
<li>Try not to score < 750 on a SAT II.</li>
<li>Try to get a balanced SAT I > 2200.</li>
<li>Try not to score < 4 on AP.</li>
</ol>
<p>She has taken 4 APs in her Sophomore year and planning to take 4 AP courses as regular schedule and will try to take AP English language after English III (Hons.)</p>
<p>Does this sound unreasonable or overdo? </p>
<p>Since she has taken AP Calc. BC the counslar advice is to take AP Physics C which is calculus based.</p>
<p>She will change her schedule if she couldn't score at least 4 on all 4 AP's she took this year. She felt AP Euro is tough for her, so lets see how it goes.
THere may be a change in the schedule if she couldn't do well on APs.</p>
<p>IvyP -- this is where I would suggest some changes (to ease some of the pressure on D, which tends to backfire with burnout)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Keep unweighted GPA at 3.8 or above -- this means a B here or there isn't the worst thing -- figure out how many semester grades there are for her (depending on whether she takes 6 or 7 classes) and calculate how many B's she can get by the end of junior year/first semester senior year to keep that 3.8 GPA. Of course, the higher the better -- but if a kid feels like that one or two B's blew her chances, some kids will just get so discouraged that they quit altogether.</p></li>
<li><p>SAT II scores -- anecdotal evidence from reading tons of posts, emails, PMs and talking to adcoms says that SAT IIs are not a big part of the package. I would tell her scores over 700 -- and have her test in her three strongest subjects and she really doesn't need to do more. It is better to do fewer with good scores than a ton with scores all over the place.</p></li>
<li><p>SAT score -->2200 is a good number to shoot for and hopefully she can do it. Test prep does help -- and you might have her give the ACT a shot. ACT has score choice, so if she blows it -- no big deal. removing the pressure helps some kids score better. </p></li>
<li><p>AP scores -- AP scores are self-reporting or reported after admissions, so the scores don't really have much impact on admissions. If she blows a test and gets a 1, she doesn't need to report that. Of course, a good score is better -- but that should ease the pressure, also.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You should see a theme to my post -- reducing the pressure while getting the requirements in. Many kids get burnout and cave to the pressure towards the end and you want to prevent that.</p>
<p>AP Physics C is the correct choice since she has had calculus -- AP Physics B would look strange.</p>
<p>When considering a schedule, try and find out how much outside classroom work is required. While AP Physics C might be a really difficult class, AP Euro might have more reading and homework time required. The AP history classes tend to be very heavy on the reading and writing and can really take a tremendous amount of time -- so you want to balance that in the schedule.</p>
<p>Thanks Hsmomstef:</p>
<p>We agreed to these things but those are not hard and fast rules. Those are the best things to shoot for but yes we need to filter in the capabilites of the children too. That is why I said we have been changing schedule depending on how she does in any given class.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes getting 4 B's will keep her above 3.8 but we don't want to take things easy. It will be better to shoot for A- but yes a B+ in a tough course won't harm her. Still it seems you can ease of if your unweighted GPA > 3.9</p></li>
<li><p>SATII Scores: She already took SATII Math 2C after the Hons. Precalc and got 770. She wanted to take again as she hoped to get 800 but then we convinced her to wait and see her other SAT IIs. She will be taking SAT II Chem in June and hope to score > 770. If she gets that then she won't repeat Math 2 C, otherwise she may. Since she seems strong in Sciences she will take Physics and Biology SATII next year. But I thought it might make sense to take SAT II History as she will take AP US History next yeat.
But it seems she shouldn't untill she is confident of getting > 750.</p></li>
<li><p>Since her school require students to take AP Exams if the AP class is taken the scores are required to be reported as the Admission office knows that the AP tests were taken, so the rule for score > 4 apply. I'll ask her to cut down her AP load for next year if she cann't score 4 or 5. We may have discussions with counslar in case of 3.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Each of Cornell's colleges has it's own specific SAT II requirements, so check which one you'll be applying to.</p>