<p>Agree with Chedva and with many others here. Just give him a list of colleges he will not be able to attend and give him some time. And let him know there will be NO tutors involved for these tests, and that each SAT2 is only one hour long. </p>
<p>Give him the facts and give him some time and relax. He has until December to decide.</p>
<p>“Rice University… seem to require the SAT 2’s, even with the ACT.”</p>
<p>Rice will accept ACT in place of SAT + SATII - DD was just accepted there with ACT only.</p>
<p>ReadyToRoll-- S2 is taking the ACT for the second time tomorrow, so will let you know how much self-prepping helps in his case. After an abysmal PSAT, guidance suggested he focus on the ACT instead. He took it last fall with no preparation, and scored a 26, with wildly divergent breakdown scores-- super low on math, ‘eh’ on science, and very high on the verbal/english sections. He has a few review books and has supposedly (supposedly) been preparing for the next try. The first time around he found the math difficult, but his biggest problem was that he ran out of time on almost all the sections.
My beef with the ACT is that people seem to look at just the overall score, rather than looking at weaknesses and strengths in the different sections. The section scores pretty accurately reflected his academic strengths and weaknesses.</p>
<p>“I told my D when she was 5 years old and got her very first tiny homework assignment”…“the most important thing in her life”…“it was her swimming because she just got into competitive swim club and was very proud of it.”</p>
<p>Competitive swimming at 5? R U serious? Wow!</p>
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<p>Only in the US of A …</p>
<p>Does your S know the details of the SAT IIs? These are much shorter tests than the SAT and up to 3 can be taken in one day but he could likely just take two. They’re subject tests that he might not even need to study for, especially if he takes them at the end of his Junior year for classes he just finished while the material is fresh in his mind. It boils down to 2 hours to take two of the SAT II tests which in the scheme of spending four years or so at college isn’t much.</p>
<p>If he’s considering a college where they might be needed (and hopefully not discounting a college simply because they’re needed), I think he should be strongly encouraged to suck it up and just go take them. It’s good to keep options open.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap,
believe it or not, we have seen a 3 years old at USS competition. D got in before her 5th b-day. And these kids are judged by the same disqualification rules as olimpians, sometime they get upset for not getting their ribon at the wall after finishing first. The earlier they learn, the better for them. Overall swimming is the most fair competitive sport. Sorry for sidetracking, promise, no more.</p>