<p>For all the Juniors (and their parents), good luck on the upcoming PSAT. S' school is administering on Wednesday.</p>
<p>My son took the PSAT practice test yesterday (the one in the booklet) and scored 196. We reviewed all the questions and he realized that he made a few careless mistakes, and also determined that if he had skipped the questions he wasn't 100% sure of, he would have gained another 5 points or so.</p>
<p>Today we spent the whole morning reviewing Grammatix, and I was impressed by how much he learned from it. It's full of great tips that really seem to make a lot of sense. </p>
<p>I'm praying for a 15-20 point gain on the real PSAT Wednesday, as I'd love to see him qualify for National Merit Semifinalist, but I don't realistically expect it. Grammatix helped, though, so maybe he'll at least qualify for National Hispanic Scholar or Commended. </p>
<p>Good luck to all the juniors on Wednesday!</p>
<p>Patsmom, if he hasn't done so, have him review each question and really understand why he got it wrong. Have him do this on the ones he got right too. Sometimes a lucky guess when you've got it narrowed down to 2 answers means you don't really understand or know the answer. Knowing the test - understanding what the test is looking for on each type questions can really make a difference.</p>
<p>Over30- we did that, and it was a tremendous help. That's really the key to doing well - knowing why an answer is right or wrong. Grammatix emphasizes picking out the wrong answers first, and that does seem to help.</p>
<p>Preparation, what a concept. LOL. My S had good intentions but time just slipped away. Well, we'll see what happens. I was happy with his "trial run" score as a Sophomore last year, so I'm cautiously optimistic.</p>
<p>DAD- check to see if you are logged on from now on!!!</p>
<p>Previous posts supposed to be from Lderochi</p>
<p>This is going to be much too confusing now that S finally got a screen name . . . :)</p>
<p>Well, we were partially successful in our plan to prep for fall tests during the summer. I required S to spend an hour a day, or one section of a practice test, whichever came first. He managed to get through three complete SAT's in the book by the middle of August, which was less than I had hoped for, but certainly more than he really felt like doing. I am glad we used those "lazy days" of summer. Now that the school year is winding down on the first quarter, and AP classes are in full swing (as are homecoming activities and water polo season!), I had him take the Oct 8 SAT as a practice for the PSAT on Wednesday. He felt it went well, except the essay was tough to write on the spot. So, we'll see if the PSAT goes well- he was very close to NM status as a tenth grader last year. I sure hope he doesn't burn out. My hope was that he may do well enough on the SAT the first time out that he can take some pressure off of himself as school heats up. I guess we'll find out soon....</p>
<p>Hello all, I've been reading CC for awhile, this is my first post:</p>
<p>PARENTAL SCREEN NAME: entomom
JUNIOR IS: Female
HOME STATE: Oregon</p>
<p>PREFERRED LOCATION: Northeast or Northwest, likes cold weather, urban or suburban.</p>
<p>SPECIFIC PREFERENCES: Medium sized school (5-15k), minimal Greek influence, balance of school and outside activities.</p>
<p>ACADEMIC INTERESTS: Biology, particularly neuroscience; thinking about medicine or medical research; romance languages, espically Spanish & Portuguese.</p>
<p>SCHOOLS ON CHILD'S LIST: Harvard (only because it's in Boston and it teaches Catalan), Dartmouth, Brown, Rice, NU, WUSTL, Brandies, BU, NEU, UW, UOregon</p>
<p>SCHOOLS VISITED: Pomona colleges, UW, UBC, Oregon State, UOregon; will visit Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Brandeis, BU & NEU later this month</p>
<p>RANK/GPA: School doesn't weight or rank. UW GPA 4.0 </p>
<p>JR YEAR COURSES: AP US History, AP Calculus, College Writing, Physics, French 1, Health, Health Occupations, Health Occupations Intern; 2 quarters of Spanish at CC since school doesn't offer AP Spanish</p>
<p>STUDY PLANS FOR PSAT: The plan was to study last summer, but her internship was more intensive than anticipated, so she's been using the Xiggi method the past month and a half. She'll also take the SAT's in Nov and likely Jan; SAT II's in May; possibly try ACT in June if necessary. She's already taken three SAT II's, so the hope is to get finished with testing early and be able to concentrate on applications next summer and fall.</p>
<p>ECs: Marching band (percussion), various school clubs, volunteering at low income clinic, tutoring, mountaineering.</p>
<p>SUMMER PLANS: Last year did a paid 8-week research internship at Oregon State University in the Chemical Engineering Dept. Will apply to some competitive summer programs for 2006.</p>
<p>I'm looking forward to lots of help and company along the way, it's going be an interesting couple of years!</p>
<p>Welcome entomom! Glad you've entered the world of the non-lurker. With you're D's stats and her interest in biology/neuroscience you probably want to follow the travels/travails of Curmudgeon's Senior D as she makes her application decisions.</p>
<p>For anyone who took the PSAT as a sophomore, I highly recommend to check the TCB website tonight and read the file with full explanations of last year's test. It is available on the website and is called the PSAT extra. You simply need to log on with a registered account and enter the last numbers/letter of the Score Report. In case, you forgot it, you can enter any 3 digits followed by W for Wed and S for Saturday. </p>
<p>No need to take the test again, but a critical read of the answers/explanations will be a great refresher. </p>
<p>Iderochi: Thanks for the welcome! I just looked at Cur's thread and got a great tip....though my daughter was considering UW (Washington), UW (Wisconson) was not on her radar. It looks like a good school for several reasons: great neuro, Portugese program and some wonderful merit scholarships for URM's (she's half Latin, half Asian). It's bigger than she'd like, but maybe they have a good honors program.</p>
<p>Xiggi: Thanks for the tip, my daughter doesn't take the PSAT until Saturday so she should have time to take a look at the old test. She did well last year on the math, any last minute tips on the CR or writing sections?</p>
<p>I visited colleges for the first time this weekend: Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and UPenn. The admissions process has finally become more than a vague theoretical concept, which is very exciting and a little bit scary! I haven't written out reports yet, but I'll probably post about it later this week. </p>
<p>I'll take the PSAT Saturday, but I'm relaxed about it. I took a practice test last week and scored a 232 (80CR/72M/80W), up from a 214 sophomore year. The test is pretty much irrelevant for me as my citizenship status disqualifies me from National Merit scholarships, but it can't hurt to take it anyway.</p>
<p>Interestingly, I've been worrying less about getting into college than about paying for it. I'm sure we'll manage in the end, but it's stressful to think about.</p>
<p>I've also concluded that I'd choose Bryn Mawr over Penn, which facilitates things, I guess--but that's for the trip report.</p>
<p>Son felt "okay" about the PSAT. We'll see. Don't have high hopes of NMF -- Delaware historically has a high cutoff. Curious to see what the improvement is from last years Soph. PSAT, particularly in math. </p>
<p>Of course, he felt okay until he heard some of the obsessive compulsives on the CC SAT/ACT Preparation board arguing about the answers LOL. The general theme over there is that the actual test was a bit harder than the CB practice test. But since S didn't actually take the practice test, he has no opinion.</p>
<p>On to the ACT (Dec. 10).</p>
<p>My D took the PSAT this morning, pretty much the same reaction.....okay, not bad, not great. At least it's one thing to cross off the Junior year list. </p>
<p>We will visit schools week after next and then she takes her first shot at the SAT. I will be interested to hear how the ACT goes as not that many kids take it here. </p>
<p>I talked to my D about setting up appointments to talk to faculty at the schools we're going to visit, but she's more of a observe and listen kind of kid. I think it's a good decision for her, it'll make the trip fun rather than something else she has to prep for.</p>
<p>Not many people take it here, either, but I'm a Midwesterner at heart and I insisted! He actually took it last year for practice and did pretty well.</p>
<p>My son took the PSAT last Wednesday - and didn't think it went so well. He didn't want to take a watch, then almost ran out of time on three sections, and just jotted down answers. (He was convinced that the proctors would give them a verbal 5-minute warning, because thats what they did at the practice PSAT test. It didn't happen) He had improved a lot by doing the Xiggi method on some SAT sections - and got 100% correct on several of the CR practice sections... but felt that the math was a lot harder on the PSAT than on the practice PSAT test.. I hope he's mistaken and that he aced it!
Stats: Junior son. Sweet, kind, laidback - has sort of the opposite of "intellectual passion" but is very bright. Math and Science come easy. Top 10%, probably better than that, but ranks not given yet. Virtually no ECs - plays in a recreational tennis league, is planning to join the National Honor Society and do 6 hours of volunteer work every six weeks, (A grand 60 minutes a week!!!!!), says he is thinking about maybe joining the Spanish Club, Plays poker, video games, takes the dog for walks. No "leadership" positions, no formal work experience. Does his own laundry! :)
Schools: looking at State U's, and a few local colleges. So far, he's not interested in looking, and doesn't even want to think about college. Very different from his older sibling - and that's what makes life so interesting!</p>
<p>Bumping this sucker up now that we're heading into the first true frenzy for Juniors. First SAT/ACT tests, thinking about senior classes, worrying about summer activities, etc. </p>
<p>Any newbies with Junior or Sophomore kids, please come on in and tell us a little about yourself!</p>
<p>We are halfway through junior year, and the pressure continues. PSAT results are good (98 %ile) but not quite NMF for CA. However, it looks like he will qualify for Hispanic finalist. The first SAT's are behind us, with at least one more scheduled, as well as the ACT. Grades could have been better-- he's one of those kids who is at the A-/B+ divider, and seems to more often than not slide toward the B+ as the semester ends. Thank goodness for honors classes' extra grade points!
We have discovered that S needs help with time management. He seems to have trouble planning out his time efficiently, and wants to participate in every activity available to him. This has resulted in a few VERY late nights doing homework or projects. We've had to step in and restrict him until schoolwork is taken care of, and I'm hoping he can learn to prioritize a bit better before he leaves the nest in 2007!</p>
<p>lderochi and others, think it might be time to start a Class of '11 thread, since the '10-ers will have their decisions in a few short months?</p>
<p>I'll join you there.</p>