<p>I have to agree with barrons post!</p>
<p>I would give him the blue book, ask him to take them, and make sure he knows he must live with the results. If you’ve already had the discussion about what you can afford for schools, then he knows the restrictions. If he can live with it, so be it.</p>
<p>I purchased review books for S and handed them to him. He may possibly have cracked them at some point. I certainly saw no visible signs of prep taking place.</p>
<p>I have a tremendously stubborn kid. There was simply no way I could nag him into prepping. Luckily for him, he is very bright and very good at taking standardized tests, and his HS preparation was good.</p>
<p>My advice is to give up. If he doesn’t get at least 2 good scores–and it sounds as if he probably will–then you MAY be able to convince him to do some actual work and retake or try a different test by getting him to plug his numbers into something like the Academic Index calculator.</p>
<p>I was thrilled when Borders accepted the SATII Chem returned unopened last year…</p>
<p>Kid got an 800 in 2009…</p>
<p>The teachers prepared him for the test and he and most his class scored above 750…your school should be able to reassure you.</p>
<p>I have the receipt to return the AP Physics C and AP Calculus Barrons books as well- also both unopened-- they will be returned this week-- hopefully I can find him something more enjoyable to read over the summer.</p>
<p>My advice-- save receipts…</p>
<p>Seriously- the teachers are preparing them with multiple practice tests…it’s NOT your job to assign homework! (that’s why you pay property taxes)</p>
<p>Olymom, I am definitely going to use the “keep Mom sane” line but for working on essays, not test prep. Perfect! The house shutters may finally get painted. Or he’ll have fab essays. Either way, a win :D</p>
<p>“And people are shocked when honors students murder their parents.”</p>
<p>Agreed.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Rarely do I want to post that people are utterly out of their minds but this is one instance. Yeah, a little nagging about test preparation somehow serves to explain matricide. I may not agree with the nagging but do you hear yourselves? “I understand why Jimmy killed his mom; she asked him to study harder even though he was a top student.” I wonder if you also think that after he’s convicted, Jimmy should get a suspended sentence and a full scholarship to the college of his choice.</p>
<p>Here’s the opposite view on “nagging.” Other than the very few students (vals/sals, 2400’s) nobody has an unblemished academic profile and few have “no doubt about it” applications. At top schools and for top scholarships, we’re talking about razor thin differences in applications (assuming one can even know what really goes on in the decision process.) So is it really that unreasonable when a student says, “I want to get into …” and the parent tries to drive the student to that goal? Part of what we do as parents is help children meet their goals. And instilling in them that preparation, practice, hard work, and sacrifice are ingredients in that brew is perhaps the most important education we can provide our children. How hard to push is the delicate part of that process but not pushing at all, IMHO, is an abdication of parenting.</p>
<p>^^^agreed, I had come back to delete my post as it was totally inappropriate. I apologize.</p>
<p>Um, I think some of you might want to give your sarcasm detectors a spring tuneup.</p>
<p>Of course that was not meant to be taken literally but you can see why kids get the feeling that what is enough–how perfect must I be to meet your goals. They might not pick up a gun but the seeds of hatred would be sown.</p>
<p>Murder is not a suitable subject for sarcasm. As GTalum said, it’s inappropriate. And the fact that three people posted favorably on the subject tells me that in some circles, this isn’t wholly sarcastic.</p>
<p>Barrons, while I hear you on “the seeds of hatred” argument, I think far too many parents are worried about how their children perceive them and as a result, abdicate their responsibilities as parents. (This is especially so on the subject of drugs, alcohol, and sex but that’s a subject for another thread.) You can see from my post that I do not advocate parents pushing children to meet the parents’ goals. But when the child sets goals, it is a parental duty to help the child understand what is necessary to meet those goals. Like it or not, when a child says, “I want (insert highly selective school here),” and the child does two of the three things necessary to gain an admissions advantage, it is the duty of the parent to say, “Two out of three is nice. Well done. Here’s task number three. How can I help you get there?” That’s a collaborative effort and there are some excellent ideas in this thread on how best to collaborate. I would never advocate driving a child so hard as to create resentment, but most children need to be assisted when it comes to direction and drive in their teen years. That, of course, is the delicate challenge of parenting. And just like you want your children to give their best effort, parents should give their best efforts at parenting. Hands off is rarely the best effort.</p>
<p>My son had to take two SAT IIs for the college(s) HE wanted to apply to. So, we bought the study books and realized quickly that his high school classes had NOT prepared him for the material on the SAT IIs–there were chunks of required material that were never touched on in his HS courses.</p>
<p>So, he studied independently and got an 800 and a 790. But even knowing what we knew, I had to nag him a bit to get the studying done.</p>
<p>So, I would not assume your child has been adequately prepared for the SAT II tests by his high school courses without checking it out.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Sometimes the answer varies from course to course within the same school.</p>
<p>High school curricula must meet state and local standards – which may or may not resemble the curriculum assumed by the people who write the SAT Subject Tests. In many communities, the people who write the curriculum requirements do not even think about the SAT Subject Tests when designing their courses because only a very small proportion of students take these tests.</p>
<p>And sometimes schools deliberately choose to design a course that does not provide good preparation for the SAT Subject Test. For example, a school or school district may decide that an American history course that goes into depth on a few topics – with lots of research, writing, and projects on those topics – provides a better educational experience for their students than a survey course. But the SAT Subject Test in U.S. History assumes that the student has taken a survey course. </p>
<p>Another situation: in a school I know of, students who will be participating in an IB diploma program in 11th and 12th grades are required to take a “pre-IB” chemistry course in 10th grade. The course is quite rigorous, but it is designed to prepare students for IB science courses, not for the SAT Subject Test in chemistry. Some topics that are not on the SAT Subject Test are covered in depth, and some that are on the Subject Test are not covered at all.</p>
<p>Do not assume that any particular course or course sequence at your student’s high school provides good preparation for the SAT Subject Tests. Ask. Often, the guidance counselor or teachers can steer a student toward Subject Tests that students at that high school usually do well in (i.e., the subjects where the school’s curriculum most closely matches the expectations of the people who designed the test). And, if a particular student wants to take a test in a subject where the curriculum isn’t a good match, the teacher or guidance counselor may be able to advise the student on what aspects of the subject to study independently (and this usually can’t be accomplished in a week or two before the test; it may need to be done over a period of months).</p>
<p>Students can also do this sort of due diligence on their own by buying the blue book or other SAT Subject Test prep books that include practice tests, taking those tests, and seeing how they do. One run-through will usually tell them whether what’s taught in their course matches what’s tested. My daughter, who took that pre-IB chemistry course that I mentioned earlier, was able to figure out after one practice test that she should NOT take the SAT Subject Test in chemistry even though she had the highest grade in her section. She took three tests in other subjects and scored above 750 in all of them. But her score on the chemistry practice test was in the mid-600s. That was a good thing to know in advance.</p>
<p>Please show me where the student said he wanted to go to a highly competitive school that even required SAT IIs?? Or that he felt it was his duty to get merit money even though his family has a good income (high EFC). All I see is a overly ambitious mom trying to have her child make up for her failings and save her some $$$$. There is a word for that and good mom is not it.</p>
<p>Barrons – lots of families can’t afford their high EFCs – pretty easy for a family with an income of $120K to end up with a $40K EFC that can be completely unmanageable given the family’s circumstances.</p>
<p>I see the mom as being pretty practical in assessing what the options are, and wanting to make sure her son didn’t foreclose them. I hear lots of kids express certain ambitions, and then fail to follow through with course choices and work that would support them. Nothing wrong with a parent pointing this out.</p>
<p>In the end the student will do what the student chooses to do, and if that combined with the family circumstances means that an in-state public or an inexpensive oos public are the options, that’s what they are. But kudos to the mom for pointing out that some work now might make some other options that the student might later find more desirable at least possible.</p>
<p>Well, the 2010 high school seniors are now on their way to colleges. We now use the terms rising seniors for the next class. So parents, let the nagging begin!</p>