Parents of the HS Class of 2015/College Class of 2019

[momsings]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to pop in and say hello! I am thinking of those of you affected by the storm and yet again another storm. I truly hope you are all ok.

goaskdad--it is not too late to be looking into the financial aspect of college. You are probably way ahead of most. There really are a lot of options out there, it just requires a lot of research on your part. OHmomof2 has provided a good place to start.

[suzy100]

Hi momsings! Also feeling really bad for those who are getting the 1-2 punch up in New England. Hope you all are safe and warm.

I have a question related to the AMC, not sure if this is the place but thought I'd go ahead and ask. In the daily email from the school, there was a mention of this competition saying whomever is interested in it, turn your $ in, etc. Anyway, this is the first I've heard of it. I looked it up and am aware it's a math competition. I emailed D's math teacher and asked about it. She is strongly encouraging D to take it. I asked whether she should take the level 10 or 12. She said it's up to her, but she may want to take the 12 now to give her practice because she can enter this 2 more times. D is in Honors Pre-Calc this year. Anybody have any insights on this competition or any information? Whatever you have would be greatly appreciated.

[tripleamom]

suzy100, AMC is american math counts competition.There are AMC8,AMC10&AMC12.Lot of kids participate.I think if you are in the top 10% of the regional or state ,you are qualified for nationals or invited for the USAMO.You can find past released questions in their website.

[PinotNoir]

suzy - the math on the AMC 10 goes through the concepts in Pre Calc. Here's what the website says about the math on level 10:

Q. AMC 10/12 #4. What’s covered on the AMC 10?
A. The AMC 10 covers mathematics normally associated with grades 9 and 10. To challenge students at all
grade levels, and with varying mathematical skills, the problems range from fairly easy to extremely difficult. Approximately 12 questions are common to the AMC 10 and AMC 12. The AMC 10 assumes knowledge of elementary algebra; basic geometry knowledge including the Pythagorean Theorem, area and volume formulas; elementary number theory; and elementary probability. What are excluded are trigonometry, advanced algebra, and advanced geometry. We recommend students study prior year copies of the AMC 10 contest and solutions. You can purchase a CD from the AMC with all the previous decade's contests to see what the AMC 10 contest is like.

I would recommend that she takes AMC 10, not 12. My son (college freshman now) took the AMC 12 as a sophomore, just to get a glance at it before his junior year, but he ended up thinking he should have taken the 10. All of his friends who were really into contest math stuck with the 10 that year. The top 2.5% qualify for AIME.

I would encourage your D to take it, but with these words of advice: it isn't like the math you see in school. It's tricky problem solving. Conceptually tricky. Contest math is a different beast. Make sure she goes into it as an adventure, an opportunity to explore contest math. It would be very surprising for someone who hasn't done contest math to advance to the next level, but that's not at all a reason not to take it. There are 25 questions, and the first couple are extremely easy. They get harder fast. It's a good score to get about 10 right. To qualify for AIME, you usually need to get about 18 or 19 right. There is a penalty for wrong answers. It is scored 6 pts for each correct answer, 1.5 pts for each left blank, and 0 for a wrong answer.

I'm not discouraging her from taking it at all - I'd would encourage her to if she's interested. My S took it last year as a freshman. He went in knowing he wouldn't do well, just game for the experience. But she should know not to freak out if she only answers half the questions or less. I think it's a 75 minute test, 25 questions.

Here are a couple sets of practice problems:

http://amc.maa.org/d-publication/d1-..._1012,2009.pdf

http://amc.maa.org/d-publication/d1-...012-Wkshts.pdf

Good luck to her!

[tripleamom]

Pinotnoir,that was a good explanation for AMC.My kids are not into math contests.But a large portion of our community prepare their kids for this.

D met a rep. from Scripps college in her school and she found out that thye have a five year program combining humanities and engineering which can be done at Harvey Mudd.And Scripps has a tie up with Columbia University for their graduate program.So she has an opportunity to goto Columbia for her graduate.

She was very excited to hear about this.As she is trying to decide between engineering and Eng. literature.She is nto sure what kind of jobs she will get if she does Eng.lit other than teaching.I know its early to decide .She is in the process of try things and see what she likes.
If any of you know what kind of career one can have with a Eng.lit or related majors like creative writing or comparative lit.,please share it with us.

[Threesdad]

Midterm grades should be arriving home in a few days. I asked the DD if there would be any surprises and she said "No", but we'll see.

Last week of field hockey. Due to the snow on Wednesday, D's school could not get their turf field plowed quickly enough to play @ home, so the game was moved to a neutral location and hour away that had little snow and played until the lights. It was 38 degrees with a nice refreshing breeze, so parents and players were bundled up. D's team won and is playing later today in the tournament finals.

The have another state game tomorrow. At this point in the season it's win & continue or lose and be done.

[suzy100]

Thanks so much for the AMC info! This was really very helpful, particularly the advice to take the AMC10. She is good at math but she says is not going to pursue it, so she's balking a bit about taking the test. She still doesn't really know what kind of degree she wants to pursue (which I think is perfectly fine and normal) so I want her to keep all options open. We'll see. Again, all of this info is greatly appreciated!

[3girls3cats]

PinotNoir, the AMC sounds like D's class in Algebra 2 this year! We were warned that this class was a killer, maybe the hardest in the school because the quizzes and tests require the kids to understand the concepts so well that they can use them in complex and tricky problems. It's turned out to be a great class with a great teacher. It's as hard as advertised but the teacher is very available for extra study and support. This is the sort of math class the U.S. needs! It almost makes up for the chemistry class

Tripleamom, my eldest was an English major with a creative writing concentration. She is a journalist now as are many of her peers. Others went the MFA route. I think these young adults tend to be the ones who are most committed to writing in its purest form and end up teaching in order to write on their own time or working as editors by day and writing by night. Others have taken the opportunity to work in other countries for a time either in teaching English or working in English-speaking media outside the U.S. It's great that your D has the flexibility and range of skills to consider both engineering and English literature. The Scripps-Harvey Mudd program sounds like a unique and wonderful opportunity for her.

[IJustDrive]

I'm surprised that the school is charging for the AMC. It's a VERY inexpensive contest. I believe that it's the top 5%, not 10% to qualify for AIME. For girls, AMC10/12 is also the qualifier for Math Prize for Girls, which is a great experience.

Math Prize for Girls - Official Site - Advantage Testing Foundation

[suzy100]

IJD, they are only charging $5.00, but I'm glad they are because otherwise I probably would not have known about it!

I'm now trying to find a one or two week on-campus summer course for D - probably in the humanities -that is affordable and not too far away. I'm looking at this not really with an eye toward college admissions, but with getting her a little independence. She needs to spread her wings a bit I think. I'm in the midwest, so if anyone has suggestions, I'm open to any and all.

[OHMomof2]

Denison has a well regarded 8 day writing workshop in Granville, Ohio: About the Program — Reynolds Writing Program

$1200 (residential) with financial assistance available.

[3girls3cats]

Suzy100, is she interested in languages? I've been eyeing the Concordia Language Villages immersion programs in Minnesota for some time, wondering if it would be a good experience for dd. University of Iowa also offers a writing workshop for high schoolers that's supposed to be good.

[suzy100]

Thanks guys! OHMomof2, I will definitely check that out. I've been on so many websites today (really really slow day at work) that my eyes are starting to glaze over.

3girls, I have looked at Concordia a little bit and will look some more - thank you for reminding me about it. She is very very interested in French. Have heard of Iowa program as well but need to look more closely. Thanks again!

[momsings]

^^^Hi Suzy!!!

We are going to a rock concert tonight--will be out late! I am cutting S some slack and have already emailed his Jazz teacher (6:00 AM start) and first period teacher to let them know he is coming to school late and will miss their classes. I can't see S making it through the week with only a few hours of sleep tonight (this boy really needs his sleep!--not one who can fake it). He has an extra dress rehearsal for his outside of school symphony, and then a Jazz performance Saturday morning and a big Symphony performance Saturday afternoon. Big week ahead!

[mihcal1]

Checking in after being gone for 2 weeks.

First visited D1 at Berkeley. She is doing great. Getting along with her roommate, making friends, loving her classes (mostly), and working her tail off.

After visiting D1, I flew to Israel to visit my aunt. I got re-routed around Sandy, so it took me 2 full days in transit for what should've been a 14 hour flight. Sympathy to everyone who is putting up with scheduling issues, power outages, gas lines, and other Sandy-related losses!

Welcome aboard eerboco!

I wouldn't fret too much about choice of majors. Our HS sophomores haven't even had a chance to experience most of the subjects they might study in college. Remember they're at an age one really good teacher or EC experience can turn them on to a whole new subject. And then they're likely to change majors in college anyway. Plus, doesn't the average worker change careers every seven years or so? Just think of all the jobs that didn't even exist when all of us old fogey parents were college-aged.

Believe it or not, GoAskDad is actually ahead of the game on college costs. It's shocking how many people don't even think about it until their kids are applying. It's an eye-opener to run the EFC estimators. Some folks don't realize the sticker shock until the post-acceptance FA packages arrive. (Check out the March and April posts in the HS 2012 and previous years' forums to see what I mean.) Certainly, that's why so many kids end up at their state schools. It can be sad when a kid has to give up a dreamed-of reach school because of $$. But if they go in with a good attitude, most kids will bloom where they're planted.

Good luck to the AMC'ers. Competition math is really different from math-class math. Tricky problems, and lots of number games.

Was it Maxwellequations whose D was getting her first-ever B? Count yourself lucky. Seriously! It's good to learn those lessons about keeping track of assignments and turning stuff in on time early in HS, when there's still lots of time to build good habits and when the teachers tend to be more forgiving. Many college profs won't accept late work, period. HS classes typically have lots more graded assignments than a college class, so more opportunities to bring up a disappointing grade. Also, some kids who get straight As in HS can really get thrown for a bender when they get to college and are suddenly not top-of-their-class-perfect-grades anymore.