Thank you all so much for your insightful comments.
You are in NY? There are many SUNY options.
Do not force her to take that February test. What is the point?
If you and dad are at cross purposes, perhaps some counseling for you two might be helpful.
Creating unnecessary stress is not ever good.
Both my D17 and S19 say junior year is the worst, with the most pressure.
My S19 didn’t even think about the ACT until after Christmas last year, started ACT tutoring this past January, took his first official test in February, and continued with the tutoring until the April test date. We were all happy with that April score, and then he had to switch to AP test prep and finals mode. The boy was exhausted. He thought about taking the ACT again in June but didn’t have it in him to refocus. Some of his friends were still taking the test up until October I think.
Give her time.
My S17 got into a SUNY with a 27 ACT and even got into the honors program at his school.
It doesn’t matter if it’s already paid for. She doesn’t HAVE to take it that day.
Many schools,including top schools, are test -optional or don’t emphasize tests in admissions. With her grades and EC’s your daughter should have many options.
http://fairtest.org/university/optional
Please look carefully at this list and consider the possibility that she does not have to submit test scores to get into a good school.
Only caveat: for merit aid, often test scores are needed. For financial aid, they are not.
Both of my kids were terrible test-takers, never got scores that even remotely reflected their abilities. Multiple sittings and prep classes just made the situation worse. So we went seeking test-optional schools and found that there are PLENTY of them. So don’t agonize, some students simply will never test well and that’s OK. More and more schools are recognizing that SAT and ACT scores only tell them one thing about the students–how well they perform on standardized tests.
My younger dd is a senior hi HS now and just submitted the Common App to 6 schools, all but one of them test-optional. Go looking, you will find them.
The score may or may not improve with further test prep. What certainly won’t improve, though, is your relationship with your daughter if you force this upon her. She will be the one to deal with the consequences of her score (which is fine for most schools). The potential damage to your relationship will be felt by all of you.
So let him disengage (if he really will), You and your D can do it. It might be best.
“He wanted her to do one to two hours of practice at home every day as well.”
Oh for God’s sake ! No wonder your junior is rebelling!
1-2 hrs A DAY is TOTALLY unnecessary! It WON’T help her increase her score one darn point .
Tell your hubby to not only back off, but BUTT out. He has managed to turn a stressful time for your DD into a full blown family war. And it wont help her do better on any important test .
There is PLENTY of time for her to take the actually test in April.
sheesh…
To his credit. He only wants to make sure she has lots of options when it comes time to apply to college. We were hoping for Somewhere like Cornell, Binghamton or Stonybrook. Those are really competitive. The more practice increases her chances of getting into the 33-34 range.
The problem is that she is spending a lot of time on her phone and laptop rather than focusing on her work. She seems to be doing it in a very spiteful way too. I understand about junior year schedule being heavy but that’s why we let her drop a few ECs so it would be less stressful and give her more time to concentrate on school work and test prep.
There are lots of kids doing the same and managing just fine. We tried taking off the wifi but she acted like an addict going through withdrawal. She was awfully nasty. She seems really angry and I try to talk to her and she doesn’t want to talk to me. It is like a war zone here. She deliberately ignores everything I say. She has been a high performing student and we just don’t want to see all these years of hard work go to waste come college acceptance time.
I’d get her a private college counselor. She isn’t going to listen to a word you or your husband say about college admissions, but she would probably open up to a neutral party.
@holychild I’m going through a similar situation with 11th grade DD. I have 5 children and they all seem to manage stress in different ways. She wants to start visiting the most selective colleges in the country buy is utterly unfocused on her approach to the ACT. Or if she does take a practice test, she refuses to take it at a testing center, she says it’s a waste of money to pay a proctor but yells at anyone if they are noisy in our house during the 3.5 hours of her mock test. She is sitting for the test on December 8. I think she should wait but she needs to make her own decisions on the timing. Hey at least I know she won’t be bitchy towards any of us that day for making too much noise while she takes a mock test in the middle of the house.
Is she at all interested in these colleges? Maybe she would prefer SUNY Buffalo, or Potsdam. Maybe she has no interest in Cornell. Maybe she isn’t into competitive.
Maybe she would be just fine if you Parents weren’t being quite so assertive in your choices!
You know…there are plenty of excellent test optional colleges and plenty of great colleges where her current practice test scores would be just fine for acceptance.
Do you plan to choose her Major also?
Really…I would jettison that February test. Two hours of test prep daily is too much…unless maybe you are prepping for the bar exam or MCAT or something. But the ACT? No.
In addition…what courses is she taking? Taking the ACT closer to the end of her junior year would mean completion of courses that could help her on this exam.
I agree with a prep course starting about 6 weeks before the actual test…in APRIL.
27 to 34 is quite a leap for ACT. 31 or 32 is more likely even with intense prep…and are p3rfectky fine results. Look at the actual ACT curve - there’s not a huge difference between 32 and 34. Personally, I don’t think giving up ECs to focus on ACT prep is the correct approach given how many colleges have holistic admissions and more are going test-optional. Honestly, I think you are focusing too much on what is just one part of her application and I’d be worrying about burnout from uour description of what’s going on. I trust you’ve looked at common data set info for the colleges you mentioned. Her life is not going to end, and all her hard work is not going to go to waste, for a few points difference on ACT. Really.
She’s what, 16? She also needs some time in the day to do nothing other than just be a teenager.
"that’s why we let her drop a few ECs so it would be less stressful and give her more time to concentrate on school work and test prep. "
so let me get this straight- you “decrease” the pressure by allowing her to drop a few EC’s , but INCREASE the pressure by telling her that she is “expected” to do test prep for 2 hrs a day?? so that she can apply to colleges that YOU have selected?
How is this not increasing the pressure on her overall?
Mom, this strategy is obviously backfiring on both you and your hubby.
It’s time to let HER be the one in the drivers seat regarding what colleges to apply to.
BUT, you should FIRST have the $$ talk with her and let her know your families financial limitations [ if any] rare regarding what you can and can’t afford to send her for college. Then let HER start doing research- which means finding a safety college or colleges that you CAN afford AND where she has an excellent chance of acceptance.
That should be priority one.
Only then should she add “dream colleges” - those that are highly selective or accept more than a few students with an 27-28 ACT test score to her list.
College lists should be built from the bottom up- not from the top down.
Dont wait until acceptances [ or the lack of them] come in before figuring out that she should have applied to different colleges.
If she asks for it, help her find colleges where she has an excellant chance of acceptance AND which you can afford!
we can help her do that.
Honestly, you can game these tests and then she could go to a college that is out of her academic range and she will break. I have seen it. You are in a war because you’ve gone to battle with her. You “let her drop some ECs”?. She’s almost an adult and has a right to choose what she volunteers to do - at the very least give her that. Her job right now is to go to high school. Test prep? ECs? Those are choices, not requirements. College is a choice and it needs to be her choice unless you plan to go for her and write her papers and take her tests. Where she goes to college is about her, not you.
There are so many for SUNYs where a 28 would not only be sufficient but get her into Honors college 
And she’d likely get a 28 just by attending school and completing her classes.
Cornell may be your dream but not hers.
Plus…look at Ithaca, Syracuse, Hobart and William Smith, St Lawrence, Skidmore, St Bonaventure, Siena, Fordham… Lots of colleges to visit.
Cornell has the contract colleges - CALS or IRL are awesome bargains for NYS residents and easier to get into., If
In short, no need to stress. She’s doing fine right now. She’ll have plenty of time in the spring.
Maybe it isn’t defiance, but fear - fear of failure; fear of disappointing her parents. I wouldn’t be surprised if she feels that she will never be able to reach a 33 or 34 no matter how hard she tries. (And she could very well be right. That is a big jump!) The easiest way to avoid losing is to refuse to play the game, right? If she doesn’t work on test prep, then it won’t seem like she failed since she didn’t even try. If you and your husband can lower your expectations and reduce the pressure, she might come around to the test prep on her own. Even if she doesn’t, maybe she can start to identify some colleges she likes that work for her stats.