<p>I don’t think the NM site lists the timing for taking the SAT - I seem to recall that information being on the finalist application. My daughter took the SAT in March of her junior year and that was within the timeframe for NM.</p>
<p>Re the bio sat 2 in Freshman year. My S self-studied for it, while taking a truly mediocre regular biology class, and got a 730. It was a great experience for him because he actually had to work really hard to do it and it taught him what he was capable of doing on his own.</p>
<p>I want to second what another poster said about GPA – if it is truly HIS goal to get into a super-selective college (I’m assuming that’s what this is all about), then he needs to understand that his job is to get the grades up.</p>
<p>Definitely do SAT’s junior year. My son took his in Dec and March of junior year and finished SAT II’s in May junior year. He’s a National Merit finalist, so no problem with those dates.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a></p>
<p>jollymom,</p>
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<p>I didn’t put any of the play and fun and living stuff out there, because none of that has a deadline that needs to be met. The roadmap is not for every aspect of his life; it’s simply to plan out, as best I can at this point, how to fit in some of the things that are necessary for college planning into his life without stuffing it all into one 12- or 16-month period.</p>
<p>This is CC; I’ll put the music, robotics, animation, and other activities on boards appropriate for music, robotics, animation, etc. (Actually, I won’t, because he does all that for himself!) Not to worry; the kid spends as little time on school as he possibly can!</p>
<p>sly_vt,</p>
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<p>Exactly. He’s been on a bunch of different campuses already, through his normal scope of activities: CTY summer programs, robotics competitions, a computer course for middle-schoolers at the flagship state uni campus, concerts, and so on. None of that was for college-scoping-out purposes; I think by being even a little mindful, I can let him explore more campuses just as casually.</p>
<p>And yes, he’s good at standardized tests. The only reason I’d suggest he take the SAT again is for the possibility of NMSF status, because if he gets to be a SF, that may open up some opportunities for merit aid. His scores are all 700 and above, so are within the ballpark of a lot of schools he might consider. (I know HE is interested in taking the SAT again, simply to better his scores.)</p>
<p>Bennie,</p>
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<p>He doesn’t want to think about college until he’s a junior. I think that’s actually a pretty good idea! When he gets to his junior year, I’d like him to be able to look at some of the deadlines and go, “Good! That’s already done!” and “Oh, I remember that school; nice campus!”</p>
<p>~~~~~</p>
<p>One of the things the science and tech coordinator has specifically told parents is that junior year is very stressful for these kids, that that is typically their hardest year scholastically. Add to that that that is when a lot of kids take the PSATs and SATs for the first time, and AP exams, and SAT IIs… well, I think it would be peachy if my son didn’t have some of these worries.</p>
<p>He’s taken the PSAT; he’s taken the SAT (that for CTY); he’ll have taken at least three APs. (If he takes an AP course in school, he’s required to take the AP exam in that subject. Believe me, it wasn’t <em>my</em> idea that he take two AP subjects next year; it was his! Compsci, I can understand, but US Government?! THAT surprised me!)</p>
<p>SAT II… well, I’ve read a LOT of posts about them here that strongly suggest taking the SAT II the spring of taking the class in that subject. Many people have said they think the best time to take SAT II is after taking pre-calc, so for my S, that will be next year. For Bio, that would mean this spring. I’ll wait to see what his teacher suggests, though.</p>
<p>What is the downside to taking an SAT II? If my S finds during the test that he is unprepared for it, he can cancel the score. That’s why it can be a good idea to take just one SAT II the first time one sits for these – if you cancel scores, you have to cancel all of them. If he’s taking just one test in that sitting, he’d lose just the one score.</p>
<p>Wow, I took so long to post that others posted while I was composing… (note to self: type faster!)</p>
<p>tokenadult, thanks very much for the link to the NM info; much appreciated!</p>
<p>3xboys, it’s posts such as yours that give me hope! My S’s honors bio class seems quite good and S is doing okay in it. (He’d be doing better if he turned in homework, but that’s true of all of his classes!) What did your S use to self-study?</p>
<p>dbwes, I doubt my S is willing to do what it takes grade-wise to get into a super selective college. MY goal is that he be prepared to go to college. WHERE he goes, and how selective the school is, is up to him! I can say that super-expensive schools with no merit aid are out of the question unless someone drops wads of cash into bank accounts to which I have access, which is, alas, unlikely.</p>
<p>Since he’s good at standardized tests, it seems a reasonable thing to have him take what are the usual complement of standardized tests: PSAT, SAT, SAT IIs, and APs. (The APs are required anyway of his school.) And not loading them all up into junior year is why I wanted to roadmap this out.</p>
<p>I think we bought every test-prep book on the market and he took all the practice tests contained therein. Towards the end, he was struggling with a couple of concepts (which needless to say had not been even mentioned in his actual biology class) and I found a recent college graduate with a degree in Biology to help him with those. I’m not sure this would work with your son, but mine was definitely motivated by the argument that if you can get your sat2s out of the way before your junior year, you’ll be making things easier on yourself. That said, we are very happy with all scores over 700 and I know that wouldn’t satisfy many CC kids and parents! As such, though he now has a year of honors chemistry and half a year in organic chemistry under his belt,he is not planning on taking the chem sat2 this spring. The truly surprising thing, for me, was the personal impact that experience had on him. He really did it ON HIS OWN and I think that felt great to him.</p>
<p>Thanks, 3xboys! Was there one book your S found most useful? From what I’ve read on the subject, the Kaplan book has worked well for those who’ve used it. I plan to buy him one book and let him borrow others from the library as needed/wanted.</p>
<p>He doesn’t remember one being standout. I think they all blurred together for him in the end…</p>
<p>owlice, sounds to me like your kid has a very defined self. It also sounds to me like you are a plannerina, (takes one to know one:)). Nothing wrong with having a high level plan. It’s like architecting a large software system. Architecture is a very good idea, even if the implementation varies, and even eventually requires some re-architecting.</p>
<p>If I were you, which, of course, I’m not, I would also be putting this high level architecture in place. But then I would be doing some agile programming (Google is your friend:)) to support your guy in diving deep into what he likes. If he thinks school is boring, fine, find him some top-notch coders who would be willing to take him as an intern. Or something like that. Have him enter the Microsoft competitions. Or the Google competitions. Luckily, the world of programmers is populated fairly largely by guys just like your son. So they set up the industry to support his preferences…</p>
<p>It’s always a dance between guiding your children and following them. Guide your boy to the stuff that doesn’t come naturally to him, working for grades, socializing - only because those things are critical to happy adult lives…Follow him to his Hungarian language books and see where it takes you both.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be too concerned about “loading up” on standardized tests junior year. Most kids who are looking at competitive colleges wind up with a bunch of standardized tests junior year. It’s not that oppressive, and the experience is shared. The only time when there’s a crunch is in May when APs and SAT IIs overlap, but that’s alleviated by the fact that there’s significant overlap between the tests, too, so it’s a GOOD thing to take them the same week.</p>
<p>Also, there is absolutely, positively no reason to take more than three SAT IIs unless you have blown one already (and even then, taking a fourth may not help that much, since the bad score still gets reported). And there are no circumstances in which anyone should take an SAT II after applying to college – they have no usefulness except as an application requirement at maybe 40-50 colleges (most of which only want to see two, not three).</p>
<p>owlice: I think your plans sounds fine if it has your son’s cooperation. He sounds like an extremely bright and every individual kid. Those SAT scores are excellent for eighth grade, but I’m sure you know that.</p>
<p>I would be realistic with him right now about schools. If he isn’t interested in working harder on actual school work, there are many colleges he will be able to attend, just not those usually associated with those test scores. I would show him the difference between the two types of schools and let him plot his own course.</p>
<p>My S did no sports. Tried to avoid them. Was not a problem in admissions at all. Latin and robotics are an attractive combination, and if he likes them, he should just go forth with those.</p>
<p>The national Latin test and the Medusa mythology exam provide opportunities for Latin awards. DS got six; one each for last three years in HS. Don’t know what impact they have, but they can’t hurt.</p>
<p>I would let him know the difference his grades are going to make and then let him decide where he wants to put his energy. He will find a way to succeed wherever he goes, and it doesn’t sound like he’s easily influenced anyway.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Alumother,</p>
<p>heh heh heh… me, as planneria!! I like it, I like it!! After spending days, nights, weekends reading here… having some sort of roadmap, or architecture as you so eloquently put it, struck me as a good idea since there are numerous things to keep track of.</p>
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<p>Microsoft is evil. I know this because my S tells me so. 
I have been trying to steer him, gently, toward some animation contests, but so far, not even a nibble. He wants to do what he wants to do, and creating animation for others is not on his radar.</p>
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<p>Very well phrased; thanks!</p>
<p>JHS, </p>
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<p>Yes, I get that now! I can’t edit my OP, alas; if I could, I would. I’ve made some changes based on feedback here, feedback for which I’m very grateful, but didn’t repost the roadmap because it’s long!</p>
<p>owlice, Just in case you aren’t already aware of this-a student can’t take the SAT and a subject test on the same day. So a little logistical planning is in order to fit in subject tests and SAT tests into the Spring of Jr year.
The Latin subject test is only offered if June and Dec, unless that has changed. As there are not too many students who do take that test[ I think there were only 7000 ly] I recommend he take it no later than Dec of his Jr year. That frees up the June test date in case he wants to take the SAT/or subject tests then.</p>
<p>mythmom,</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
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<p>Were you not in NY, I’d have guessed you’re one of his teachers! :-D</p>
<p>Tall child did well on the National Latin Exam last year, and I hope he takes it this year, too. He took to Latin like a duck to water; not that he especially likes it, but it’s been very easy for him. It’s getting a little harder now, in that he really needs to (but doesn’t) spend some time going over vocabulary words. He’s told me he wants to switch to Russian after Latin III. (What he really wants to take is German, but it’s not one of the six languages offered at his school.)</p>
<p>MPM, </p>
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<p>Thanks! A little logistical planning is exactly what I’m after here!</p>
<p>I don’t know whether S will take the Latin subject test. I was figuring a science, math, and history or English is what most colleges who like these want to see. The language tests assume multiple years of study in the subject, yes? Is three years enough? And is there a reason he should take the Latin test over, say, history? (I don’t know that subject tests even existed back in the Stone Age when I was in high school. I know I never heard of them until tall child was in middle school, so this is allll new territory for me!)</p>
<p>Yes, three years is enough, if he is a good student[ which it sounds like he is]. S took the Latin subject test [which does have a mean curve] but did very well on it [760], and that was a good enough score at many top colleges to fulfill their graduation language requirement. Taking Latin, as well as MathII, US History and English Lit also showed colleges that we was a very well rounded student. So despite what some posters here suggest, I recommend he take 4 subject tests, including Latin, because it will help him stand out.</p>
<p>Thanks, MPM! I’ll let him know and suggest he consider it. Congrats to your S for the 760; that’s great!</p>
<p>Owlice – Sorry if I misunderstood. There are so many paths to a satisfying college experience, and I am sure your son will find one. It sounds very much to me that you value and enjoy him for who he is. All the best to you!</p>
<p>My only concern is about Latin. Here, the fourth year of Latin is AP Latin. Is your son not interested in possibly getting college credit for Latin?</p>