<p>GA2012MOM, great!</p>
<p>jackief, thanks for that info! Interesting that the mean on the SAT II Latin test is higher for students who took it after three years of study than for those who took it after four. </p>
<p>In any case, S may not continue with it beyond this year, so if he’s going to take it at all, this spring is when he should do so. Congrats to your D for her good score! How did she prep for the test?</p>
<p>owlice:</p>
<p>My S did three years of Honors Latin. He did not take the SATII but he placed out of the foreign language requirement based on placement test modeled on the SATII. At his school, a student can place out by scoring 600+. I have no idea how much over 600 he scored. He had done well in Latin on the National Latin Exam, fwiw. But for the purposes of submitting SATII scores, one in the 600 might not look very impressive.</p>
<p>ok, I’ve reread the thread again now :)</p>
<p>My D was originally planning to take the Latin SAT last June after completing Latin III at school. Like your son, both my daughters have a real knack for Latin, getting A+s with minimal effort, when the average class grade is nowhere close to that… So she thought it would be a good test to take, and since I’ve seen that after 3 years of a language is a common time to take it, she was going to take it June of soph year to get it out of the way.</p>
<p>We bought the college board book that has one full practice test for each SAT II subject. This is a good book to get since he will be taking others also. She didn’t have tons of time before June to prep but she took the practice test in this book (timed) and scored very poorly, in the 500’s. She realized her weak area was vocabulary as the teacher in school lets them use their books during tests to look up vocab. So she slept in that morning and did not take the test.</p>
<p>She bought the following book and studied vocab over the summer and fall.
[Amazon.com:</a> Basic Latin Vocabulary: J. Wilson: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Latin-Vocabulary-J-Wilson/dp/1853995053/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230394293&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Latin-Vocabulary-J-Wilson/dp/1853995053/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230394293&sr=8-1)</p>
<p>she also got the only latin SAT prep book out there
[Amazon.com:</a> SAT Subject Test: Latin (REA) - The Best Test Prep for (Test Preps): Ronald B. Palma, D. Thomas Benediktson: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/SAT-Subject-Test-Latin-Preps/dp/0738600903/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230394333&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/SAT-Subject-Test-Latin-Preps/dp/0738600903/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230394333&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>she only did one of the practice tests in there, she mostly concentrated on vocab. Her grammar was solid. She is in Latin Lit this year so has had some of the scansion and other related topics this year, besides a small covering previously.</p>
<p>She ended up with a 720 which she is very happy with. She will be taking two Latin AP tests over the next two years, so she won’t need the SAT for college placement, but as one of her 2 or 3 subject tests. </p>
<p>Hope that helps. I guess other than the details on her specific preparation, what I can say is that although a kid might do well in a school class, if it doesn’t mirror the test it is still good to do at least the CB practice test as a checkpoint. As as was mentioned earlier in this thread, this test is only given Dec/June so when you say he will take the tests in the spring, you mean June 
Good luck!</p>
<p>marite, thanks for the info, but I’m confused by it. I’m having trouble reconciling the following two statements: </p>
<p>“At his school, a student can place out by scoring 600+.” </p>
<p>“But for the purposes of submitting SATII scores, one in the 600 might not look very impressive.”</p>
<p>If a student can place out with a score of over 600, why wouldn’t a score in the 600s look impressive? It’d be good enough – I’m not expecting perfection in every, or even any, test! He’ll likely have three other SAT IIs scores in addition to Latin (English, math, physics). He may not get to the AP Latin test at all.</p>
<p>jackief, thanks! Very helpful info. And yes, I mean June! :)</p>
<p>I would encourage you to relax a bit. You obviously have a gifted son, but once he gets his wings under him in high school you might be surprised to find that he soars in his own direction. Please encourage this, no matter where his flight takes him. Colleges see tons of kids with terrific math and science scores. The way your son will differentiate himself will be through writing about his passion(s) in his college essays - and this is something you can’t plan for him.
Secondly, I agree with other posters about his senior year. This should be a time to enjoy life - no more standardized tests! He should have all that well behind him by then. While he will still be taking academically rigorous classes, he should by then be focusing attention on his non-scholastic endeavors, whatever they are.
Essays should be all but completed the summer before his senior year. I recommend taping the prompts on his bedroom walls with a pencil nearby so he can jot down a word or phrase here and there as he gets his thoughts together. After a few weeks, it will be time to take the prompts down and start writing. He must do his own writing (but you know this).
Good luck! Finally - I would highly recommend that you and your son get organized with Tracademic Solutions’ college comparison and application charts - you can click here to find it: [College</a> planning, college search, college application](<a href=“http://www.tracademic.com%5DCollege”>http://www.tracademic.com) . They made my son’s junior and senior years soooo much easier - and saved me a ton of money on college advisors!</p>
<p>).</p>
<p>owlice, what marite probably meant is that although a score in the 600’s is acceptable for placement, it may not be that great for admissions. however since your son will have plenty of sat II scores from which to draw, I don’t think it is a problem if he scores in the 600’s on Latin and other scores are more in range with the admissions data for the specific colleges.</p>
<p>As for why kids do better after 3 than after 4 years, it is a different sample set and the numbers aren’t that big anyway. Also Latin IV may be an AP class, where the curriculum is focused on specific text translations and they may be forgetting grammar etc. Similar to taking math when you are done with calc BC, not the best idea, better to test when you are done with the covered material.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>jackief, thanks! Yes, Latin IV here is an AP Latin class, and S may choose to forgo it in favor of another language. And the SAT II would be for placing out, should he want to do that. I’m all for his having a lot of options from which to choose!</p>
<p>owlice, be sure that the colleges he is applying to accept SAT tests for placement credit. Some may only give placement credit for AP test scores of 3 or 4 and up. If so he may want to to take AP Latin. Son [who also took to Latin like a fish] scored 750 after 3 years of Latin and a 4 on The AP Vergil test after taking AP Latin the following year.</p>
<p>MPM, thanks! Spawn has talked about switching languages after this year, and if he decides to do so, he will not be taking AP Latin at all. That’s why I’ve suggested to him that he take the Latin SAT II – that may give him options down the road, and he won’t be able to take any other language standardized test if he switches simply because he wouldn’t have taken enough of something else.</p>
<p>HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!</p>
<p>Oh, was this thread fun to reread! What a difference a few months make, and oh, how fruitless all that lovely planning I did was!!!</p>
<p>HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!</p>
<p>:: wipes tears of laughter from eyes ::</p>
<p>^^wait! what happened? aren’t you going to tell us?</p>
<p>You can’t leave us hanging like that !!!</p>
<p>Oh! Sorry, sorry!! Had put this out there on the “Class of 2011/2015” thread already. </p>
<p>Yeah, after spawn told me he didn’t want to even <em>think</em> about colleges until his junior year, he was accepted to Simon’s Rock. Who needs a junior or senior year in high school when there’s a college out there for you now?!</p>
<p>I was searching CC to see who it is I need to thank for tipping me off about getting an earlier PSAT score activated for a kid who goes off to college early (tokenadult, I thought it was, but I may be wrong about that – still haven’t found the post), and came across this thread. Made me laugh!! </p>
<p>Good thing I wasn’t tied to my plan!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!</p>
<p>I second that!
Sounds like a very heavy academic load. He needs some fun, too… good for the emotional and mental well-being. It won’t help if he’s burned out before he graduates from high school.</p>