<p>CountingDown - I really think that’s the best way to go. I hope he does well so he won’t have to worry about which other test to take.</p>
<p>Momof3sons: yeah, she knows she’ll need 3 for Princeton. Still need to have the final conversation about scheduling those tests. Don’t know which one she’ll pick for her third.</p>
<p>RobD, she’s got a number of testing dates in the fall since Princeton no longer has any form of early decision. :)</p>
<p>Anybody else think all this testing is nuts? At least here in CA, in the month of May, my DD will have a week of CA state testing, another week of AP testing (3 classes) and SATs/ACTs.</p>
<p>I don’t mind the testing in HS so much. It’s the lower grades’ testing that really annoys me!</p>
<p>OK, have a huge dilemma. D is at a magnet IB program. She has started hating it. I mean, really hating it. It seems she has not slept since just before Thanksgiving, and it is getting more intense. She is talking about leaving the program and going to her home school, which is pretty average. She is Incredibly Bright, but not really driven by the work Has always received good grades and has a 3.8 uw gpa because she likes to do everything well. I don’t know what to tell her. On one hand, it seems like she is capable of doing the work. On the other hand, she does not thrive on the stress of juggling so many big projects for the IB diploma. She still does them well, because she is not a slacker, but I don’t want her to be miserable. She could take AP classes at the other school, and practically breeze through with room to breathe, but I am afraid of the message it will send her about quitting when things get rough. But, her arguments make sense. She says she can get continue good grades, but at what cost. She is not enjoying it. Some of her friends seem to thrive on the pressure and it energizes them. She is not. She says what she is going through is “not healthy”. I am waiting for a call back to set up a meeting with the GC to see what the school has to say. I would just love to have some input from other parents who see high achievement as being very important, but may have good perspective on whether it is worth the price she is paying.</p>
<p>SCUALUM:</p>
<p>Yes, the month of May is test mania in CA for juniors!. This reminds me to try and do more little things for S to relieve any pressure. Quite frankly, at our HS, the kids in the AP classes don’t sweat the state’s standardized tests that come in May, since they are well aware that it doesn’t do anything for their future college plans.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean they skip tests. But the HS finally decided they had to incentivize that test taking somehow and so they have things like planned parties if the test score for the class go up by a certain amount of points. I’m just never clear whether the top performers (typically the kids taking AP classes) has more impact than the more typical student performing better. There are certainly more of the latter.</p>
<p>WP, I answered you on the other thread. Ugh, that’s a hard one.</p>
<p>Glad we don’t have to deal with the state tests in private school.</p>
<p>WhirledPeas- that is tough. I don’t have much advice to give you as you figure out the best course for your D. It would be great if she could get through the year, but I don’t know if next year’s IB program will be much more intense than this year. I look forward to seeing what others advise. The counselors at our school say stress it is the biggest issue the kids come to them with.</p>
<p>I was finally able to catch up in the 09 thread and now I know why their post count is so high (proms, baby weights!, fitting into their old wedding dresses, AP test fees) and to make matters worse, accusing US of padding! Ha! So how much did your kids weigh at birth? jk, we won’t stoop to that.</p>
<p>But on proms, D1 hasn’t attended yet but will probably go stag this year. Not looking forward to the $$ needed for a dress. D2 has a “boyfriend” but I have already told her that the prom is not in the cards for her this year. “boyfriend” is a sophomore, so could invite her (frosh) to make her “prom-eligible” Small school, only one prom, don’t think D1 needs annoying sister there plus there are many more years ahead of her. Would have let D1 go as a soph last year with a date, but didn’t see a compelling reason to go stag as some of her friends did. Again, many more opportunities and no reason to shell out $$</p>
<p>See how I was good and did all this in one post, no padding for me (this time) 09ers- all my comments are in fun, no hard feelings, and congrats on the recent good news!</p>
<p>Haha jackief. I had been wondering the same thing about the '09 thread!</p>
<p>DS was 9 lbs 3 ounces… DD was 8 14… I honor my wife every time I think of that!!!</p>
<p>I wondered what propelled the '09 post count so!</p>
<p>For the record, my kids were 7 14 and 7 15. I’m nothing if not consistent.</p>
<p>D1 was 6lb 9oz, D2 6lb 11 oz. Like YDS, I figured I must have a mold – when the kids were done they came out. (D1 peed before they weighed her…that accounts for the 2 oz difference.)</p>
<p>mrsref, that’s so funny! My ob/gyn said about my second: “Seven pounds, 15 ounces! He would have toppped 8 pounds if he hadn’t ***** on me on the way out!” :D</p>
<p>mrsef- lol on your typo. At least that shows you have college related stuff on the brain!</p>
<p>I think D1 was 8 even and D2 was a bit over, maybe 8,3 Am I bad that I don’t remember? Both pregnancies and deliveries were easy as pie…</p>
<p>We are now $344 poorer having paid for this year’s batch of AP tests. I’m wondering why the Physics C exam can’t be handled like the Calculus BC exam, in one test, one fee. Oh well, we’d better get used to higher costs for the math/science guy and start scouting out those used text resources before he hits college.</p>
<p>DS weighed 5.5 lbs at birth. He was born three weeks early and I joked that he showed his brightness early in two ways because:<br>
- At that point, I was tired of being pregnant, looking at the women in their nice spring clothes or playing tennis and I wanted to be there. Guess he heard my thoughts telepathically; and
- The birthing hospital we were going to use was Good Samaritan, near downtown LA. It’s a good hospital but not the place one would want to be during the LA riots. Had he been born on the predicted date, it would have been the day of the riots. As it was, it wasn’t the most comforting feeling the day of the riots, holding a newborn in his blanket and looking from our hills at the various fires, waiting for DH to return home from USC.</p>
<p>^ EEK!!! I forgot to give D a check for the AP’s today.</p>
<p>I should also add that D1 was seven days late, D2 was nine days late. D1’s lateness pushed her past the cut-off date to enter kindergarten. Same kid, if she had been born on her due date she would not have been magically more ready to enter school. And he was shy, but as we said that was her personality not her age. We were talking days here. So we did private K, and that teacher who usually advocates holding borderline kids back because of sports (that’s a whole nother topic) thought that in D’s case we should attempt to get her into first grade “early.” Push back from school, they were overcrowded and did not want another kid. We finally prevailed. She would have been either one of the oldest, or one of the youngest, no middle ground, and what happened was right for her. D2 is also nearer the young end of her grade, but not so close to the cutoff.</p>
<p>And that, jackief, is what has landed you with the class of '10, right where you belong!</p>
<p>:D thanks YDS!</p>
<p>We haven’t been billed for APs yet, but no inflated costs as some of the 09ers are reporting.</p>