<p>My daughter’s first exam is Tuesday. She spent twelve hours this weekend in teacher-led study groups. The rest of her waking hours (and some of the hours when she should have been sleeping) were spent with her APUSH book. They’re up to the Reagan era.</p>
<p>ILoveLA, that’s so depressing to me. My ds spent almost NO time studying this weekend. 
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<p>I hope others weigh in. I wonder whether this will break down gender lines.</p>
<p>Next week are APs for D. Really she has hardly studied for either of them. She has been inundated with papers, essays, tests and projects, both in AP and honors classes. She worked the entire weekend and never cracked open a review book.</p>
<p>On Friday she said she counted 3 separate instances of students crying in the halls (she had her breakdown on Thursday). I cannot imagine all this pressure is good for the kids.</p>
<p>Any of your kids taking SAT II Math?
Son should take it this June, but have not signed up yet.</p>
<p>Ah, QM. How sad. I guess there’s an upside to ds not stressing to schoolwork.</p>
<p>Ds took Math II in October. He had finished pre-cal the previous spring, but we didn’t know about SAT II’s back then.</p>
<p>sorry to hear about your school pressure cooker QM. D spent as much time as she could on APUSH this weekend. She also had a full day sports event yesterday. Kids (smart kids) from her school who took the USH SAT II said it was hard and they guessed on a lot. I don’t know how much prep they did but it isn’t making the kids feel confident in this one year and then gone teacher. She also has had projects and papers due in other classes. </p>
<p>On the bright side prom is friday! :)</p>
<p>S2 spent time studying AP Spanish (went better than he feared) and Lit this weekend. Calc AB teacher gave them an old exam last week and S did very well, so the teacher said he could direct his attentions elsewhere. Think he’ll still review a bit Tuesday night, but he seems to be in good shape.</p>
<p>Lit is the big question mark. The IB program recommends the kids take Lit junior year, but there has not even been a discussion in class as to format, much less content. Suggested to S that he review a couple of things he has read so he can dissect as needed for the open essay question. He took the SAT-II Lit on Saturday and thinks he did well, so we’ll just see how it all shakes out.</p>
<p>Next week is all Econ – IB and AP. IB Spanish is the following Monday (right after the prom).</p>
<p>S took SAT on Saturday and took off for the rest of that day. Sunday he spent on his linear algebra test. However, last week we attended two teacher led study groups for APUSH and will likely do more this week before the Friday test. Next week is Physics and English Language.</p>
<p>Question for the group. He mentioned to me that there’s not much study for English so he’s focusing on APUSH and Physics. Is this true? He has a teacher who’s supposed to be one of if not THE best English teacher in the HS, who has been an AP grader several times, etc. So I’m hard pressed to think she’d steer him wrong. Just curious if your kids are studying much/fretting about AP English Language?</p>
<p>D will probably take the June SAT Math II. I do not have hopes for high scores, but she does know the subject matter very well. She will also take World history.</p>
<p>FAP, my D said the same thing about English Lang. AP.</p>
<p>S will take June SAT II in Physics and US History, to pair up with his AP classes. This should be a wrap for SAT II then, since he bagged Math II what seems to be ages ago now, last June.</p>
<p>D will take Math2 and USH in June. Still haven’t decided on June ACT, deadline is Fri.</p>
<p>This is how much ds is worrying about English: He couldn’t remember which test he was taking, English Lit or Lang. Doh!</p>
<p>The only teacher I know of who’s done any outside study groups is the APUSH teacher.</p>
<p>In BC, the kids have taken a series of old tests. I happened to be at a party and ran into the BC Cal teacher, who said that ds fluctuates between a 5 and a 3 on the practice tests and that he can always tells by the score whether ds had a ballgame the night before. Yikes. Thankfully, the game cancelled by the swine flu won’t be rescheduled for a while.</p>
<p>No word on the other tests.</p>
<p>My DD is taking the AP Euro exam on Friday. Her school had last Friday off, but she spend all day prepping for both the AP and the SAT I. For better or worse, this is the only AP class her school offers, so it’s the only she is taking. I can’t imagine how anybody does three or four of these at once.</p>
<p>S2 only has AP Lang to worry about and its not til next week. No outside studying, and I think that’s fine. As far as I can tell, the structure of the course provides plenty of opportunity to learn about the test and requirements.</p>
<p>He’ll be taking Math II and Physics in June. Retook SAT last Saturday; no comments. I think he just takes all this testing in stride and lets the chips fall where they may. Next year may be a different story as he will have the opportunity to take 6 AP exams. His choice.</p>
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<p>I think that’s a bit of an overstatement. Of course, no Ivy League school gives merit aid (although HYP certainly make it very affordable) and many privates do not but there are quite a few that do. They don’t give it to the same extent that it’s given out in other parts of the country but here are a few off the top of my head that at least give some merit aid:</p>
<p>Smith
Boston College
Boston University
Northeastern
UMASS Amherst
Bard
Clark
Colgate
Brandeis
Hampshire
Tufts</p>
<p>Son didn’t study much, except for Friday for the SAT2s. He’s really cross with his English teacher who assigned a research paper on Ethan Frome due on Wed. When kids complained it was AP week he said it could be a rough draft, so spelling didn’t have to be perfect. S2 says his rough draft is going to be a lot rougher than bad spelling. S2 took SAT2 math and said lots of stuff on it that he’d never had in class. (He wasn’t in honors math last year, and missed a lot of topics.) Luckily the Matrix problem seemed to be easy - he was worried about that since he learned about them the night before the test. He’s got a big study sessions Wed afternoon into the evening for APUSH.</p>
<p>Saturday night we went out for BBQ and then to a rockl concert (Finnish metal) in Times Square.</p>
<p>pugmadkate, Brandeis is cutting way back on merit aid - their main response to losing so much donor money due to the Bernie Madoff scandal.</p>
<p>mathmom, I’ve heard that. In fact, I’m not sure we’ll keep Brandeis on the list. Or perhaps move it to the lottery catagory. What I find frustrating is that their financial aid information page does not reflect any change in policy. That’s unfair to future students and their families.</p>
<p>Marist offers merit aid - based on GPA and SAT scores.</p>
<p>Yeah, my D was also working on two papers that were due today. I hope they lay off mindless homework this week.</p>