<p>Ah good news BengalMom!! The CB is frustrating at times - but they also have a very challenging job - imagine managing all those bits of paper… It would be sort of like the IRS…</p>
<p>that’s great BengalMom, I was just in process of writing a reply to see what they charged you for the “service” There is a price different of $38 to register for additional tests in June and $22 to change the test date from May to June. Do you have his admissions ticket for the June test and are you sure you are set with that? I hope they resolve this soon so he’ll know if he needs to worry about Chem again or not!</p>
<p>BengalMom - good luck with getting that problem resolved - I’m sorry for the big mix-up. I’m sure it will work out in the end, but still frustrating while you’re going through it. Just be glad it’s now, and not next fall! ;)</p>
<p>Not sure whether you remember this, but back in December, my D’s name was reversed on her Admissions stuff for the ACT, and it got straightened out very quickly - but I worried until her score got posted. :)</p>
<p>Jackief - thanks for posting the information about that workshop you attended - very interesting. D’s school doesn’t offer anything like that - though I think a lot of it is common sense - at least for those of us who spend time on CC.</p>
<p>Welcome, OCmomof2. Good luck to you and your child. As far as whether that score is competitive for an athlete, I think it depends on which schools are being considered and how much they need/want the child for the team. The suggestion to look at the athletic admissions threads was a good one.</p>
<p>After DS had such a great awards night, I checked his SAT scores this morning. Ouch. 620 CR, 690 M, 600 W. I don’t think he’s ever done that poorly on the PSAT or any practice test! He said it didn’t go well, so I guess I won’t worry about it. He’s signed up for the June 6 test, but the counselor’s office said we can reschedule it since the state track championship is that day. </p>
<p>Highs and lows with these kids, huh?? I just need to breathe deeply now…</p>
<p>jackief – yes, he has the admission ticket for the 2 tests in June. It came in the mail, which is new – we have previously printed it from the registration online. I will be very happy when standardized tests are all behind him.
The workshop you attended sounds very interesting – I would love to attend something like that. I read The Gatekeepers a few months ago and found it fascinating, then tried to get H to read it, but no luck. :)</p>
<p>LIMOM – I wasn’t aware your D’s name had been reversed on the ACT. That must have been a bit harrowing until it was settled and you knew she would get her scores.</p>
<p>Ok, I have a question. DD took AP ENG and APUSH this year, and was all set to take the June 6 SAT II in Eng Lit and USHist. She was very confident because she had just taken the AP tests.
However, last night we realized that June 6th is the day of a big event, a parade that she is in and can’t get out of. The question I have is should I reschedule the SAT II for October? I am worried about her taking US Hist in October, so far away from when she took the class. I just don’t know what to do. Any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>Interesting comments about the name reversal issue with the ACT. It’s something that is bound to happen to my S at some point, since our last name is more commonly a first name and his first name can sometimes be a last name. To top it off, two of his closest friends have their first names the same as S’s last name.</p>
<p>emily516, If it were up to me, I go for the test. If it were up to my DD, she would go for the big event. </p>
<p>Let’s say your DD went to the big event and her SAT II next Oct were not perfect. There is no time for retake. If she has her heart set on some great program that requires SAT II and did not get in. I would like to think both of you would feel bad. </p>
<p>There is nothing that “you can not get out of”. The big even will go on with or without her. </p>
<p>Next year, she will need to concentrate on assays and all other pressing things with new classes. Finding time to review for two SAT II will be VERY challenging. </p>
<p>Our very smart DD took Bio one year after AP and got only 750. She got 800 on both physics and math II, right after Ap.</p>
<p>missemily, it would be cheaper to change the date ($22) than to just eat the test fee ($38) So you might as well change it now and then decide what to do in the fall. btw, she wouldn’t have to take the same two tests. also, if there is even the slightest possibility she would want to take a language with listening test, you could look into changing to the November date.</p>
<p>MissEmily: Around here they have a Sunday June 7 option, and I don’t think it’s too hard to qualify for them. Perhaps you could change to the Sunday date.</p>
<p>Well, we have a Cherry Festival and Parade and she is the Cherry. It has been her job all through hs to be the cherry in the parade and at the festival and she has received awards for best clown. This is VERY important to her and is something she looks forward to every year. So I would not want her to miss the parade for an SAT test. Also, I don’t think any of the schools on her list (except for her safety schools) even require SAT II’s. I know, I hate to make it for October/November because it will be a stressful time, but I don’t see a difference.
Jackief, no language test…dd took ASL as her foreign language (and they dobn’t have an SAT for that). But I agree, US Hist is not a necessary test. Maybe I will look through the websites of her schools to double check if any tests are necessary…and if not just have her take them in Oct/Nov. We also have an appt with the GC next week to discuss colleges and I can ask about it then.</p>
<p>BengalMom, glad to hear that the problem appears to be on its way to being resolved.</p>
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<p>LIMOM, the same thing happened to my D on her AP Euro test last year. Fortunately, we were able to clear it up with nothing worse than a delay in receiving her score.</p>
<p>So S looked at his SAT I (second time) results. He’s done. 2160. By college app time, he should still be somewhere in top 5 ranks (currently 3/518, WGPA 4.62.)</p>
<p>Highlights: He’ll now have paired 800s in SAT I math and SAT Subject Math 2 going forward. No surprises here. Still has subject tests in Physics and US History to finish out in June.</p>
<p>Also … no surprise that his scores are somewhat lopsided. Further, at his level, prepping (on his own) for both tests indicates a total score increase of around 40 points for 68% of test takers (per CB) and that’s exactly what he got.</p>
<p>Basically, he’s in the 25-75% range for all the schools currently on “the list,” with the math on the high side.</p>
<p>So, now the plan is to do everything else he can to make that CR/W score look like an outlier for him. He’ll get an excellent LOR from the AP Calc teacher and now added to that will be one coming from the AP English Lang/Lit teacher, who adores him. (I’m so glad that he’s the kind of kid that, up and down the HS, teachers and administrators are interested to see where he will land Fall of '10.) He’ll work his tush off over the summer on the essays. He’ll write a paper based on his summer research internship on climate modeling. </p>
<p>Since we’re in CA, I have to add that we’ll wait on pins and needles to see what kind of classes he can have next year, since the ballot props defeat are going to drive a huge budget hole in K-12 spending with a $5 billion cut (college as well.) What a nightmare. Our district may come forward with a parcel tax proposal in November, since voters seem to have more faith and understand local ballot issues.</p>
<p>MissEmily, I think your daughter should do the parade. How many kids can put something like that on their application ? Here’s a link to a profile of last year’s freshman class at Tufts. When you read it, you’ll see what kind of things make a kid stand out, beyond the numbers.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tufts.edu/home/feature/?p=matriculation2008&p2=2[/url]”>http://www.tufts.edu/home/feature/?p=matriculation2008&p2=2</a></p>
<p>The more I read, the more I wish my S was a senior THIS year!</p>
<p>Excerpts from CA School Boards Assn Newsletter</p>
<p>May Revision: ‘Devastating and horrible’</p>
<p>With the outcome of the election now known, the next steps will be to address the projected $21.3 billion shortfall Gov. Schwarzenegger has projected the state is facing. On May 14, he released a May Revision that addressed two scenarios, one if the ballot initiatives passed and one if they failed. The plan includes nearly $9 billion in cuts, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>$5.3 billion from Proposition 98 </li>
<li>$7.5 billion in borrowing, including $2 billion from cities and counties </li>
<li>$2.8 billion in revenue accelerations and fees </li>
</ul>
<p>In the words of Superintendent Jack O’Connell, the plans for education are “devastating and horrible.” Under the governor’s plan, school funding would be reduced by $1.4 billion in the school year ending June 30. This is in addition to the $2.4 billion in cuts to schools approved in February and means that districts would have to cut approximately $235 per student in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>“We have six weeks left in the school year, and our governor is proposing that schools find a way to cut up to $1.3 billion,” CSBA President Paula S. Campbell said. “This is an unfathomable request given the magnitude of cuts already made in the last several years.”</p>
<p>The proposal includes an additional $1.4 billion cut next year. This-once again-is in addition to cuts already approved for next year in February. The Legislature and governor, in enacting a state budget for 2009-10, already approved a $700 million cut to K-12 schools.</p>
<p>True, the governor’s new plan also gives more flexibility to schools by removing restrictions on contracting out and allowing the school year to be shortened by up to seven days beginning in 2009-10 for three years, and additional flexibility proposals are expected later this month. State officials have also stated that federal stimulus funds should backfill reductions to education funding, dampening the effects of these catastrophic cuts. However, after the governor’s proposed budget revision, stimulus funds will backfill less than half of the cuts schools have already taken and are proposed to take throughout the remainder of this fiscal year and next. </p>
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<p>ILoveLA, thank you…that was really special. Yes, I wouldn’t want her to miss the parade, but I think I might have figured out a solution. The SAT is being held in the next town over…only about 10 minutes away. I have to check the timing, but I think if I just have her take the US History test she can do so from 8-9am then leave, and be at the parade in plenty of time (Thinking back to last year I don’t think she has to be there until 9:30-9:45 because the parade doesn’t start until 10am.<br>
It would be a busy day - but that’s hardly abnormal.
She could then take the Eng test in October…</p>
<p>missemily,
What time is the cherry festival? The tests start quite early in the morning, and if she only took one, US History, she’d be done before 10 a.m., probably. The English Lit SAT 2 she can definitely postpone until October since it doesn’t match up with any course, but she’d likely have to put in quite a bit of refresher effort to take the US History exam in October.</p>
<p>Is it possible for her to take one SAT 2 and be the “cherry on top?” ;)</p>
<p>Great minds think alike!</p>
<p>FindAPlace – Those budget cuts are devastating! Where can it all end? My best friend is an elementary teacher in Sacramento and said many of them have received pink slips, but she said it doesn’t mean too much… yet. It’s just all horrifying.</p>
<p>FAP - </p>
<p>I’m with you - I wish my DD were out already. I think next year may be painful - but it will be only one year. I feel sorriest for those who are much earlier in their education process - e.g. 1st graders who will end up in classes with 30+ kids instead of 20 as we have now.</p>
<p>Here is one cut I’d support in a blink - CA standardized tests must cost a pretty penny to administer. Perhaps all schools who are in the top 50% could skip a year.</p>