<p>No plans for us, either. Just fondue for dinner followed by Yatzee and Pictionary. D <em>might</em> go see Marly & Me with friends. If so, that’s bad luck for S. His gf is with relatives tonight and his guy friends are away. So he’ll be stuck at home with us. </p>
<p>Happy new year, everyone. :)</p>
<p>We’re headed out to our farm which sounds like it would be relaxing, but it’s not, it’s a madhouse with the whole fam damily and all assorted friends, including somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 highschool and college kids.</p>
<p>I don’t mind my kids and their friends because I know how to control them, but I don’t know most of those other folks and it scares me to death to have to deal with them, not to mention trying to frrd the hoard.</p>
<p>But, itaks my husband’s family and we are committed year after year. It was fun when the kids were small, but now it’s chaos.</p>
<p>Wish me luck! And Happy New Year!!</p>
<p>Regarding writing scores on ACT - S got a 35 on the English portion of the writing test and an 8 on his essay - combined English/writing went all the way down to 31 (seems a little harsh). He obviously is very strong in grammar, but writing a great essay under a 30 minute time constraint definitely isn’t his strongpoint. The public university he wants to attend uses the the writing score as a “secondary factory” for admission. Hopefully his overall composite (33), his GPA 4.0 uw/ 4.3 weighted (1 in class of 200), and likely NMSF will be adequate to make up for an “8” writing score.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if you actually get the writing portion back when you get the scores in the mail so we can look over it and see where he could make improvements?</p>
<p>He will also be taking the SAT in January for national merit purposes (not for college admittance purposes) ~ any experience on how they score the writing portion relative to the ACT scoring?</p>
<p>mom2010grad, what is the mean act range for the state U? I would think 33 comp would be at the top of the range or over the top. I’m glad the writing doesn’t affect the composite, but your drop is even greater than my D’s. But with his other stats, I assume he has an excellent shot.</p>
<p>I am only guessing, but I don’t think you get a copy of the essay back by default with the scores. However if you order the Test Information Release [ACT</a> Score Information: Requesting a Copy of Your Test Questions and Answers](<a href=“ACT Test Scores | ACT Scoring | ACT”>ACT Test Scores | ACT Scoring | ACT) it says it includes the essay and the rubric. I am going to order it for my D as part of her prep for a retake.</p>
<p>happy New Year everyone! People who live where the weather is less than stellar, be safe with the icy roads and chilly winds!</p>
<p>jackief - I believe I did order the test questions so hopefully we will get the writing as well. We had already signed up for the February ACT before he took the December one so he’s going to take it again “just for the heck of it” (his choice - we were very happy with the 33). He needs 1 more point on 1 section to get a 34 composite. He didn’t finish the last 7 science questions (random bubbles) so it is definitely in the realm of possibilities if he can finish (he got 35 on science on a practice test and finished within the time allowed). </p>
<p>The school that he wants to go to is University of Minnesota (Carlson School of Management). The average ACT for the 2008 admitted class was 29 and top 7% of graduating class. I’m sure he will be fine (we are from out of state so probably not top priority for admittance ~ however our state does have reciprocity). My H got his undergraduate and MBA from U of Minn (which is also a secondary factor). S doesn’t have a ton of EC’s - band (pep, marching, jazz), drama techie (sound manager), HOBY and World Leadership Congress, and a moderate amount of volunteer hours (should be about 100 this year) at numerous organizations.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if we are doing him a disservice by not pursing some higher end schools. Of course he would love to go to Notre Dame, but we aren’t sure that paying $50k a year would provide a significantly higher benefit than going to U of Minn and paying $20k a year. We both graduated from Big Ten universities and had tons of opportunities (all over the US) when we graduated. We will not be eligible for any financial aid and will not take out any loans. If he could only convince his brother not to go to college he could go whereever he wants :).</p>
<p>D got her scores a little while ago! Sounds like she did similarly to your S, mom2010grad. Her C was a 33 with a 35E, 35M, 33S and 30R. Her essay was a 10, and her combined English/Writing score was a 32 - so quite a big drop there, right? I’m not that worried about it, but I just don’t get why a 10 essay would make her score go down by 3 points!</p>
<p>mom2010grad - D took the SAT in December and got an 11 on that essay - but that made her writing score go up, not down! (75 mc/11 essay = 790 W) And someone she knows got an 800 on the writing part and he only got a 10 on his essay (not sure what he got on the mc, but the 10 obviously didn’t make his score go down! So, while the essays seem to be graded similarly, the results seem to be a bit different.</p>
<p>Now that I got that out of the way, let me wish you all a Very Happy New Year! No big plans tonight - H and I are going out for dinner while the kids are out with friends.</p>
<p>DougBetsy - your evening sounds like fun. Too bad my H hates board games!</p>
<p>ag54 - have fun at your farm. Very cool that you have a farm, btw. Sorry about the coming chaos - but admit it - it’s probably a lot of fun.</p>
<p>glad you got your scores without too much delay LIMOM. How much did her percentile change between english and combined? Although my D’s did also drop, the %ile only went down one point from 33E=98%tile to 31combined=97%ile. Actually I just looked and 32 combined is still 99%tile. I am still looking for wisdom from people more knowledgeable on the act to say how much these writing and combined scores really mean.</p>
<p>mom2010grad- tokenadult is from MN, he can probably comment on your son and admission possibilities. If ND has merit scholarships, it might be worth an application also.</p>
<p>jaclkief - thanks, I am too. I was happy with her score, but naturally, she wants to retake. I knew she would. </p>
<p>Let us know if you find out if the combined writing/English score means much.</p>
<p>I’m taking bets for when the five teenaged boys in my S’s room will arise this morning. The distance between our DSL modem, the game box and the TV was just right with the long ethernet cable one of them bought.</p>
<p>The house was intact when we arrived back from our dinner party, save for the partially addled Labradoodle who exhausted herself a bit chasing the red dot from the laser pointer. She’s good as new this morning. Just a few scattered soda bottles and pizaa boxes littering the kitchen.</p>
<p>Hope everyone had a good new year, thought of you FAP when watching the parade/football game in Pasadena. Hope the boys got up eventually! :)</p>
<p>D got her driver’s license this morning. I told her if that was her resolution this year then she is all done! ha ha. </p>
<p>Back on the ACTs. One thing I think I will ask next opportunity is if colleges which don’t require the writing will just ignore the essay and combined score since it is so easily separable. Not that it matters much…</p>
<p>jackief - congrats to your new driver! Exciting news! </p>
<p>Good question for the colleges - but I’ve decided I’m not as concerned about the combined score as I was earlier. I checked, and it seems that it’s really hard to get above a 10 on the ACT essay. Colleges must know that, right?</p>
<p>Jackief:</p>
<p>Your D has one thing checked off her list with getting that driver’s license. My S faces that hurdle in Feburary (must have the learner’s permit for six months and meet other requirements before taking the road test.)</p>
<p>Yes, Pasadena was beautiful as usual for the Rose Parade and Bowl Game. We went to the parade one year with our son and his friend who has a Jan 1 birthday, so we made it into his special celebration. I’m unclear why people camp on the streets overnight to see it. We managed to find a decent place to walk to (parked in a friend’s driveway) near the end of the parade route) the morning of and didn’t feel we missed much of anything. It was kind of awe inspiring when the Stealth Bomber passed over on the parade route, just as it did at the start of the Bowl Game. </p>
<p>Fight on Trojans and the Pac 10, too. Five and O in bowl competition, pretty good.</p>
<p>not that I am a creeper (as the kids would say) but besides thinking of FAP during the Rose Bowl, I was also thinking of your D recently LIMOM.</p>
<p>She took the SAT and ACT in Deb and is taking the SAT again in Jan and you said she plans to retake the ACT. Is she going to focus on one test over the other or is she going to stay on the fence? Was just curious on if you have discussed longer term strategy, or take advantage of available test dates that come along. Don’t answer if you don’t want to, but it was running through my head :)</p>
<p>$59/month for the car insurance. $225 for the lifeguard course. $650 for the driver’s ed course. $$$ for a school trip to China in the spring. And she wonders why she was light on Christmas presents this year.</p>
<p>Congrats Jackief on the new driver… Just remember to warn your neighbors!!!</p>
<p>The Rose Parade sounds wonderful - I was watching the game yesterday on TV and said to my DS - I really want to go to the game and the parade someday. Is it possible to do both?</p>
<p>jackief - lol - we really don’t have a longer-term strategy to D’s test-taking. But this is what were planning (though it isn’t well-thought-out): scores from Dec. tests (2170 SAT/33 ACT). Retaking SAT in January - that was D’s initial reaction because she wasn’t at her best the day she took the SAT. Not sure whether that mattered as her math and writing scores were so good, but it’s important that she get that CR score up as well. ACT - D’s initial reaction is also to retake - but she won’t have time available until June, so depending on how she does on the SAT this month, maybe that won’t happen. I have time to decide before registering her. We’re really hoping she can skip the March through May SAT/ACT dates because there’s so much going on this spring. But if her Jan. SAT doesn’t improve the way she’s hoping, then she’ll most likely retake it one more time - but I’m not sure whether it will be in March or May. SAT IIs will be in June - US History and Math II, possibly physics, though she doesn’t need it as she’s already taken Bio and Chem and gotten pretty good scores on those exams. She’ll take a practice physics exam later in the spring and see how she does on it before deciding. We’ve heard there’s a great curve on the test, so it might be worthwhile. Hey - I guess we do have a longer-term strategy - I just didn’t realize it. We’ll still be going with both tests - though I think she has a better chance of improving on the ACT.</p>
<p>From what you’ve said, it sounds like your D plans to concentrate her efforts on the ACT - is that still the case?</p>
<p>thanks for the details, and sorry again if I was being intrusive. My D is def. concentrating on the ACT, she thinks she has much better chance for improvement there and (probably more importantly) she likes the test better than the SAT. Besides needing to take SAT IIs in June she doesn’t want to have to fit in at least one SAT I date.</p>
<p>Happy New Year everyone! We escaped over Christmas and came back to even more snow than when we left (we drove to the airport during a white-out). </p>
<p>S got his ACT scores yesterday, and we are very glad we didn’t have to wait until Feb. The wait for PSATs was bad enough. He did very well, much better than I <em>ever</em> thought he could do. 34! A huge surprise for all of us. (I screamed and cried when I saw them. Poor H couldn’t tell if it was good news or bad!) Big sigh of relief. He is taking the SAT in Jan., but I don’t think he will do nearly as well on that test – his PSAT was definitely above the cutoff for our state, but still not very high. (We have one of the lowest cut-offs – lucky D and S) :)</p>
<p>It’s been a good break – back to the grind on Monday!</p>
<p>BengalMom:</p>
<p>CONGRATS on the great scores!!!</p>
<p>Congrats, BengalMom!</p>
<p>If I’m the last parent on this thread to get his/her child’s PSAT score, I want an award.</p>