<p>mamom- do we have the same child?</p>
<p>Wel…drumroll please…
our student - who found Sparknotes online about 2 weeks ago…actually spent about 2 hrs online with that and the CollegeBoard prep questions…</p>
<p>Teachers must have exams and grades done this week
–so report cards should be late next week–
Transcripts wont be available for a week or so after that…at which point we should have the SAT2 scores from this Sat (yes?)</p>
<p>Hope Lucky Boy is feeling better…but if not, kinda hoping it is mono. Friend of songbird’s had it this spring, and had a lot of exhaustion. I’m thinking (unless he is hugely booked for summer), that Jun/Jul would be a better time to get extra rest than Mar/April, no?</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Cooker, I know what you mean about watching the merit scholarships fly out the window. I’ve been going through that with S1 this semester, too. There is a small chance he may still get the 3.8 unweighted core GPA that he needs for full tuition at Purdue. It is all riding on the unyet posted online Latin grade. For him to get an A in the class would take pity and mercy on the part of the teacher. We’ll see… Should know in the next couple days. Then he “just” has to take the ACT next Saturday and get the same or better score as he did last year, this time With Writing (too bad he didn’t take with writing as a sophomore). Crossing my fingers and toes.</p>
<p>I am really trying to not get upset that my D has barely studied for her second go at the SAT. I keep reminding myself that it is her life and she is the one who will have to live with the consequences . Taking deep breaths!!!</p>
<p>I hope LuckyBoy turns out to be OK - so sad to start the summer sick. :(</p>
<p>My son has no motivation to study - APs are done and he just doesn’t care about AP Chem anymore. He needs a good score on the final to bring up the grade… He has thrown up his hands since the teacher has a bad reputation for not liking MUN students so he’s not trying…ugh…of course how does that help her perception of MUN students? </p>
<p>His SAT scores were about what we figured they’d be without any practice. They are lower than I’d like but high enough to get into the schools he’s most interested in and schools we can afford. We are debating having him study through the summer to improve the scores in an attempt to qualify for some FA at some of the schools - motivating him lately has been a lost cause.</p>
<p>It is almost midnight in Minnesota and I just caught a look of total relief on S2’s face as he was finally heading off to bed. He finally finished 2 huge papers due for his AP classes. Finals are Thurs and Friday, SAT subject test on Saturday and then ACT the following Saturday. He wanted to do all of this, but way back when I asked him I just don’t think he realized how much work was involved. I feel like a horrible mom for agreeing to this madness.</p>
<p>At our high school it is junior year that seems to be the toughest. I have a son who graduated HS last Friday and sr. year seemed like a cake walk to him.</p>
<p>So I finally got to see it. A little gaudy for my taste, stone has a shramrock engraved on it, there is a football and his astrological sign on the side along with his first name and the initials of his high school. He must have run out of room or I am sure he would have added a few more things. I remember years and years ago when I got my ring (two choices girls or boys) and couldn’t wait to show it off. S’s ring is sitting up in his room in the box it came in. When I asked him why he wasn’t wearing it, he told me no one “wears” the ring, like I was some kind of alien. So exactly why did I spend all that money?</p>
<p>I guess I don’t have to worry about him losing it. oh wait, it is in his room, the one that gets cleaned a couple times a year, we will have to be carefull not to throw it out when we go in there with the shovel.</p>
<p>He also got notification on when he is scheduled to have his class picture taken for the yearbook. Suit coat and tie mandatory for yearbook picture. No cost for sitting unless he wants to change clothes (up to six outfits! like that would happen with my son) and try different poses. There was no listing of what the actual pictures will cost if we choose to buy any. My neices and nephews at different schools have spent fortunes on these pictures. I don’t expect S will want any to hand out to his friends so we will save a little money there.</p>
<p>S has decided not to take the SAT this sat and apart from the lost $$ I’m kind of happy about it. He had 2 papers and a project due this week so has had zero time to study and he is beyond exhausted. He has pretty good scores already, just was hoping to get math up there. It’s his gpa that is the issue. He may take them in the fall and I think he’s going to take a second SAT2 as well. But, I told him fall gpa is crucial. Two questions- do they factor fall gpa into your total gpa? Does it look bad to take the SAT only once if you don’t have all top scores? They are good enough for most merit cut offs, but Math could be higher. Why don’t they offer the SAT over the summer or even Sept. when there is more time to study. Oct is a little late if you are prepping over the summer.</p>
<p>^sounds like you made a good call about postponing the SAT.
He should probably take it in October, though, if you feel the scores are low. Just to show effort anyway.</p>
<p>I have read that if GPA is an issue, and if it looks like you can pull it up a little in the fall then to do regular apps instead of EA or ED, so that the colleges see the highest GPA possible that includes the fall semester. </p>
<p>I don’t blame your S for not taking the SAT. Sometimes you just have to know your limits.</p>
<p>Junior year is the pits. Too much standardized testing (State, AP, SAT’s and/or ACT’s) plus harder classes and often more intense EC’s. Not to mention drivers license’s, prom’s, etc. etc. I will be very glad when this year is over.</p>
<p>Regarding lower grades and the timing of applications, personally I would rather have son take his chances with his grades and apply EA if possible then count on them going up and applying after the first quarter. I really want them out of the way ASAP. I guess you could split them up if you REALLY think the grades will go up and apply to certain schools later but I don’t think I want to take that chance. </p>
<p>My youngest was adamantly opposed to a class ring. Since the kids only seem to wear it into the first year of College anyway, I didn’t push it. I do wish I had gotten an Eagle Scout ring for my oldest son as I think that’s one he would still wear even after college graduation.</p>
<p>And because I expressed my disappointment with what I feel have been poor choices on D’s part (i.e. spending time at stage crew instead of working on algebra, which may result in a C in that class leading to the flight of merit scholarships) I am being unreasonable. Because it’s not the time spent at crew that’s leading to potential grade issues. It’s … just the classes. Yeah, even if she had spent the time studying (and sleeping) it wouldn’t have improved her grades. Right. Love having two children not speaking to me (see S’s grade situation on the 2013 thread…). This too shall pass. I think the single mom thing is not helping my guilt/inadequacy, etc.</p>
<p>ldinct, there is too much pressure junior year and relieving some of it is a good idea. </p>
<p>I’m just joining this thread – I have a daughter ShawD in the HS class of 2011. We have postponed her test-taking until next fall. The postponement began because we were negotiating with the folks at the ACT to give her accommodations for ADHD. The College Board had done this for the SATs, but I thought the ACTs would be much better for ShawD than the SATs because there are no trick questions. She took practice tests and strongly agreed. By the time that the ACT granted the accommodations, she wouldn’t really have had time to study for the science section. So, we said, study over the summer and take it in September and October if needed.</p>
<p>ShawSon just finished his freshman year very successfully. He’s a kid with severe LD’s and had sleep apnea. He was just too tired to achieve excellent grades (no B’s in HS for final course grades if I recall correctly). So, I just told him that life was not a race and just to finish school. we had actually thought of having him complete HS in five years, but he finished in four. He took a gap year in part to have surgery for sleep apnea (100% success) and finish a novel (still unfinished) that had gotten interest from a couple of publishers and agents. So, he didn’t take the SATs and ACTs until his gap year. He’d taken two SAT II’s and needed only one more. He sat done for three weeks and studied for the SATs by taking practice exams, scoring them, and looking to see what he did wrong. His normal tutor just monitored this. We hired a specialist for 1/2 a day to explain the grammar and writing requirements (and tricks on the grammar) for the writing part. He studied for 3 days for math and said, I’ll get an 800 on this part. I’m going to work on the other two parts. After a week, he said “I’ll get between a 700 and an 800 on the reasoning, depending upon how tired I am” and then at the end of three weeks said he’d get in the same range on the writing, but that an 800 would be very tough because as a dyslexic, some of the grammar questions were likely to trip him up. He got 800, 760, 760 on his first and only try, which was pretty good for a severely dyslexic kid who had scored in the 45th to 50th percentile on the independent school standardized tests in middle school. He was admitted to some very competitive colleges and had a fabulous first year.</p>
<p>Given that experience, where it is better for the kid, I am OK taking the pressure off and not following in lockstep the dictates of the guidance counselor’s offices. ShawD also wants to take a gap year but wants to apply to college in her senior year. She’s at a private HS with good college counseling whereas ShawSon was at a public HS with less than terrific guidance counseling, so I think her plan works. It does mean time spent this summer studying for ACTs and starting college apps.</p>
<p>She’s off visiting a friend’s home on Martha’s Vineyard (the great virtue of private schools is that many of her friends have very nice second and in some cases third houses to which she gets invited), will return for a service trip to Appalachia, will go up to our little cottage on a lake outside of Montreal, and then she’ll be studying for July. August to be spent one week at a science program at a Canadian school she’s likely to apply to (we live in the US but her mother is Canadian and she’s a dual citizen) and then the last bit of the summer will be up at our cottage as a family.</p>
<p>ldinct, I think you can move your son’s registration to a new test date. They won’t give you a refund, but I think you can switch to a later date.</p>
<p>^^ agree</p>
<p>Indinct</p>
<p>I believe you can call College Board–and for like $20 +/-switch the date to the fall.
Worth a check.
I called because our student switched the type of test (day after changes were due) and the computer would still accept the change.
Worth the phone call and will save you about $25 if they can manage it…they just move the fees over to the next date with the change fee
Good luck</p>
<p>welcome shawbridge</p>
<p>thanks mamom.</p>
<p>I just reread what I wrote and meant to say that ShawSon was too tired to get excellent grades and study for and take SATs. He did get excellent grades and just deferred the SATs until his gap year.</p>
<p>I concur with missypie and fogfog. We’ve shifted test dates several times. If you do it in advance, there isn’t a change fee =. There may be one if you wait (though I don’t remember there being one), but you need not forfeit the whole fee.</p>
<p>I changed the test date for the SAT for my son last fall. I did it ahead of time and there was a charge. I just called them up to do it and talked to a real person.</p>
<p>I like the idea of postponing SAT’s until fall with all the other pressures of finals, etc. going on right now. I guess the down side is that if the results aren’t good, there’s less time to take it again before sending off college applications. I’m going to bounce that idea off of D tonight; maybe that will help calm everyone’s nerves. Thanks for the idea.</p>