<p>Any parents here know when to expect IB scores? This was our school’s first year with the IB program. Our son took the IB American History SL test in May. (Will be taking Math/English/Latin HL next year as well as Chemistry SL, I think I have the HL and SL designation correct.)</p>
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<p>No dog in this fight since D1 has no interest in Penn, but I don’t see how requiring all testing, ACT and SAT alike, adds deeper insight. I understand why an adcom would want to see all ACT testing, OR all SAT testing. They’re trying to discourage what they call “unproductive” behavior, like taking the test more than 3 times or at an earlier stage. Taking the ACT and the SAT is the student trying to see which one works better for them as an individual. Some students will do the same on both, in which case the only downside to sending all reports is the cost. Other students will do far better on one test than the other. In those cases, sending both sets of scores might well have a downside. We’ve heard that this can affect merit money at some schools (obviously not Penn). It’s possible it would similarly affect admissions decisions. I’d like to think that Penn adcoms wouldn’t hold it against a student if they had a low score on one test, but not the other. But I wouldn’t bet on it.</p>
<p>S2 is not applying to Penn but the testing policies of some of the schools on his list have been a factor in deciding his testing schedule. If you or your kid are not looking at those testing policies early (like during their freshman or sophomore years) they might have already taken a couple of tests they would later regret having to send. I added my editorial comment about respecting Penn for their position on score choice in part because I think the new College Board policy has made SAT testing more anxiety ridden and complicated, not less as advertised by CB, and Penn made a stab at defending their own position.</p>
<p>Kajon, English is perhaps the easiest of the ACT subtests to improve. Your son needs to sit down and learn the grammar rules cold, rather than use his gut instinct of “what sounds right.” It’s that gap between formal paper English and casual spoken English that the ACT exploits. When he can look at a practice problem and say exactly WHY an answer is correct or incorrect, then he will be ready to ace that subtest.</p>
<p>The process is not hard. You can get him a test prep book like Princeton Review which has sections explaining the rules. Or you can just have him take any ACT English practice test and then focus closely on those questions he got wrong. A quick google search will usually find a dozen web pages which explain the rules specific to that type of grammar problem.</p>
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Agree 100%.</p>
<p>^ I would agree. However my question arose when I looked over an application that asked you to list all tests taken and dates. I would assume I am bound to be truthful and list ALL tests, even ones I had no intention on sending. I then wondered if tests are listed and scores not sent does this raise a red flag? Prior to seeing this I thought using score choice was the way to go. Now I am wondering what the school would rather see.
I’ll call next fall and ask. None of the scores are ‘bad’ so it’s not that big of a deal. It was just the concept that made me do a bit of mental gymnastics.</p>
<p>Fogfog, I haven’t looked at any of the FAFSA or Profile forms to familiarize myself with them yet, but that’s Step 1 in July.</p>
<p>Step 2 (which will probably follow closely on the heels of Step 1) is to call the Acct. I know I’ll need guidance (if not downright full services) on putting these together. One of the Finaid officers at a school we visited last year acknowledged that “It is a bit more complex when you are self-employed with your own small corporation.”</p>
<p>If she said, “a bit more complex,” I’m pretty sure I’m going to need my Acct to work on it with me. Joy.</p>
<p>olderwisermom,
Last year my daughter received her IB scores about the first week of July. We had a password from her school to check online. At first it said “inconclusive” but less than a week later, we got a real score. Good Luck!</p>
<p>For SAT2s
If a school only wants 2 scores–can a student only submit 2 of the three taken?</p>
<p>Our student has only taken the ST1 once and the ACT once–the ACT was the better test…</p>
<p>I think we will be aking the GC what to do–probably submit only the ACT and the 2 SAT2s</p>
<p>I think the AP report sends all–right?</p>
<p>LuckyMonoBoy’s ACT score was pretty darn good 
I checked a concordance chart and it’s equivalent to his pretty darn good SAT score </p>
<p>Class rank slipped slightly but it’s still pretty darn good ;)</p>
<p>He asked yesterday what it would take to get serious merit money to Incredibly Local Flagship. I said straight As for first semester senior year and keeping going on his Eagle project (guidance counselor at his boys’ school said schools look at Eagle candidate on the app as equivalent to Eagle recipient, for boys at the project stage). He moaned and sighed, slumped in the chair, grumbled about wanting to have fun during marching band season, yadda yadda yadda. Well, why ask if you don’t want to hear the answer? Doofus!</p>
<p>No motivation to go look at either close-by schools (PA, MD, VA) or far-away schools (in the northeast or south). I’m going to force the issue next week as The Big List must be pruned! This week he’s been helping a friend with HIS Eagle project—friend is within shouting distance of his 18th bday so the clock is ticking.</p>
<p>fogfog, I don’t know if there are different requirements for athletes, but colleges don’t need an AP score report for admission. You need it later if you want to get credit or place into a higher level class.</p>
<p>I do know someone was able to suppress one of her S’s AP scores. He got bored and walked out of the test! All the others were very high, so they cut that one out.</p>
<p>KLucky - congrats on the score! We happen to live 20 minutes from our excellent flagship, and many kids just apply and go, great merit money, and tons of opportunities. Some come home a lot, and some not at all. Maybe this is where he wants to be? For my D’s, it’s too familiar, but they both know it’s a great school and have friends who have done excellently.</p>
<p>I just found out Ds first choice superscores ACT as well as SAT so even though she totally tanked the reading section of the June test, they will take the reading from her Dec test which was 33. She is one happy camper right now and so am I.</p>
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<p>Right</p>
<p>our student presents everything else very early–transcripts, scores, GC and teacher recs, essays, supplements etc etc…no shortcuts…</p>
<p>Thankfully the scores are in the schools’ ranges…and so it will be a matter if there is a match with the sport and curriculum etc</p>
<p>I am just curious as to how the APs went…
Most of the schools on the list dont accept APs for much of anything–however the safeties do.</p>
<p>Can the kids submit their 2 best SAT2s or must they show all? They can take 3 at a sitting</p>
<p>I know some of you have mentioned Pitt. D got a brochure from Pitt in the mail today which offers an app fee waiver. Did anyone else get this also? It’s not on list but with the fee waiver we may apply anyway. All it would cost is the fee to send the ACT and SAT score. </p>
<p>This is the second one we have gotten this week. I usually trash the stuff that comes from schools we are not really interested in but I actually looked at 2 of them this week and they both had the app fee waivers…wondering how many we may have already thrown away.</p>
<p>That sounds like a keeper gamom! Since we’re planning to visit anyway, we won’t need that since they will give us the fee waiver for visiting, but if we weren’t I would certainly be watching our mail closer. Our pile is getting out of hand again.</p>
<p>Our recycle bin is always full of college brochure. Is there anyway we can inform the colleges stop sending ? Some of the brochures are really heavy and beautiful, I feel guilty when I trash them.</p>
<p>Those “snap apps” are attractive aren’t they
Our student got one–
No fees, NO GCS rec… no essay —just transcript and scores.</p>
<p>Unfortunately they do not have our students intended major–otherwise it would have been done. </p>
<p>I agree about the mail–it is a shame when some schools keep sending things–
then another scholol just sent a letter–Starts with…</p>
<p>In a few days summer will be here…" blah blah…</p>
<p>our student has been out of school a month…</p>
<p>the boilerplate text leaves a reader cold—
kwim</p>
<p>jeez, I want (I mean S wants) one of those priority/snap apps. We feel like we are back in gym class and are the last one standing when picking sides. ;-(</p>
<p>I like the ones where you have your own “personalized” web address. We have never even looked at any of those…have any of you?</p>