<p>Very sweet! That’s what we’re aiming for too - all done by the end of junior year. </p>
<p>jackie - same here, i don’t know the procedure for ACT. i know with SAT, you can reschedule for a small fee, or just not show up, and there’s no problem other than you lose your registration money. hope your D feels better soon!</p>
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<p>Chrissyblu - i like the way you put things! you can be in charge of sanity next fall when we’re all watching our kids scramble (or worse yet - procrastinate) on filling out applications!</p>
<p>waitingfor ivy - It appears that the only question you posted that hasn’t been answered is what you might have gotten on your SAT. The general rule of thumb is PSAT X 10. That should give you a general idea, so I would say somewhere around a 2190. Doesn’t always hold but I know my son hit the 10x rule right on the money.</p>
<p>Thanks DB, I see some numbers for other changes on their site, I’ll wait until tomorrow to see how she is doing and then see what I can find out. Surprisingly this really seems to be her test over the SAT just like for her sister. The practice sections she has done were very encouraging.</p>
<p>I have a question about Pre-calc. My son is looking into skipping pre-calc. I don’t think this could possibly be a good idea. We have a strange situation. We moved from PA to NY. My son was on the calc AB track in Pa. He took pre-alg/Alg1 in 8th grade. Based on our PA school he would have taken Alg 1a/Geometry in 9th grade. We moved to NY in 9th grade and they were on the Math A/Math B system. Math A is 1/3 alg, 1/3 geometry, and 1/3 trig. We thought maybe that my son could get tutored in the summer and learn 2/3 of the Math A course in 4 weeks. My 14 year old DS at the time thought this was a bad idea, and wanted to enjoy his last summer in Pa, not do dreaded math. Ok, so we moved to NY and there was no Geometry class for him to take. He took Alg 1 (9th), Geometry (10th) and is now in Alg 2/Trig honors this year. As a future science major, he now understands that he really should have calc before college, just to be able to get into a competative college, and so he won’t be at a disadvantage when he takes calc in college b/c he’ll be one of the few taking it for the first time. So, he thinks he can skip pre-calc and just jump into AP Calc. I think this is a bad idea. Summer classes at our HS are for kids who failed the class, not kids who want credit to move up. </p>
<p>I have asked him to speak with the AP Calc teacher and see what he says. I was wondering in any parents with a math background could comment? Thanks!</p>
<p>geogirl - Can he take pre-calc over the summer at a CC or on-line? That way he wouldn’t be ‘skipping’ it and would still be able to take AP Calc his senior year.</p>
<p>I do not have a math background. My son took precalculus last year and is currently taking AP Calculus AB. There is a lot of very important material in precalculus…he did not find it to be a breeze (like Algebra 2 honors). I would have him take the precalculus class.</p>
<p>geogirl - I’ve heard of kids skipping Pre-Calc. If your son’s Alg II class is covering trig, that helps because I thought that was one of the things covered in pre-calc. I could ask my 2012 son what his opinion is, but really - the courses could be very different between his school and yours, so I’m not sure it would be useful info.</p>
<p>This seems like the perfect time for something a friend of mine just told me he does with his kids that I’m planning on implementing when the right occasion arises. Encourage your son to put together a good case to present to you for skipping pre-calc if that’s what he wants to do. Tell him the information you need to make up your mind about whether or not it’s a good idea and what sources will help you feel good about the idea. My friend who does this says it cuts down on nagging and pestering, gives the kid an active role in the process of deciding, and it teaches kids a wonderful lesson in how to present an argument convincingly and in a way that people will listen to. It also forces them to separate the relevent information from the “but I WANT it!” argument, and eventually teaches them good decision making skills. So you might say, "here are the things i need to know before we move forward with this discussion:
Does the math teacher think it’s a good idea? Does she think you’re a strong enough math student to do it successfully? Has she had other students do it, and how did that work out?
what do students who have done it have to say about it?
What resources can you put together for self study over the summer, and what schedule will you commit to over the summer to be ready in the fall for AP Calc?
will the school allow you to change back into Pre-Calc by some certain date in the fall if it isn’t working?'</p>
<p>Or whatever questions you have about it. Just write them down and tell him to go do his research and comeback when he has any questions or is ready to present his argument.</p>
<p>I don’t know - it seemed like a brilliant approach to me when I was talking to my friend!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies; you’ve all helped me put a plan together. He had planned to talk to the AP Calc teacher. I’ll now ask him to talk to him about taking Precalc and the local CC. Then, as PinotNoir suggested, I’ll ask him to put a plan together that outlines what needs to be done and his level of commitment. We had hoped he would work at a lab at the nearby university this summer. Summer school at the CC would get in the way and he may have to forgo that summer idea. Well, we have a plan at least!</p>
<p>We’re still waiting for the PSAT here but I just logged on to Naviance and there it was! Don’t know if other schools are doing it that way, but you might want to look. D did well enough that I think we can hope for a one and done SAT…</p>
<p>Gwen, Great News! Congrats! One and done…Sweet. I am still waiting for my D’s. In our household, naviance and CB acct info all disappear in my D’s hand. It will be easier to wait a few more days.</p>
<p>Memphis guy… I don’t agree with the PSAT x 10 equals SAT. My D got a 190 on the PSAT last year. This year she took the SAT and got a 2190… I know a lot of people that the x10 rule does not hold true for, both up and down. So, honestly, that is why I told the young man to just get used to waiting. Once a test is done, there really is no point trying to guess what you got. It is what it is.</p>
<p>My D won’t get her PSAT until after winter break…That’s chill. She is too busy studying for her make up APUSH exam from last term to think about it…</p>
<p>@geogirl- There’s not an awful lot to most precalc courses aside from trig. (and some complex numbers). The rest is mostly review. If he’s a mathy kid, he may want to take the Art of Problem Solving precalc class. It’s really challenging. Our local high school will let kids skip courses if they take the final for the course (actually 2 semester finals) and get a “B” on it. Makes sense to me. Perhaps yours will do the same. Precalc is a popular one for math/science kids to take outside of school and test out of.</p>
<p>The PSAT score (x 10) is designed to be a very good predictor of the SAT score. Many students, however, spend some time after they’ve taken the PSAT preparing for the SAT; they also may learn and/or solidify some more math or reading skills in school meanwhile. On average, students score about 20 points extra on each section on the SAT compared to PSATx10, see [this</a> College Board pdf (page 6)](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/understanding-psat-nmsqt-scores.pdf]this”>Understanding PSAT/NMSQT Scores - SAT Suite). Of course, this is an average: some will score higher, some will score lower, but the majority score somewhat higher on each section.</p>
<p>Thanks you guys! Big relief here because test anxiety gets in the way sometimes. And thanks to fignewton for the link…reading that I begin to understand why we don’t all get scores right away. There’s a lot there for GC’s to absorb and process before they can use the info.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone on those PSAT scores. :)</p>
<p>After D’s soph PSAT, we found ourselves hoping the 10x theory was false. If it held true, her 8th grade SAT would be higher. As it turned out, it was a false predictor. She gained 300 points from soph PSAT to 11th grade SAT. Whew. Now we’re really interested to see what the junior PSAT is. If it rose comparably, she could be Commended. </p>
<p>Anyhoo, tomorrow is ACT. So that’s what’s top of mind this week. Good luck to everyone else testing tomorrow.</p>
<p>Good morning everyone! S got his PSAT scores back yesterday - a week earlier than I expected. He did as well as we were hoping, so Yay! If he had gotten 10X that on his SAT in Nov, he would have been one & done, but he’s planning to take it again in Feb or March. </p>
<p>Congrats to all the students out there happy with their scores! And DougBetsy - hope the ACT goes well tomorrow!</p>
<p>It is ACT time for us again, and DS is actually excited about it. Once he started buckling down with his prep materials, he saw his practice test scores improve (imagine that This timeframe turned out to be perfect since musical auditions are next week. Hoping he will not need to take it again in June. Luckily his first choice school cares more about grades and rank than test scores.</p>
<p>DS will come home with his PSAT score today. They were given out yesterday in English class and his did not meet yesterday (since they have a rotator schedule). I am quite sure that he is not going to be a NM contender or even commended based upon my friend’s son’s scores. Every standardized test for the past few years have shown that our son’s tend to score within 10 points of each other…it is really uncanny. So when she called to tell me her DS’s score, I can fairly well predict my DS’s score. Her son took the SAT in October as well and his SAT and PSAT scores were identical (as were my girls October scores years ago). I believe the PSAT/SAT correlation is only valid if taken with a month of each other, otherwise many other variables come into play (maturity, knowledge level, prep).</p>
This timeframe turned out to be perfect since musical auditions are next week. Hoping he will not need to take it again in June. Luckily his first choice school cares more about grades and rank than test scores.</p>