<p>seiclan- my D is in the same boat stat-wise as your S so I would join in your thread. We do have a couple score optional schools on the preliminary list. But I disagree that hope is lost for your S. With an 80 on PSAT math, and assuming close to that on the SAT, and the fact that his interest is science, you just need to know how closely the schools care about the other sections. And see what he thinks about the ACT. My D is similar that her PSAT CR and W sections were much weaker than M, but she did much stronger on the ACT E section and although still weak on R, the fact that it is only one of four and not of three sections I think it would have less impact in the overall score. </p>
<p>GL to your D1 on the LSAT! I just noticed The Paper Chase was available on demand on my cable. With my older D home from school today, I want to watch it with her. Not that she is considering law school, but just the college atmosphere, I think she would enjoy it and I haven’t seen it in a while.</p>
<p>We woke up to a blizzard. I checked the local television station and the ACT website and saw many testing sites in the area cancelled; but not ours. Of course they updated our site as cancelled 5 minutes before we were to leave the house. Do they generally reschedule the test for another date within the next few weeks or do you just take the exam on one of the ACT dates that are already scheduled? Maybe I can convince my son to take some more practice tests and get the test out of the way in one sitting in February. On the bright side he’s up 3 hours before he normally would be on a Saturday and has already started his homework. </p>
<p>His school distributed PSAT scores this week. He did quite well, but just below the commended range. It is about what I expected and am happy with his performance. It’s hard to follow in the footsteps of your older brother who did make NMF.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone taking the ACT today.</p>
<p>mom2010- Two years ago this weekend, a huge ice storm hit the northeast. Several test centers were closed, heck many communities were weeks without power! My older D’s testing location was not cancelled and luckily our house power came on the night before. But for the sites which were cancelled, they did reschedule to sometime in Jan I think, the dates did appear on the ACT website as they came available (ie not all at once.) I don’t remember if all sites were rescheduled or if some were just told to wait until the next date in Feb. If your site was at your regular school, they’ll probably have the news, I expect it takes them a week or so to arrange the proctors, classrooms, etc for a new date. All sites did not reschedule to the new date. You can probably search the ACT forum to find talk of earlier times this situation occurred.</p>
<p>jackief - DS is very stubborn. He did take the ACT in October but refused to study for it and did not take it seriously (he didn’t finish some sections). He scored poorly and he refuses to take it again saying that he prefers the SAT. Did I mention that he is very stubborn? You are correct though, he could do better on it IF he would do some prep but…
I am looking forward to our new thread come this spring/summer and which schools will overlook the weaker CR/W scores when the student is strong in math and science. So far, I have noticed that, of the ones on our tentative list, Carnegie Mellon and U of Miami had acceptances last year with my son’s lopsided scores…</p>
<p>Wow, an early blizzard. I was at BU during the blizzard of '78. That was fun!</p>
<p>seiclan - I was at BU during the Blizzard of 78 too! I was a sophomore. I had been home the weekend before and took the train from CT to Boston the morning of the day the blizzard hit. It was just flurrying in CT, but the train arrived from New York covered in snow. By the time I got to Boston it was snowing like crazy and my class was already cancelled. What a blast is was to be in Boston with all that snow and no cars on the roads. We owned the city.</p>
<p>I don’t remember widespread power outages during the blizzard of 78. I do remember watching Dukakis in his sweater on TV. I was home with the flu so didn’t get to enjoy the state of emergency road closures. Good times though I’m sure for those in the city.</p>
<p>seiclan- I’m sure you’ve heard the cc mantra- love the kid on the couch.</p>
<p>seiclan, jackief,mizzbee - i will probably be joining you on that thread too. ds explained to me this morning that he prefers the ACT. he sees the PSAT and the SAT as brutal in that the math is interspersed through the test rather than as a compact section (that’s what I understood him to say). i can understand in his case why then he prefers the ACT. he scored higher last year on the ACT math section than he has scored on either the SAT or PSAT math this year. ds is lopsided…with his strength in Math and somewhat having strength in Reading Comprehension. However, he is weak in English. He’s let me know that he’d prefer SAT subject tests to taking the ACT Plus writing so that will be the next bridge to cross (SAT subject tests). We live in an ACT state so his preference to ACT is no surprise.</p>
<p>In our experience the SAT Subject Tests are relatively painless. Each is only 1 hour long and you can get 3 taken care of in a single Saturday morning (or you can spread them out and only take 1 or 2 at a time). </p>
<p>Except for the Foreign Language with listening exams (which are only offered once each year and require CDs), you can switch which exams you’re taking, how many you’re taking, and even choose the order you take them on the day of the exam.</p>
<p>H just picked up D. She texted from the car and told me I might as well sign her up for another ACT. She’s convinced she did horribly. She said she’d give me a very long list of why she thinks so when she gets home. </p>
<p>I’m quite . She said her practices were easy. The practice scores put her in a range above her SAT, which was still quite nice. Oh well. No point in dwelling on it and letting it preoccupy our Christmas. We’ll find out before the end of the month.</p>
<p>mathinokc, thanks for the subject test info. it’s always been a bit confusing to me since oldest d did not take any subject tests. are the subject tests usually given on the same date and time and location as the SAT? do the kids just show up as they would if they were taking the SAT that day? i’ve asked ds and he could never see any mention of subject tests at his previous SAT takes.
ds is home from taking ACT. he feels like the reading section was difficult this time. however, the Math seemed easy for him. he’s looking forward to getting his scores. says the English seemed easier for him also than what was on the SAT. it’s interesting how some kids find one test to be a better fit for them than the other. i actually had thought he might find the SAT to be a better fit for him but i was indeed wrong.</p>
<p>S said that the ACT was much easier than when he took it last summer. He actually studied this time. The only bad thing is that he said that if he had focused on the English section for the PSAT, he would have done better. I wanted to strangle him as visions of NMF scholarships floated through my mind, but I am still just thrilled that he studied this time. He swears that he will not take it again, but he knows that there are benchmarks for scholarships that need to be met at some schools, so I think he will change his mind.</p>
<p>Yes, the SAT subject tests are the same dates, times, and locations as the regular SAT. It’s a much smaller group of kids, though (at least around here – we’re in ACT country).</p>
<p>Glido, I am that parent. Will be calling guidance this week to ensure that PSAT results and booklet come home before break. Just signed D up today for the January SAT (her first)….hoping the PSAT results will inform which sections need attention over break. </p>
<p>To other parents too:
I was annoyed to learn that to take advantage of the 4-free SAT reports one must identify the colleges BEFORE results are known. Sounds like a risky proposition for juniors. CB could just as easily send these free reports during some window after the results are shared with the test-takers —but they would of course make less money. </p>
<p>We skipped the reporting option for this registration…but I wonder if there is another use for these. The CB website claims that sending scores to schools will demonstrate interest, but that seems like a weak argument for doing so blindly (–brochure requests, applications, visits, and inquiries are more substantial ways of demonstrating interest!).</p>
<p>Also, we learned today that the Latin SAT II test is only offered in June (same day as her state track meet). GGGRRR </p>
<p>Does anyone know what time of day the SATs and SAT II’s are given? Does it vary by test center? Our email confirmation for the January SAT registration shows the location but not the time.</p>
pathways, we fell for CB’s claim with D1, but I don’t think the schools she sent them to viewed it as “demonstrated interest”. (it was my naivete as a first-timer, thinking, ooh, her scores are so good, as soon as a college sees them, they’ll start wooing her. yeah, right :o) it was a good lesson; D2 took her first SAT in November and we did not send her scores anywhere.</p>
<p>Gwen: Since your D is taking APUSH you might consider exploring the Freedom Trail, a visit to the JFK museum or the newly opened Art of the Americas wing at the Museum of Fine Arts.</p>
<p>PRJ: I am leaning heavily on CC to become more savy, even so I am still often clueless (such as my assumption that all SAT IIs are available on each testing date). Like you, I will be a more expert parent-helper for D2. This thread is particularly good given that we are stumbling through many of the same issues at the same time.</p>
. She said her practices were easy. The practice scores put her in a range above her SAT, which was still quite nice. Oh well. No point in dwelling on it and letting it preoccupy our Christmas. We’ll find out before the end of the month.</p>