<p>My D came home from the subject test. She said it was OK. Are there SAT tests in September? Or is it cutting too close?</p>
<p>Igloo, your daughter can take subjects test in May, June or October (no SAT in September). I believe that almost all schools will take the October test results.</p>
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<p>My son is in the same boat. He was supposed to have Friday off after three days of testing, but they had a snow day Tuesday.</p>
<p>D was up early this morning. She was able to eat her breakfast. She was ready to go with extra time. She packed up her stuff and was off. She also was taking it at a different school and was also nervous about who was she going to talk to on the breaks.
She did take with her a pad and pen and a mediation book with a page marked to read on fear and on courage. Her tutor figured that my D is alway early and she should have something to occupy her mind while she sat in her car instead of worrying about the test.</p>
<p>My high school just began working with VHS this year and had a presentation on it earlier this week. I don’t know if they chose the wrong two kids to present but I must say, they were unimpressed to the point of not recommending it. They each took a different science course, don’t remember which. They said it was VERY time consuming and, like most classes, a lot depended on the teacher. They thought there was a lot of busy work which made it so time consuming. They also had to do group projects and it was really hard to get everyone “together” on line and, as usual, some kids were more into it than others. </p>
<p>I thought this would be a good route for my daughter because even though our high school offers a lot of electives for a school it’s size, there are classes my daughter is interested in and are offered in VHS. Now I might rethink the whole thing.</p>
<p>seiclan, Thank you.</p>
<p>DS got home about 1:30 from test. He thought the writing was easy, the reading was ok and the math was harder than he thought it would be. Oh well. June, here we come.</p>
<p>Spoke with D2 on the phone. She sounded much better than last time she took it. I asked her if we needed to cancel. Her response was she had no more to give. She has done everything she could. She felt fine (didn’t use the word “good”), and it’s as good as it’s going to get for her(she has taken enough practice tests to give it a fair guess). I guess even without looking at the scores, we are done. If it goes horribly, then maybe we’ll look into ACT. She is going to get ready for her subject tests either in Mar or June.</p>
<p>seiclan - I hope your son did better than he thinks! As far as where I would send my kids to college if money were no object (which it is for us - big time!)… I would be all about sending them to a school where I thought the academic level and “vibe” was the best fit. And at this point, if you’ve been telling him all along you would send him to the best (there are different ways to define that ;)) school he could get accepted to, I’d stick with that. (I wish I could tell my kids that!) His scores will help determine what he can get into, so there’s no reason for a double consequence from mom & dad as far as limiting his choices. </p>
<p>I’d be saying something different if he were neglecting his studies, partying all the time, not meeting household expectations. But if he doing well in school and is generally a good kid with his head screwed on right, I wouldn’t ding him too much for not wanting to get caught up in the testing wars. To be honest, I think the SAT’s would be more meaningful if they were just a cold test - no prep. My older son refused to study (he did take some practice tests between the two times he took it). He just really refused to get caught up in the whole business. He has a really strong personality - LOL. </p>
<p>I would however want him to practice between the 1st and 2nd test dates if he needs a better score. You probably have a preliminary college list. Maybe you can sit down with him and non emotionally, non judgmentally tweak it once he gets his scores back. Move some from match into the reach column, some from reach to dream, and add a couple true safeties. Tell him what scores would make things shift again and let that percolate for a while. </p>
<p>Back to what defines the ‘best’ school. I will say that my older son (freshman) is attending a school that I considered a reach for him. his SAT scores were a little above necessary (above in math, in upper middle for CR & W), but his grades were below average. He really didn’t work hard in HS. Well, he got A’s in most of his hard classes and B’s (and some C’s) in his easy classes. he is absolutely thriving now being around smart students. He got 3.93 his first semester of college. So I guess i think the best fit (academically - there are other factors like socially, politically, geographically, etc) is really important. </p>
<p>I’m rambling, but bottom line - if you’re son is doing great in everything except jumping through SAT hoops, he’s still doing great! At least he’s pulling good grades!</p>
<p>'12 daughter had fun at her NSLI-Y interview chatting with the AFS volunteer interviewers about her Rotary exchange experience. Now we just have to wait until March to hear if she gets the chance to study abroad this summer. We were amused to see how many Asian applicants there were - a very small percentage of students in our state so disproportionately represented. I hope some of them are stretching and asking to learn middle eastern languages or Russian. I was grateful that despite D’s preference for Korean or Chinese, she did say that she was open to learning “any” language. Who knows? She could end up studying in Turkey or Tajikistan next summer.</p>
<p>Wow Apollo6 - good luck to your D! It sounds like a really neat opportunity.</p>
<p>DD’12 is back from the SAT and has emphatically declared that she “doesn’t want to talk about it,” but she is smiling and has a hop in her step. Keeping my fingers crossed that is is over.</p>
<p>D came home starving and thirsty at 1:30. One cliff bar & bottle of water was not enough for the 6 hours she was there. Said the writing section was easy, math ok, and the CR more difficult than the October PSAT… she’s already planning a retake. Maybe the SAT prep book on the kitchen counter will get opened afterall!</p>
<p>D came home from SATs, took a shower and a nap! Then settled in to finish a history project. She thought they were “fine,” whatever that means. </p>
<p>School had the Junior year intro to the college process meeting for parents this AM. Since this is our second time around it was mostly old news. At D’s school they spend the first four months trying to convince the parents and kids that everyone does not go to HYPS just because they are at an “elite” prep school. Lots of statistics, intro to naviance, suggestions to set up interviews in the summer. We find out who her GC is next month.</p>
<p>If I get send my daughter anywhere without worrying about money, I would send her to Georgetown, Princeton, Tufts, or Middlebury. She wants to study Chinese/International Political Economy and minor in psychology.</p>
<p>excellent choices KALee94.</p>
<p>S felt pretty good about how the SAT went but he was exhausted. He was also unsure about the writing section as it was new for him and he isn’t used to such a short time frame. It’s nice that they will get their results so quickly.</p>
<p>H and I suggested that he might want to get some homework done today in addition to watching football. He quickly reminded us that he still had all day tomorrow as it is the end of the semester. Silly parents why do today what you can leave until tomorrow. ;)</p>
<p>My D went to a friend directly from the test. Last night when I finally had a chance to talk with her she said it went okay. She said it was really long. Like other CCer’s kids she felt the math was hard, the writing easy and the reading as she expected. She is pretty sure she is not “done”. It was her first SAT and she had fear going in and I don’t think it was as bad as she had expected. She also has ADD and takes medication and was not sure how the meds were going to work. With her different school schedule this year she had switched to short acting ritalin and was worried it would die out before the test was over. She wasn’t entirely pleased with how the meds worked so next time she would try a different approach.
This SAT testing is new for us. D1 took the old version which was shorter. S had double time so he took the test by arrangement with this guidance counselor over 2 days so he was not a help to her.
She said she is ready to think about making a list.</p>
<p>When we got the ACT back the second time, I told DS that he should take it one more time for the score (scholarships), but that he could skip the writing next time. I wish the SAT would allow that, since it makes the day so long.
DS had a semi-formal dance, then left Saturday morning for Youth in Governement weekend. He planned to stay up late last night for their dance. I have yet to get a text that he is still alive (or if his bill passed), so I am counting on a very tired kid to call around the start fo the football game today (thank you tivo!). Luckily his semester ended on Friday, so he will not have homework.</p>
<p>We don’t know what D2’s scores going to be, but she was a lot more comfortable the Jan test. I don’t want to come across like we are experts when it comes to taking SAT. </p>
<p>This time around to prep for this SAT, D2 got up early 2 weekends prior to the test date and took practice SAT tests straight through, very similar to a real situation. She got up at 7, had her breakfast, and took a full exam, with breaks in between. She is not a morning person, and not good at taking long tests. But by doing practice runs, it showed her how to pace herself. For some students who are taking meds, it maybe helpful to try different scenarios to figure out what works best. </p>
<p>D2 was also making few careless mistakes on math, and then not able to do some hard problems. D2 was running out of time by spending too much time on hard math problems. Her sister (a math major) advised her to do all the easy ones first at a calm pace, then go back to try do the hard ones. She said this time around, she found math was very manageable and she had extra time left.</p>