<p>Happiness at home this morning; my daughter improved TREMENDOUSLY (180 points) on the writing section (which is important for her given that’s what she wants to major in), went up 50 points in the CR but dropped 30 points in the math. Even with the drop in math this is much better because it shows more correctly who she is as a student.</p>
<p>We looked at the College Board “How do I stack up” for many of the schools on her list and her scores are just fine. For the first time we looked at “How important is this to the school” where they list SAT scores as “very important” “important” and “considered” and that was helpful to my daughter to see. Most of her schools are SAT optional but it was good for my daughter to see it on the site that her schools are more than score driven.</p>
<p>Changing the subject a bit (sorry!) does anyone know how the AP awards work?</p>
<p>I know my kid took enough tests in the different areas to qualify for an AP International scholar (assuming at leat a 3 in them), do they automatically award that or is there some paperwork needed? It seems like most people tend to claim AP scholar with distinction but I rarely see international scholar.</p>
<p>Congrats to all the great scores. My D’s subject tests results are still not available. It seems like there are a few other kids (on other threads) with the same issue. I thought maybe it was because she took it overseas, but Oldfort and others didn’t have the problem.</p>
<p>Texaspg - do you mean the AP International Diploma? If you are in the U.S., she would need to send the scores to at least one college outside the U.S. (in addition to meeting the qualifications). I looked into this for a friend whose daughter hopes to attend college in Switzerland (dad is Swiss). Since our international school is not IB, the AP International Diploma serves to validate the level of instruction. My kids are at an international school - I understand that as long as they meet the qualifications, they will automatically receive the diploma. My D14 is considering schools outside the U.S., so it is good to have this option.</p>
<p>There is also an AP international award for the highest number of tests/scores for a U.S. citizen living internationally. Pretty sure my kids won’t get that!</p>
<p>Seiclan- I see no reason to send a mediocre SAT II score unless you don’t get a choice. (Some schools require all CB scores – CMU, HMC and Yale come to mind). I don’t think I’d send physics unless you have to do so. It just doesn’t add anything.</p>
<p>I think the thing to keep in mind is that the application is painting a picture of the student. Every data point adds another brush stroke. Does that particular brush stroke add to the picture of the kid, or does it detract?</p>
<p>So colleges really do superscore, right?? LOL! Since DD squeaked by with a 1200 CR+M by superscoring, that’s important, but May’s SAT Math was only 490, and I would hate to think that she would be penalized even though she got a 520 last time (a lot of colleges have a minimum of 500, so that’s important).</p>
<p>Do you all think that colleges will look askance at the 490 because it’s below 500, or do you think they’ll be content that she managed to get the 520? I just wonder how much they will hold the lowest score against her.</p>
<p>We’ll have to include the May SAT, though, because her Reading and Writing scores were good (680 & 710). Like mspearl, I <em>hate</em> the Math section for my DD! But I can’t blame genes, since her twin brother is a math genius. :p</p>
<p>She’s taking the SAT one more time on Saturday. Now that she’s got two actual tests under her belt–and she’s done ALL the Blue Book practice tests and gone over the math portion–it would be great for her to have one solid good testing date. We’re hoping that the comfort level she’ll have will alleviate her anxiety.</p>
<p>I know some people don’t think it’s worthwhile to take the June SAT before the actual questions/answers are back from the May SAT, but for my DD, I think it’s important she take all the opportunities she can to improve. And she has a great math strategy devised by her tutor (similar to what others here have devised), but she has to try not to get the mental block that goes up when she looks at that portion of the test.</p>
<p>Saturday is also Subject Tests for DS (Math II, Chemistry, Latin). I think he could be studying more.</p>
<p>Hi all! Been a bit behind - I know I missed alot, so congratulations to all those who are celebrating and hugs to those who have kids struggling. </p>
<p>We have some good news and some eh news. Good news, DS scored very well on SAT2 bio: 780. Very good. Eh news is like many here, DS has a bad case of “junioritis” and his grades reflect it. He currently has 4 Bs. So instead of pulling up his grades so he might only have zero to two Bs for the year, we are now looking at the possibility of having 3 or 4 Bs for the year. Not a very strong way to finish the year. Ugh. I’m not worried about getting into schools, I’m worried about getting that 20K merit aid award that makes a 54K school affordable for us. I’m ok with a state school, but I think he would have perfered a school just a bit higher on the college food chain. </p>
<p>SAT retake scheduled for June 4th. No studying that I’ve seen. We always stress that we want our kids to do their best. As long as they are doing their best, we are fine with whatever that is. It’s hard to see a kid who thinks that putting the extra effort is a poor use of his time. He’d rather hang out at the beach with friends than putting the extra effort into studying Spanish or SAT math. Sigh.</p>
<p>We are just taking a break from SAT Bootcamp, Day 1. The kids have decided that it is working well enough that they will be back on Sunday and Monday (since the canoe trip was cancelled late last week, the kids had no plans. In addition to the study sessions, each kid is sitting with me and coming up with a possible list of schools to consider(thanks to my vast knowledge and access to US News. I am not allowing them to see rank, bue we are looking at SAT requirements, GPA, etc). Every kid is also going to be sent hime with homework to have “the talk” about college financing with their parents, so we can talk about financial safeties. Send positive thoughts our way. My house is a sea of flash cards, blue books and #2 pencils.</p>
<p>Ijustdrive - CMU (Carnegie Mellon) requires we send all three subject tests??? I didn’t know that. I thought that for subject tests, if a school requires 2 then you could send any two. Are you sure? Carnegie Mellon IS one of the reach schools on my son’s list and possibly a good social fit for him.</p>
<p>Pamayawaa - Yes, I think AP International diploma is what I am thinking of. So AP would award it if want to apply to a school in another country, like UK?</p>
<p>I am glad the waiting for May SATs is over … I prefer having data in hand, even if it is sobering. It is hard to finalize a list of colleges without! I am really looking forward to June SAT results …and that will be it for D, then we can move on to the next step in the admission process. D was pleased with her Chem sat score today and remarked that she FINALY felt a CB test measured what she knows. Now she is pumped for math II & Latin next Saturday (and later that day, the all-state track meet —her first time qualifying. She doesn’t expect to place but is delighted to compete with the “big kids”). </p>
<p>I hope you and your families will find some piece at the end of the school year just a few days/weeks away.</p>
<p>To be considered for admission to Carnegie Mellon, you must submit the following items:</p>
<pre><code>Common Application
Carnegie Mellon Common Application Supplement
Official high school transcript
All score reports for standardized testing*
Secondary School Counselor Evaluation
Teacher Recommendation
Arrange for an audition or portfolio review, if necessary
</code></pre>
<ul>
<li>Please send all official SAT, SAT Subject Tests, ACT and TOEFL scores to the Office of Admission.</li>
</ul>
<p>My math prodigy was not receptive to my suggestion she explore becoming a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader. Instead she studied essay prompts and …gasp! Math! For a little over two hours. We ordered a generic math prep book online. Tackle away. This is a girl with advanced gymnastics skills and a-w-e-s-o-m-e cheer moves validated by a state ranking, she knows how to work.</p>
<p>Funny story, she is currently on a date with a real math prodigy right now…he is in her class and has already completed calculus when he was a sophomore. => maybe he can help her…</p>
<p>seiclan - I suggest that he send the math 2 and chem to the schools which require two SAT subject tests, forgetting about the physics test - there is really no paperwork for score choice. For the schools that don’t require a subject test, I would send his great math 2 score along with his reasoning test scores.</p>
<p>glido, can you confirm if this is what you think or it is a fact (at least for some schools that you have connections with)? I start to feel that more and more colleges make decisions based on the highest scores only, even the Common Application requests the highest section scores only. I also start to think there is nothing wrong with the practice of superscoring.</p>
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<p>I like how IJustDrive puts it. If some colleges use filters, however, some data might add little, such as if glido (above) is right.</p>
<p>Many schools do super score if you send all the test scores to them, some do not, it varies by school and they should say it somewhere on their website. It also varies depending on what “drives” the admission process - numbers or holistic review of applicants. </p>
<p>We had this conversation yesterday because my daughter’s second set of SAT scores came back with huge improvement (180 points) in the Writing section, which is very strong and a possible major for her, and up 50 points in the CR but she dropped 30 points in her math (her clear weakness in life!). This set of scores is a much better representation of who she is as a person than the first set so we will go with these and probably not include her first SAT test scores; but it does bother both my husband and I (and probably my daughter but we would never ask) that she just couldn’t keep that math score the same the second time around!</p>
<p>I think I mentioned this before but I believe it bears repeating - if you go on the college board website and look up a variety of colleges under the “how do I stack up?” section you can run your mouse over the “how important is this to this college” and see for each college. My daughter’s choices are all small LAC who approach applications holistically so they mostly came up with “considered” in terms of importance (even those that are SAT optional). We looked at other large universities and LAC and saw “very important” or “important” as the other options.</p>
<p>So in the end, both statements are accurate, it just depends on the college.</p>