<p>When I looked up the Direct Hits book recommended by seiclan, another one also showed up that piqued D’s interest - Vocabulary Cartoons. It reminded her of her middle school English class and how she enjoyed learning vocab that way. So, we decided to order both the Direct Hits and the Vocab Cartoons books hoping the small investment will reap big rewards on the SAT.</p>
<p>seiclan, please let us know if the nintendo game is good, it certainly sounds interesting. I may need to check it out for my son. I also will be getting the vocab book; that is his biggest weakness.</p>
<p>S got his AP Euro score from his teacher in an email. He got a 4. He is very happy.</p>
<p>Apollo6, chrissyblu, and Mom2M, Congrats to your children for a great job on their AP exams (and to anyone else if I missed your post).</p>
<p>Thanks and Congrats to your son, BUandBC82! </p>
<p>I thinks it’s great that the kids are having success on their first AP tests. </p>
<p>D had a mystery novel with SAT vocab…she read it a while back, just as a novel. I’ll have to hunt that up…</p>
<p>Don’t forget that your local (and school) library may own many of these prep books. You may also find them at Half-price books 
says the high school librarian…</p>
<p>PS. Thanks for your good wishes for my daughter. The most satisfying thing for me about her year on exchange is that she is appreciating the things that I do such as laundry, driving her places and emails and phone calls to help her achieve her goals. I guess moms in other countries don’t necessarily do those kinds of things. Basking in the moment…</p>
<p>We purchased the DS SAT prep game after getting less than wonderful scores (and no prep). S thinks it is okay. He says that he is willing to study on this but will not do the books yet. We will see when he takes the PSAT again if it had an effect.</p>
<p>Does he work on it to get a better video game score (as kids do with entertainment games) or does he see it as studying? Is it “addictive”?</p>
<p>So far he doesn’t think it is addictive, but he still prefers it to other required activities like - gasp!- reading a book or doing the prep work on one of the test websites.</p>
<p>Sounds neat. I may have to get one of those - - the kids can get pretty competetive. It would be nice if in their quest to one up eachother, they both prepared for the SAT. (Does it work on a PC computer or do you have to buy one of those hand-held game units. I don’t know much about computer games, such as a PSP, etc.?)</p>
<p>The one that I purchased (but haven’t received yet) is:</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> My SAT Coach with The Princeton Review: Video Games](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/SAT-Coach-Princeton-Review-Nintendo-DS/dp/B001D5DQJ8/ref=pd_bxgy_vg_img_b]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/SAT-Coach-Princeton-Review-Nintendo-DS/dp/B001D5DQJ8/ref=pd_bxgy_vg_img_b)</p>
<p>This is specifically for the nintendo DS. This one is princeton review based but there is another one on the page that is Barron’s based. Not sure which would be better, I think I chose this one based upon the reviews.</p>
<p>We just got the first results of a practice SAT test. We are lopsided as well. Improved from the psat projection in 10th, now we are planning to crack the books. I was hoping form styuding and giving due dilligence for at least 250 more points. I hope its acheivable. </p>
<p>Stressing a bit. Now have to figure out the sat testing schedule. I was hoping for the October but if his scores are still low from practice, I am wondering if we should go for Jan?<br>
Does it look bad to sit for three tries? or is two the limit?</p>
<p>Three sittings is fine, after that, some schools might devalue. Most schools don’t care how many times you sit, but others start to question whay the applicant doesn’t choose to do something else with his limited time.</p>
<p>If you don;t think your child is ready in October, then delay until January, but remember that Junior year is a very busy year, so try to make the most of the summer for SAT prep. A lot of posts on CC say that two months of focused study will get a student to his best score. Others say that age is a factor and waiting until a little later can be beneficial for some students. I think you want to be careful of waiting too long because then the clock start to tick, so to speak, and the pressure to perform on “this test” can build and lead to increased anxiety, which can lower the score. One of the benefits to sitting for an SAT earlier is that the student knows he will have several additional opportunities if he needs them, so his anxiety level is lower.</p>
<p>What we heard about multiple SAT (or ACT) last week at the Yale info session is that they are fine with 1, 2, or 3 sittings, “but after that it becomes another extra-curricular activity, and we’d rather see other extra-curriculars.”</p>
<p>The other interesting tidbit was about Score Choice. Yale wants to see all tests, which means EITHER all SAT I and II tests (if you send SAT II, they need all SAT I) OR all ACT with writing. If you choose ACT (with writing) you don’t need SAT II scores, but if you send SAT II scores, you must send all SAT scores.</p>
<p>Harvard, in contrast, said to send what you want them to consider. They just don’t care about completeness, they want you to put your best face forward.</p>
<p>^Ijustdrive, as concerned as I am about my D’s ACT/SAT tests, I laughed so hard at your Yale story! Thanks for the comic relief.</p>
<p>D received her ACT scores. She took w/o prep and got a 24. Her science score was low and she predicted that (she hasn’t had Bio yet) and her writing score was also low. As I thought, her scores were lopsided. I have to go over the scores with her to figure out where she needs to prep more.</p>
<p>Finally getting around to posting on here since we’ve been on vacation. My D received her Apush score and received a 5! She worked so hard this year in that class. She also took the ACT without very much prep and got a 30, so she’s relieved and excited to see how much she can improve when she takes it again this next year.</p>
<p>D just got back from Summer@Brown and loved it. I don’t think it was a waste of time or money. It really got her thinking. She has decided she wants to make sure she goes to somewhere where there will be lots of foreign exchange students. She had lots of fun with all the kids from other countries who were there. She also is determined to go abroad her junior year. It also confirmed that this kid is absolutely ready to go to a school on the other side of country. She is kinda bummed to go back to h.s. for two more years now because she got a taste of what college is like and how professors treat you. She loved it. I would highly recommend doing something like that program for your kid if you can afford it. We are looking for another program for the summer before her senior year.</p>
<p>Chrissyblu, If your daughter enjoyed being around foreign exchange students, I wonder if she would like to be one? My 2012 daughter just returned from a great year in S. America with Rotary Youth Exchange and I just got back from spending the weekend at a Rotary conference for exchange students and their parents. The consensus was that it was a great experience, no matter where the students went. Having experienced both high school exchange and college study abroad, I feel that the former is much more effective than the latter because it is total immersion in a culture and language. Just throwing it out there…</p>
<p>A friend of mine is one of the Rotary board members and we discussed that. I don’t think we are up for that, but thanks for the idea. She is going to spend her junior year in college abroad, hopefully France. She just finished French IV, and her school does not offer AP French, so we have found a group for her to study with on her own.</p>
<p>DS’s AP scores finally came today. Nothing to crow about but he passed both tests (World History and Stats). He really can’t complain though, since he didn’t study for either (other than doing the classwork all year).</p>
<p>Seiclan
Passing two AP’s as a sophmore sounds great to me. Congrats!</p>
<p>Congrats to your son, Seiclan. The whole concept of studying for AP tests beyond taking the class is beyond my son as well. I’m sure that’s why he failed his AP comp sci test despite getting an A in the class. Oh well… </p>
<p>Chrissyblu, I’m glad your daughter has found a way to continue studying French. My daughter had had three years of French prior to being sent to S. America. I’ll admit that France was her first choice (and mine). I had a harder time accepting that than she did. She had a great time in S. America and is more than ready for AP Spanish this year despite never having studied Spanish before leaving. I’m not sure my daughter will ever continue study of my favorite language. She is taking AP Spanish and beginning Chinese this year. Rotary Youth Exchange is a tremendous experience for kids, but the emphasis is on cultural exchange, not language acquisition. It does require kids that are willing to go anywhere they are sent.</p>