<p>I think prep for the PSAT should be the same as for the SAT, since the PSAT is supposed to be the practice for the SAT.</p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about number2.com. It also has the advantage of being free. :-)</p>
<p>3yrs2go - your S can become familiar with the format just by doing some online practice tests or with a PSAT prep book. you might want to wait and see how he does on the sophomore test before investing in a prep class. then you’ll know what areas need work prior to the junior year test. </p>
<p>that’s what we did with D2. her sophomore score was within range of the National Merit cutoff, so she did a weekend prep class just before the jr year test.</p>
<p>If he was a bit more “self motivated” I would go that route, but I fear that the only way he’s going to really review is if he has to go to a class! To be fair to him, he’s really become disciplined in the last year, but with his club and school water polo coaches demanding his time, his piano and community service (not to mention school work), I can’t blame him too much if he wants to veg when he has a little down time. I bought him a book months ago that I know he’s never even opened.</p>
<p>^^I hear you! My D was the same way, hence the class. I thought maybe your S was more self-motivated than my D. 
It would have been a heck of a lot cheaper!</p>
<p>Here, here!</p>
<p>A little disappointed in grades. I am pleased with my son’s performance but two grades came in at a 89 which is a B (3.0) stinks because slackers who come in at a 80 earn a B (3.0). There is a weighted GPA but the same thing - does anyone use the +scale for GPA ranking? How do colleges really determine this?</p>
<p>We are at a four year high school, someone mentioned that the Freshman year grades are not calculated by the colleges. Any one have experience with this?</p>
<p>I am also a bit t-ed off because some students took easy electives non weighted classes (easy a) mine took an academic elective class and earned the 89! Ugghhh how stupid were we! Easy A was the way to go. Is it still too late to sign up for cooking?</p>
<p>I know I shouldn’t be upset and frustrated but I am mad at myself for not recognizing before high school how the system works. Bah humbug.</p>
<p>cherryhillmomto2,</p>
<p>I wouldn’t stress too much. Colleges will look that the class selections as well as straight GPA. Some also look at “core” GPA, the required classes, as well as overall. And the high B should get more points than a low B. I just can’t remember where the A-/B+ cut off is.</p>
<p>MemphisGuy,</p>
<p>I have one of those, too! He doesn’t go through as many books as yours, but my S gets into a novel and next thing you know his teachers are telling me he’s not paying attention and please intercede. If only that directly transferred to bigger vocabulary and better grammer!</p>
<p>cherryhill, that is bad luck on the 89s. Our school uses + and - in the grades it reports. But there are people worse off than you! I have seen scales were things below like a 93 were a B! But on the topic of easy class for an A vs harder class for a B, it is a tough tradeoff. For those where class rank is so important, in states like TX and CA, one really needs to strategize if going for a top X% is important for state college admissions. For colleges which take a more holistic view, I think the tougher courses, even if possibly a lower grade, are the better option.</p>
<p>There are schools which totally discount Freshman grades but I can’t think of them, my older D is not thinking of any of them. I think Stanford might be one? Michigan maybe? Maybe a new thread with this question will give that answer.</p>
<p>and as 3yrs2go (cute name) says, there are some which recalculate the GPA to their own formula, some which use what the school sends, some which use weighted, some unweighted, etc, etc. This info is more difficult to find and usually is best asked directly to the school.</p>
<p>But the advice to chill is good one, but I know it is hard. We have told our kids all along that “middle school is practice, high school is real” But in the grand scheme, the one not-so-great grade D2 got first trimester is water under the bridge…</p>
<p>(parent of 12 as well as 10)</p>
<p>Back when I was personally going through this, there was a girl in my class that intentionally took a few “regular” classes instead of the honors and AP levels. She ended up being one higher on the class rankings than me, but I was accepted to schools she was not. In the end, I found that the admissions folks at colleges really know what they’re doing and the “gamers” really don’t gain much benefit if any.</p>
<p>Of course I say this as I’m harping on my S about being “behind” in math! :-)</p>
<p>3yrs2go- there are schools that are holistic, and there are those that are largely numbers driven without putting much thought into it. My older daughter is looking at small schools in the first category, too early to tell what D2 the 12er will prefer. It is mostly large state schools which do not really look beyond the numbers sent to them.</p>
<p>Univ of California system looks at grade 10 and 11 grades, and only allows a certain number of extra points for honors. I don’t remember the exact formula, and each school in the system “tweaks” it a bit…</p>
<p>As much as I would hate him being so far away, I always thought California would be great and if they only look at 10th and 11th. yipee!</p>
<p>Caveat about the UC system: As you might expect, the bar is set higher for OOS students. Plus, it gets pretty pricey for OOS as well, so unless it’s UC Berkeley or UCLA, there might be better options at the public flagship in your home state. Also, for those considering UC, watch out for those A-G class requirements. At lot of potential OOS applicants get tripped up over the one class requirement in VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts.) So here in CA, you’ll see some academically bent kids with a transcript stuffed with difficult, core AP classes … and one lonely VAPA.</p>
<p>One more note on the UC system, we have been told, repeatedly by DD’s principal, gc, and the career center director not to do the VPA online. The UC’s do not accept online VPA, even from a California Community College. Some students take the online version, not knowing that if the UC’s pick up on that it won’t fulfill the requirement. (All 3 say some students do “get away with it” if it’s not caught, but I wouldn’t take that risk.)</p>
<p>3yrs2go,</p>
<p>While you may not be seeing the vocabulary and grammer benefits of your sons reading I am willing to bet that the benefits are still there. If nothing else his ability to hyperfocus will probably be a big help as he starts getting into the formalized testing his sophmore and Junior year. Some of the sittings for the PSAT, SAT and ACT can have a lot of people in the room, and a lot of distractions!!</p>
<p>Besides if your son is anything like mine he communicates with the rest of the world much better then he ever communicates with us, his lowly parents. There are times where we are lucky to get a series of grunts and heavy breaths out of him. His mom has decided that two sighs and a grunt means “I love you too”. :-)</p>
<p>for not particularly college-related commentary, I started a thread over in the Cafe looking for a name for the Class of 2012 Parents
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/732265-high-school-class-2012-parents.html#post1062762581[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/732265-high-school-class-2012-parents.html#post1062762581</a>
:)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh thank you, finally, a dictionary! I was hoping that was what my son was saying…since he says it so much these days. </p>
<p>I am hoping that all of my son’s potential colleges DO use freshman year. He somehow, despite xbox-live, managed all A’s. Next year though, I am afraid he will be in for a jolt and with such a demanding courseload,may not be able to pull it all off.</p>
<p>D’s finally done with finals, it’s been a loonngg week around here. I don’t think she was fully prepared for how tiring it would be, but she’s done a great job.
Euro AP assignment is home, just 15 pages of reading, and be prepared to discuss. I’m making an extra copy and keeping it at the business, just in case…
Summer assignment for English is Grapes of Wrath, and requires 7 different colored highlighters for color coding various elements. She’s concerned she will use the wrong color somewhere along the line, and hopes they don’t change the color coding (I can’t imagine that they would). I’m off to buy a set of highlighters.</p>
<p>Our AP Euro has more reading than that they’ve got three things to do.</p>
<ol>
<li>Mazlisch and Bronowski, The Western Intellectual Tradition read and take notes.</li>
<li>Read a major European novel (e.g. Mikhail Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time, Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, Stendhal’s The Red and the Black, or William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair). In a 300 to 500 word essay, typed and double-spaced, please suggest an answer to: “What is the view of society afforded by this work?”
3.Read A biography, diary, collection of letters, or memoir of recent vintage [N.B. Please avoid repeating memoirs you might already have encountered, such as those by Wiesel, Roosevelt, Frank, etc. Although it may have been written by an American, African or Asian, it should have a European focus]. Please write a three to five page essay assessing the “voice” in the work you have chosen.</li>
</ol>
<p>This is a lot more work than most APs and this course is notorious for the number of essays it requires during the school year. Son figures he’ll probably learn more about writing essays from it than he ever has from English. His APUSH class only had one research paper for the whole year, which I thought was too little.</p>
<p>Ugh to the highlighter assignment, I hate defacing books.</p>