<p>I have an idea for those struggling with math. I used it with ds2, especially, who, despite his great scores really isn’t a math kid (remember that failing notice earlier this year???)</p>
<p>Anyway, have your kids do practice math sections untimed. Make the goal getting the correct answer, not doing it quickly, because if they don’t know how to do it the work they’ll never be able to do it quickly anyway. After they try it themselves, have them use any and all resources available to them to get the answer (I posted a question for ds2 on cc!). Ds2, when he started taking practice tests, was scoring around 700, so not bad, but by the end of his practice tests was consistently over 750 with an occasional 800. Again, the key is to KNOW how to do the work, then they can work on speed.</p>
<p>MWmom, I agree about waiting until as late as possible for the retake as she’ll be done with Alg II and the extra lessons and maturity should help with her score.</p>
<p>DS2 got his report card this weekend. Um, underwhelming, though he’s no longer failing math, at least.</p>
<p>^^^One of the criteria in my retirement calculus is that we live near a college town. When D1 did her study abroad last summer, 2 professors (husband & wife) mentioned that when they retire, that they want to do the same trip during September for adults. Sign me up :)</p>
<p>Rob-the school my grandpa attended had a huge elderhostl program and he traveled all over the world with that program. It was fantastic for him. He spent most every summer for 20 years somewhere. The programs ran anywhere from 3-12 weeks.</p>
<p>YDS: you intrigue me with this math magic you speak of I may be in touch. </p>
<p>D will take the ACT again next month for the state mandated graduation requirement. I’m not going to ask her to prep any more for that one. Depending on how she feels about a couple of schools we’re planning on visiting this spring, I may strongly suggest a September retake using your strategy for the math. </p>
<p>Elderhostel: I had completely forgotten about that! When my mom & inlaws retired, I remember excitedly telling them about those programs & they looked at me like I was nuts. But it sounds wonderful to me. </p>
<p>Your grandpa sounds like a model of the type of retiree I’d like to be.</p>
<p>MWM - Congrats on the scores! I disagree with needing Calc. My son is very good at Calc, but doesn’t do well on standardized testing Math - He “forgets” how to do the basics quickly - The “pre-Algebra” area brings him down</p>
<p>I just logged in and got my son’s b/c I couldn’t wait for him to do it tonight (bad mom) - very happy - 34 composite (35 eng/32Math/33 reading/33 science/12 Writing). He could retake to improve the Math, but I doubt he will. I can’t see him bringing that composite score up and I think it would be too much of a chance since few schools Superscore ACT.<br>
Any thoughts?</p>
<p>FWIW - the highest reach schools he is considering is Claremonts (Pomona, Pitzer). Pomona will be uphill due to his GPA.
Next level of schools he is considering is Occidental, Colorado, Rhodes.
Below this level, I don’t think a 1 pt score difference will matter.</p>
<p>RobD - After my major melt down this weekend about our ability to pay for college, I really appreciate your post. Thanks for reminding me, in the big picture, we will be able to get him to a college and that is what is important. I’m sure there are many of us whose compensation has not been steady for the last 10 years and are in the middle class doughnut hole.</p>
<p>Rob, I just outlined all the magic I have! I think while they’re being timed, kids panic and forget that they actually do know this stuff. The question I posted for ds2 – after he saw how to solve it, he said, “Oh, yeah, I knew that.” Hmmmm, but it didn’t come to him under “test” conditions. Anyway, without the time pressure, kids can remember the skills they think they forgot and gain confidence that when it comes to the real thing, they, as ds2 says “got this.” </p>
<p>I love college towns! We used to live/work in Columbia, MO, and I LOVED that town. Even though I did not grow up in the midwest, I think I could live there forever!</p>
<p>My local college when growing up, U. Alaska-Faribanks has a big elderhostel program. Always very popular. </p>
<p>Longhaul~Those are awesome scores! Congrats to your son! Pre-alg is D’s most problematic area. Although all of the subtests were low, that area was the lowest. </p>
<p>I am going to have to go back and read RobD’s post about paying for college. We have been feeling the heat also, sounds like it might be benefitial to us.</p>
<p>Congrats all on the great ACT scores! Yeah!</p>
<p>DD13 is starting to look at schools, finally. She is studying for SATs and doing fairly well in school. We’ve just been through the process with DS12 and this is what I can tell you from a parent, who like many of you, “can pay for state schools, but not for private”. Don’t despair! There are a lot of good options, but you have to look for them and know what you are looking for. Your childs search will really need to include the financial factor. Dont look for fit first, look at the money first! </p>
<p>First, if your kids have strong scores (32 and up on the ACT, 2100 and up on the SAT) the idea is to look at schools in the top 50 or close that offer good merit aid. Some schools don’t offer good merit aid (like BU) and some do (like U of Miami). These two schools are very similar in size, caliber and fit, but one is urban and cold the other is suburban and warm. Our strategy was to apply to Miami, but not Boston U. Also, look for schools that meet 100% need with no loans. Also, if your kid is of a really high caliber, HPY and some of the others look at your finances differently and will take only 10% of current income and a certain percent of saved income. Sometimes they come through with even more money than the Top 20 schools. However, you have to have the stats to get in first. If you are a NMF (we are not) but some schools will give close to a full ride for that, like U of Alabama. Schools known for good merit aid are Tulane, U of Miami, U of Pittsburgh, U of Rochester, and others listed on the link schools known for good merit aid at the top of the CC section. </p>
<p>If your scores are in the 28 to 30 (ACT) or in the 1800 to 2050 SAT many of the schools that change lives will give you good merit aid. Beloit, Carlton and tons of others are known for good merit aid. The key is to shoot just a bit shy of those schools that you can get into, but cant afford to be the average student. You have to be the above average student to get the merit aid. It is a strategy that works. Of course, apply to at least two safeties that you like too. State schools can be very good values and give a great education too. SUNYs have tons of options and are very affordable, if you are a NY resident. </p>
<p>Agree with geogirl, but one correction if she’s talking about Carleton College: Carleton doesn’t have good merit aid. It has one $2k merit scholarship for NMF, NA and NHRP scholars. The rest of their aid is need-based and is excellent, which is why ds1 is there.</p>
<p>Good morning! You guys have been busy this morning! I am back at work after a week off and trying to reacclimate. I completely forgot about the ACT scores coming back today!!! S3 is very independent so I don’t know his passwords so I can’t check his scores. I always knew D1 and S2’s passwords. I just texted him so hopefully he can look it up at school. Otherwise I have to wait until 4pm. </p>
<p>We visited S2 (HS’10) yesterday for his 20th birthday. He took us on a tour of the campus so I am counting that as a campus tour for S3. We have actually been to the campus many times, but S2 gives tours to athletic recruits so it was fun to see him do his thing. Although he pointed out that athletic recruit tours are very different than normal tours. I had never been to campus on a Sunday, and it was very active. Not anywhere near as active as a weekday, but you still saw a lot of students walking around. </p>
<p>oops - not Carleton, thanks for the correction YDS. </p>
<p>No meltdowns at our house because of finances. I think the key is to be very upfront in the beginning as to what is available and what you are and aren’t willing to pay for. We were not happy to pay more for a school that was academically “less” than state schools. We also told them we had XX amount of dollars and that it might go up (but not down) because we will have two in school for 3 years. We were very clear that we would do our best by them, but we had what we had and there wasn’t really more. We also are ok with fed loans up to 21K for a REALLY GOOD SCHOOL, but more than that was not worth it as far as we were conserned. Every family is different about money and what they value, but over all drama can be averted by just being very clear up front and not waiting till they have their heart set on that 200K school that you can’t afford and gives no merit aid.</p>
<p>For us the loan issue came down to what career they were pursuing and the likelihood of paying off those loans in a short time after college. When our oldest was considering becoming a teacher, the conversation centered around having $27K in student loans (or whatever the number was back then) and a job that was going to pay $30K out of the gate. D is looking at med school and $27K in UG loans is not unreasonable (but would like to keep those to a minimum because she will need to take loans for med school). When our other son was looking at going to a school that was in the $50K+ range to become a high school teacher we had a reality talk with him about that and has since figured out it wasn’t a good idea to graduate with $100K in loans to be a history teacher. Now, he has changed his focus and looking at a job that would start in the $100K range, give or take, and that $100K in loans (which really will be closer to $50K) isn’t great, but it isn’t unreasonable to pay that off in a shortish amount of time too.</p>
<p>Steve- why would one need the calculus back groung for these tests? Am I missing some thing here?</p>
<p>YDK: what an awsome idea for math prep.</p>
<p>Geogirl- good thoughts for merit money and i am going to keep it in mind while applying…</p>
<p>This weekend, my S qualified for American Regional Math league cometition, he will be part of eastern massachessets team and the cometition will be held in Penn state in June I think. It will overlap with the june SAT test date- but the ARML has some provision for the kids who have registered for the test to retake it next week with COLLEGE BOARD. Hopefully it will turn out ok. He will be doing his Physics SAT in june.</p>
<p>S3 looked up his ACT scores. He got a 29. The highlight was a 33 in Science, and the lowlight (?) was a 24 in English. The lowest subscore for English was in mechanics, so I think if he focuses on that he can improve that score.</p>
<p>D got her scores, she got a 30 comp. with a high of 34 in English and low of 26 in math. I was happy with her first attempt, D’13 not so much. She is already registered for June ACT and is hoping for a 33. A friend is a manager of a “tutoring/testing” center and thinks that she will do better on the SAT in May, because of her high scores in English and the math only goes up to Alg II…she has not had the Trig that is on the ACT.</p>
<p>A 33 in science is very good. It shows that he reads and interprets data well. That’s the toughest test for many kids. How was his reading score? I bet he could make a big improvement with a little practice.</p>
<p>Respectfully disagree with the comment that calculus is needed for a good math score. Practice with old tests worked best for us - none of my kids had reached calc in their junior year. Recognizing the types of problems, what they are asking for, and how the SAT can be tricky takes practice. My D always makes a stupid math mistake (such as how many Mondays can be in a month of 4.5 weeks!)</p>
<p>Congratulations to all the great test scores. Another piece of the admissions puzzle! </p>
<p>Also glad to hear that our family is not the only one feeling the upcoming pain of paying for college. Love the perspective RobD- 1st world problems.</p>
I may be in touch. </p>