<p>Longsx3–the math teacher’s here will spend a couple weeks before the April ACT working on geometry and trig with the kids. Most of these kids haven’t had any geometry or trig since 9th grade and need the refresher. That seems to be the part of the ACT most kids lose points on so it might be worth getting a hold of a geometry/trig book.</p>
<p>I guess I should try to get S2 to start reviewing for the SAT. Doubt that it’s going to happen. I think his math class at school has been doing some review, so maybe that will help. He’s signed up for the March SAT - the first day of Spring Break. I told him that if he takes the SAT seriously, then he can enjoy the rest of the break.</p>
<p>He was invited to sing at a very prestigious music festival in Los Angeles this summer. I think he is going to accept, but he was a little concerned that it coincided with summer school at the community college. He wanted to take Government this summer so that he could get out of school an hour earlier his senior year. I told him to consider his career v. his leisure time. Probably not an easy choice for a 16 yr old. We’ll see which he chooses.</p>
<p>My D is taking the SAT in March also, but I am beginning to regret it as we could have put a little visit trip together if she wasn’t testing that Saturday. D is very happy with ACT score, which has made her care less about the SAT, but I am trying to encourage her to study by telling her that if she beats her ACT score than it will probably be the last one she will need to take. She is spending her break on a band trip to Chicago, and she is so excited for it I think sometimes that in her mind she is already there :)</p>
<p>How exciting for your son! I am more impressed that he is concerned with it interfering with school, lol. Many people at my D’s school will not have a full schedule next year, so will be leaving the school early each day. D is a little envious, but I strongly suggested that that would not be a good idea for her, and she aptly took that as a no :)</p>
<p>D just texted me that she got a superior rating at the state solo contest!! She was pretty excited. Considering the amount of effort she put into this (not much) I have to credit our band directors for her success as much as her :).</p>
<p>Congrats to SteveMA’s D. Congrats to MegpMom’s S. Great news. </p>
<p>Yea for great news.</p>
<p>Congrats to all of the great scores!</p>
<p>Today we are visiting a friend of D’13 who is graduating from Army AIT, we are very proud of him. While I know that the Army is just a different path in adulthood, I can help but think of the sacrifices this young man will make in the coming years, it makes D’s test scores a little less important.</p>
<p>These posts about scores make me wish our kids had taken their tests already. The school advises them to wait until April because they put a lot of effort into preparing them for the tests in April and May so we wait. They have taken one part of the ACT as a practice in their prep class and both scored higher than I thought they would given it’s their weakest subjects (30 and 28). We will see how they do on the rest of their practice tests.</p>
<p>Is my D the only one whose ACT scores aren’t showing up yet? It’s killing me! She took it back in Sept and I’m just hoping she got her score up a couple points from that and we can be done with it.</p>
<p>On another note, we did our first college visit last week. D is being so kind to consider my alma mater so we drove up to Iowa State. Of course it snowed while we were there - she loves snow but didn’t enjoy trekking across campus in the cold. Having nothing to compare it too, she did like the college and will keep it on her list of schools to consider for now. I was reminded of how much I love Iowa State!</p>
<p>Poor S3 is busy this week. The musical he is in is next weekend so they have practice every night 5:30pm to 9:30 pm. Plus 10am to 10pm on Saturday. Plus this is the first week of the tennis season so they have matches today, tomorrow and Thursday. He was up until midnight last night doing homework. I am sure it will be the same all week. </p>
<p>Apollo: His composite was 29, he got a 24 in English (subscores 9/16), Math 29, Reading 31 and Science 33 and the writing has not been posted yet. So I think if he works on the 9 subscore he can really improve.</p>
<p>cyclonehome-Iowa State is one of my all time favorite campuses. Unfortunately none of our kids are interested in attending though, too big for them.</p>
<p>I am the black sheep in my family, the only one of 3 kids not to graduate from Iowa State. Now, I teach at Iowa, but still cheer for the 'Clones.</p>
<p>S has ISU on the list and we visited this past Fall.</p>
<p>SteveMA - Congrats to your daughter!</p>
<p>Longsx3 - My son planned to go Air Force for the longest time, but in the last year realized how special our volunteer troops truly are to give up so much at such young ages. Your friend should be very proud.</p>
<p>tx5 - Play practice is getting brutal here too, but nothing like your son’s Saturday schedule! I can’t complain about my son’s hours after hearing your son’s. This is our first year involved with the play and it really has become “our” with the pressure to volunteer for the concession stand, get ad placements and the crazy running back & forth for practice. And my son is only in pit band - can’t imagine the schedule for the leads.</p>
<p>cyclonehome - Have you been in touch with ACT to find out why the scores are late? </p>
<p>SteveMA - My son is taking the April ACT and May SAT. As long as he scores at least what his SAT predicts, it will be his last SAT. He did take the SAT last May though. I just threw in the ACT to see how he does compared to the SAT. If he does significantly better with the ACT, then he’ll be taking the September ACT. At this point, I’m more concerned about his GPA than his test scores :(</p>
<p>tx5athome - My son has told me in no uncertain terms that he will not be staying up late to finish homework. It either gets done before 10 or it doesn’t. lol. I at least have to appreciate that he doesn’t lie to himself about an all-nighter even being a possibility.</p>
<p>Haystack–you rebel…:)</p>
<p>reeinaz-our kids took the ACT and SAT as freshmen and sophomores and had good baseline scores. That was helpful to see what is realistic for them however, since coming here, we are now leaning toward programs where they would come in at the top of the applicant pool for better merit aid. For D, it would be important to “shine” at her school since she plans on going to med school. Even with those scores from last year, they will be in the top 25%.</p>
<p>Now, having said that, does anyone know anything about Regis in Denver, Co? Just got an email from them, D would be in the top 25% easily-WAY easily. HUGE merit aid possible and combined with a possible athletic scholarship could come very close to a full ride. It’s a Jesuit school, which I am a fan of so that is a plus.</p>
<p>Congrats to all the musically talented. I am so impressed with these young kids. My D opted out of the musical this year since she has taken up performing her own folk music (coffee shops for tips). In a million years I would never have done that in high school. </p>
<p>D has a full schedule next year so there is no leaving early. The school does not allow it which is great (IMO) since there are no decisions to be made or arguments to be had.</p>
<p>Longhaul: Here too we are supposed to get ads for the program, works concessions, donate to concessions, etc… And S3 does not have a lead, or actually any lines for that matter, but he is singing and dancing and on the stage I guess the majority of the time. This is our third kid at the school, but the first to be in drama. So it is very new to us. Luckily he drives himself to and from school, so that is one less thing to worry about.</p>
<p>Hello to all!
It has been a while since I visited last. Congratulations on all the great sores!
About busy schedules and late night stays - DS rarely goes to bed before midnight and is up at 6 A.M. on school days. Some nights he stays up as late as 2 or 3 in the morning. It is crazy - there are days that he does not get home before 9 P.M. He is motivated to the extreme and does every single assignment thoroughly. The only area that is suffering right now is his music practice - there is no time for it. He will have to find it somehow though to get ready for Four Seasons solo in August (!).
Took SAT in Jan and I think he is done. Got 2330 (CR 730, W 800, M 800) . I don’t think it is worth retaking just to get his CR score a little higher - what do you think? With perfect ACT? The only reason he took SAT was to qualify for NM program.
He already has two SAT subject test under his belt and I am beginning to think it is enough, although I have always thought that he should do one more. I think that I am tired with all that testing 
Time to pay for the AP exams and order some prep books. With two kids it adds up to hundreds of $ ! Do you buy prep books for AP?
DS will be taking Euro, English Lit, Chem,Economy (two tests) plus an IB Economy. To make things more impossible regional sprints (rowing) are the weekend before AP exams start, and they are out of state.
End of this week is state DECA, he is working on finishing up his movies that are probably overdue, number of math competitions this month (March). This HS business is simply crazy…</p>
<p>Oh - you do not need calculus for SAT/ACT - it can actually be beneficial to take it right after trig.</p>
<p>Kelowna, we buy prep books for some AP classes, but not others. US and Euro History my kids definitely needed them, as it was made clear that the class could not cover everything. I bought French for D1 too, and Chemistry for D2. We did not find the need to buy prep books for either English, Psych, Econ, Stat, or Calc, as the classes at our HS covered the material well. Your school may be different.</p>
<p>Oh, and welcome back! I noticed you hadn’t been around this thread lately.</p>
<p>Also, with his great ACT score, I don’t think an SAT retake is necessary.</p>
<p>About a year or so ago Kaplan had all of the prep books for the AP tests, ACT tests, SAT I and II’s, MCATs, etc. in e-book format for free. I downloaded every single one of them because we just didn’t know what they would need down the road. Keep an eye on Amazon and B&N because they have done this twice that I know of. They may still be free, I haven’t looked lately.</p>