<p>MumTo3–They are canned comments. All of our kids got the exact same comments on their essays, over several different years. Seeing the two side by side this year confirms that :D.</p>
<p>Sorry to all if I caused any confusion re: the Writing comments from the ACT test. It looks like you were all able to figure it out…this darn thing called “work” keeps getting in the way…LOL</p>
<p>Dadotwoboys, I hope you feel better soon!</p>
<p>We don’t do letter jackets here, either but I had heard of them (doesn’t Danny Zuko get one in Grease?). DS and DD just get certificates for distinction, MVP, etc. - they don’t get anything for just participating in a sport.</p>
<p>I really need to brag! They have finished all their regular season tennis matches and D13 has won ALL of her singles matches against the top players from the other schools. She is pretty pleased as most of the girls are two years older than she is. The older tournament level player on the team is playing doubles this year. S12 has won all his matches, too, but I’m afraid that we expected this so the poor guy doesn’t get as much credit as his sister. Here the m and f singles players go on to do a mixed doubles and they have been working together very well (they have done mixed doubles tournaments together before but the partnership has not always been harmonious!). They have the Island Championships next week and the Provincials at the end of the month. We aren’t sure that the Provincials will actually take place because of the teacher’s strike. They are picking and choosing the EC’s that they’ll participate in. The strike doesn’t directly affect our team as it’s run entirely by parents but in other schools the teacher contribution is significant. </p>
<p>Bad news for S12, if the Provincials do take place he’ll have to miss Prom (obviously the organizers of the Prom don’t have kids involved in athletics as tennis is not the only event taking place that weekend). He has decided that because the school team may not qualify again in the near future (they are losing 2 tournament level players who are graduating this year) he should go as team captain and encourage the younger members.
I was pleased with his maturity. He hadn’t planned to take a date, just go with friends so he won’t let anyone down by going to the mainland.</p>
<p>The ACT comments seem to go along with the scoring rubric insight as to why the student didnt get the higher score. My Ss graders didnt totally agree, so he got more comments: YOUR ESSAY ACKNOWLEDGED COUNTERARGUMENTS ON THE ISSUE BUT DID NOT DISCUSS THEM. YOUR ESSAY ADEQUATELY SUPPORTED GENERAL STATEMENTS WITH SPECIFIC REASONS, EXAMPLES, AND DETAILS. THE ORGANIZATION OF YOUR ESSAY WAS ADEQUATE, BUT THE RIGID STRUCTURE SEEMED TO LIMIT DISCUSSION.</p>
<p>No surprises there! Based on the lack of negative remarks, Im guessing Schokolades S scored better than mine! :)</p>
<p>MommyDearest- it was I that made the BS comment. I remember when D was in kindergarten and she had to write sentences for her spelling words, it was a struggle… “but I can’t write that …my favorite color isn’t yellow, or Elephants aren’t purple” Sweetie it doesn’t matter you just need a sentence, the writing was on the wall back then. Writing has never been her thing and she stresses over it. Her last Ap essay she got a 100, she cried for hours she couldn’t do it, finally I said take a zero ( 30% of her grade)knowing D has never taken a zero eventually she wrote the paper. I hoped the 100 would boost her confidence, last night new Ap essay same scenario. To me she doesn’t go into enough detail but if you ask Her she has all of the information in her head. I forsee a
Few trips to the writing lab… The funny thing is teachers don’t see the problem. </p>
<p>As for Hawaii, in the of 09 I spent $350 a ticket from Florida now I get emails about on sale for $900…it just doesn’t seem worth it.</p>
<p>fredricksdottir: Congratulations of your D13’s and S12’s wins on tournaments. You have every right to brag!! It must be so fullfilling to see the brother-sister mixed doubles!! My best wishes to both of them.</p>
<p>Looks like this writing portion of SAT and ACT restrict students to some perticular format. So a student could be a good writer yet don’t score well on them. I remember reading a thread on CC parent form about a teacher writing a letter saying sorry to kids for teaching them to write for the test!!</p>
<p>Thanks, DONIVRIAN, I don’t think that D13 realizes how much she will miss him next fall! They really are quite close.</p>
<p>Kids haven’t written the ACT, but certainly the SAT essay is rather different than what you might produce for English class. D13 is just starting to get the hang of it, I think (I hope… she has to produce one this Saturday!). Sometimes the prompts really throw her off.</p>
<p>Fredrick: You will need to give me tips next year on how your kids handle the separation. My kids are VERY close…not sure how D14 is going handle Jr going off to college…much less me :(</p>
<p>Separation is a big concern here with our twins too. Thankfully they have things like Skype now to help keep in touch but not having that day to day personal contact is going to be very hard on them. They will miss each other more than they will miss us I think.</p>
<p>SteveMA: Do they plan on going to school SOMEWHAT close to home or each other?</p>
<p>MDMom1314–right now their choices are all over the place so who knows. They could end up several states away if they go to their farthest choices.</p>
<p>What I think is hilarious is that D13 relies on her older brother for fashion advice! At least he knows what would look strange in their group of friends at school, but I’m not sure that she realizes that otherwise he is pretty oblivious to current trends. The morning dash to his room to check on the look of the day will definitely be missed and my opinion doesn’t count for much. “You’re my Mom, you always think that I look good!”</p>
<p>We will all go out to drop him off in the fall and D wants to check out the university, too as currently it is her top pick. Just have to see if she can get in! But otherwise it’s two plane rides from home so they will have to skype! With the time difference and early morning practices I’m not sure she will be willing to get up in time to get his opinion on her clothes in the morning!</p>
<p>RobD- I feel better knowing you D opted out of SAT2’s. I do have a confession- when I first stopped by cc, I was shocked at how many people were recommending Alabama. In fact D has a friend that has been talking about bama since he was a freshman. It is always a running joke with their friends. </p>
<p>Longsx3- I have heard SUNY Stonybrook is good for marine bio- but that may just be an urban legend in these parts. It is a fairly inexpensive school. </p>
<p>Welcome stuckintx.</p>
<p>Reein- so sorry about your S’s writing scores. But the overall seems great to me. Ds SAT essay was ehhhh- BUT she still managed a 730 on the section. It is crazy to me, D is a strong writer- She has had 10 articles published in our city’s newspaper. She feel the format is too restrictive. </p>
<p>Congrats on the win tx5. </p>
<p>Feel better dadotwoboys</p>
<p>Congrats on the tennis wins Fredricksdottir.</p>
<p>D finished the first portion of IB Math today. Did anyone else’s D/S have their IB Math exam today? D said it was really easy. Whew!</p>
<p>My son, whom I considered a rather shy guy has been asked for senior prom by one of the senior girls who is in their friend circle. He is thrilled and happy. Prom, girlfirends etc were not on our list so far and things are really changing. I am at my wits end and in a culture shock, but I know that I need to be happy for him and let him make his own decision. </p>
<p>Reeinaz: I read your comment " Teach him to be careful not fearful" in on of the thread here today. That is my manthra for the day!! What a wise advice!</p>
<p>Nellieh,Nice to know your D’s exam went well. I teach IB math, so my students had IB math exam today. And after the exams they stoped by my class to say they did really well. Tomorrow is part 2, which is more challenging than paper one. All the best for IB exams every one.</p>
<p>S3 had a long day. He and his partner lost both the semi-final and the 3rd place match in “super tie-breakers” (they split sets and then played a first to 10 tie-breaker). He is very disappointed. But on a better note, he won the election for ASB (Associated Student Body?) Vice President. He is going to come home for a quick dinner and then he has Drama practice at 6pm.</p>
<p>nellieh or DONIVRIAN - maybe one of you can answer this. At our school students take AP Calculus (son is taking BC) in the 11th and then IB HL or SL in 12th. So he doesn’t have a math IB exam this year. He has an A in calculus and expects either a 4 or 5 on the AP exam. His teacher recommended him for HL math next but he really planned to take SL. He has enough HL classes and doesn’t feel like he is a good math student. He doesn’t like math and knows that what he plans in college he will not have to go above calculus. Is HL really necessary or much harder than SL?</p>
<p>SteveMA: it seems like we will have the same troubles/joys next year. My twins have completely different interests and I can’t see them going to the same school. Surprisingly, it’s my DD13b that is looking furthest away. She really isn’t keen on going far away but may have to to get what she wants out of college. DD13a is a STEM kid so can pretty much go anywhere it seems. Has her eye on a LAC that is only an hour from home. I too think my kids will have more trouble getting used to not seeing each other every day than getting used to college. DD13a will be gone at governor’s scholar camp for five weeks this summer, so that will be a good test. For all of us!</p>
<p>Oh, I also wondered about an email we got today from Case. We get bombarded every day anyway, so I usually dont pay much attention. This one said that it was a special invitation to apply early and and application fee waiver. Has anybody else received like emails from schools? Just wondered.</p>
<p>CBGMass: HL is much challenging than SL in terms of material covered and depth. If a student has done AP Calc BC, doing SL is going down the level- He will not learn any thing new in SL except a small portion(may be 10 hrs worth) of probability and statistics.
I would place SL right between AP Calc AB and AP Calc BC. Also, IMO, Doing HL after BC- he will see a lot of overlap. I also feel that the HL IA’s are much harder than the SL ones. For a student who finished AP Cal BC, I would think a better option would be AP STAT or Multivariable Calc, which is what my S did. But if one wants to experience IB and IA’s and the learning that occurs from it, doing HL makes a bit sense. If he does’t like math, I am not sure he is going to enjoy HL, but I am sure it can be done since he already has a strong math background.
Tx5: sorry abt the loss in the match. But he did get to make it up with the elcection win!! Congrats…</p>