<p>I’m not a superstitious person at all but this morning when I woke up, it was 5:55 on 5/5. A part of me said that was an auspicious sign though. I woke S up to take him to the SAT and made a serious effort to not fuss or nag to keep himin a pleasant mood. I dropped him off at the testing site and told him to kick a** on the test :)</p>
<p>When I picked him up, he was chatting with a schoolmate who also took the test at that site. S was VERY chatty in the car. A complete 180 from the post ACT funk of a few weeks ago. He said he felt pretty good about the test, it seemed easy, but was still hesitant to offer any guess as to how his score will turn out. He did say he thinks he nailed the essay :)</p>
<p>We get home I checked the mail. Big envelope from the computer sience summer program that he didn’t complete the application for until a week aftr the deadline. The summer program that was so concerned about his math grade that they contacted his precalculus teacher to make sure he could handle the math required by the program. He got in!!! </p>
<p>Then I see an envelope from the National Achievement Scholarship Program saying that they’ve been unable to contact his high school to verify his eligibility to participate further in their program and he needs to have a school official contact them immediately. That was completely unexpected.</p>
<p>reeinaz, with the time difference I still haven’t picked DD up from the SAT, but I hope that her experience was as positive as your son’s! Congratulations on your S’s summer computer science program and I hope that you can iron out the wrinkles for the National Achievement Scholarship Program. Strange that they haven’t been able to contact the school.</p>
<p>Saw Seussical last night, sooo much fun. A little trouble with one of the mikes but otherwise it came off very well and everyone performed marvelously! Just the matinee today and then it’s over for another year!</p>
<p>When I was in high school, Harvard did not have an acceptance rate of 6%. I also did not hear of top colleges rejecting kids with such high SAT scores and so many AP classes as they do now a days. I used to think having above 1200 out of 1600 on the SAT and a 3.7 GPA without any AP classes was enough to get into good colleges. I used to think that scores above 1300 on the SAT and a couple of AP classes with 4s and 5s was a passport to the Ivies. That is clearly not the case any more. Also, I do not remember tuitions being as high as they are now. A thousand dollars bought a year’s tuition at state universities in TX and $10,000 at MIT. So, who can blame kids of today for feeling a completely different kind of pressure than we did?</p>
<p>Well, Ds’s take on the SAT was that it was “stupid”. There were 10 sections—banging head against wall…not that we didn’t tell him to look up information on the test, or actually study or do some practice tests or anything…</p>
<p>Great news on the computer science camp Reeinaz</p>
<p>laurendog, STEMFamily and DrGoogle- So sorry for your sad news. </p>
<p>D and her friend had mixed reactions to the SAT today. They both thought the math section was easier, and both thought the CR section was harder. It was quickly put out of mind as the girls went for a long walk then out to lunch. </p>
<p>It is a beautiful day here today. I suggested they put the test out of their mind and have some friends over for small fire- a small hangout before they jump into APUSH studying. I hate that they barely have time to be kids anymore</p>
<p>Lol, SteveMa! I have yet to see either of mine study for an SAT/ACT! Let’s hope they all decide to study for AP exams! DD13a will probably only study for AP Calc and DD13b will freak out and have meltdowns before both of her tests.</p>
<p>S spent some time this morning looking at the credit given for AP’s and IB’s. This was enough to make him realize he really wanted a good grade on the calculus exam next week. The thought of never having to take calculus again was great motivation. He is over at a friends now studying.</p>
<p>Now that my son has taken the ACT and SAT close enough together to compare, he prefers the SAT. He likes the questions on the ACT better, but he didn’t like the long blocks of testing time. With the SAT, it’s broken up into 30 minute chunks and he felt like his mind stayed more active that way. He also liked that the essay was first, while his brain was fresh, rather than at the end. Oh, and he told me he was so happy after the test today because he knew he was done testing :p</p>
<p>Kudos to all of the SAT takers! Really hope everyone gets what they are hoping for. We all seem to be pleased with the recent ACT, so let’s hope for more Good Luck for the Lucky 13’ers! :)</p>
<p>Step-D took 3 SAT IIs today, said she liked the Spanish, struggled with Bio, and didn’t know about the US History. Exactly what I expected. We’ll see what happens when the scores come out. She did pull a “SteveMA’s D” move and left her admissions ticket at home. Had to make the mad-dash back to her house and then back to the testing center to be able to take her tests. Am so glad I learned about this in Virginia and wasn’t there when she came rolling back in to her mom’s house in Florida to get her missing ticket! lol</p>
<p>What classes would a student need to have had in math to take IB Math Studies? I have a student who will be IB next year. Plans to take HL English, History, etc. But is not a math kid. What classes do most kids have under their belt before Math Studies. And can you tell me more about what is covered in Math Studies and how it works?</p>
<p>5grizzlycubs. I can tell you what my D took. She took Alegbra, Geometry, and Trig. That is typically what students in Ds school took. The class feels easy to her. Not sure what they cover.</p>
<p>Laurendog…is your D in AP Bio too? …Mine took the subject test today and said it was ok…her friend just takes reg bio and took the subject test …it will be interesting to see if she could have just taken reg bio and still do well on the SAT subject test with out all the AP Stress…
I think either AP or SAT Subject should be enough for the colleges!!</p>
<p>Hey guys! Ahhhhhh, I took SAT Subject Tests today in Literature, Math 1, and US History. Math normally isn’t my strongest subject, but I think I did much better on the math test than the literature one. I think the US History test gave me a better understanding of what I need to study for my APUSH exam this Friday… which I’m kinda sorta really freaking out about. Although I’ve tried my hardest to memorize all of America’s history, I’m really worried for the free response portion and the DBQ. While I’m in AP English Lang and I know how to write an essay with sources effectively because of the synthesis question, I’m just really worried I won’t understand what the DBQ is asking me to analyze!</p>
<p>The literature test was just…horrible. I know that this might sound completely naive, but I wish I had realized that there was going to be poetry on the test. I know, I know, hello, it’s a literature test. I’ve just never studied poetry (except for reading Shakespeare and the Odyssey, but we never actually studied the way the author writes the poetry) and I wasn’t expecting it. I was thinking something more like the critical reading section. Oh well, I think I’m going to do really well on the ACTs based off of my practice tests, so I might just be sending those scores into colleges if I do as well as I am planning on doing.</p>
<p>Congrats to the test takers! So S3 decided he wants to take the SAT in June (along with the ACT, one week apart). He was going to take the subject tests, but he wants to see how he does on the SAT when he isn’t exhausted (he took it in December the same weekend as the Fall drama production, so practiced late every night the week before and was up past midnight after opening night and the cast party the night before the test). I know it is ideal to take the subject tests in May or June while you are actually taking the classes, but who knows, maybe he will decide not to take the subject tests at all. </p>
<p>He actually studied a little today for the APUSH exam. There is a review session tomorrow (SUNDAY?). </p>
<p>Starting the mad May rush! Seems like there is a banquet or concert or awards ceremony every weekend day and some weekdays! So glad I only have one child at home. I remember the days that I had 4 at home - in 3 different schools. Thinking of y’all still in that boat.</p>
<p>Congrats to all who had theirs survive and thrive on the SAT today! My D’s BFF took it today and was pleased and as a reward, we all went to see the Avengers tonight. The kids loved it and my H and I liked it too.</p>
<p>So DS starts Drivers Ed tomorrow…yikes! </p>
<p>Congrats reeinaz on the computer science program and the NM people tracking you down!</p>
<p>Missed being here for last two days. Nice to know SAT’s went well. S will be taking physics and US history SAT 2 in June and for us, that is pretty much it, he will be done with SAT.</p>
<p>S studying for APUSH all day yesterday and afternoon, seven of them met one of the houses for group study. He has 3 tests this week, chem tomorrow, Comuter Science on tuesday and APUSH on friday. however, the college class he is taking is winding up this week with a final on thursday. He also has to study for it. Tueday he has to go to dentist to adjust his braces.(he is planning on skipping school on wednesday or thursday to recover and have more study time) Today he is at ARML camp all day long… Hope this week end soon for my S’s sake.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear the losses Lauren and Dr. Google. Keeping you in my prayers.</p>
<p>5grizzlycubs: IB suggests the pre- requisite course for math studied is geometry. And many schools do follow this. But I think certain schools have certain requirments. In my school, Algebra 2 —> IB Mathstudies over two years is the requirement. Students can not move to Math studies if they haven’t completed algera2. Studnets in geometry can take a summer algebra 2 course and then qualify. All one year IB porgrams are rigorous than 2 year programs. We do have couple of precalc students opting for it just becuase they don’t have to spend a lot of time and effort into this class and concentrate on the subject they are passionate about.
It covers a lot of algebra 2 materials + staticstics including some statistics tests- like chi-squared etc + Geometry+ introduction to calculus. They also need to complete a project, students have to comeup with the topic but also is teacher guided in every step of the project etc…It is a good course that offers reviewing what they learned so far and enhances critical thinking and problem solving skills. As someone said here, 11th graders starting IBMATHSTUDIES will be prepared for SAT math portion as it covers everything that SAT math covers.</p>
<p>DS thought that the SAT was a lot easier than the ACT. I am guessing because he is a very logical thinker and math is his strong point. Now, we will see what the actual results say at the end of the month :D.</p>
<p>AP Euro test up at the end of the week. The teachers here are pretty good about prepping the kids for the test. They usually have study sessions in the evenings leading up to the tests as well so the kids don’t usually need to do much work outside of that.</p>