<p>Our school for the first time did the PLAN test freshman year, with them taking PSAT sophomore year.
My son has his last summer as a camper at his overnight camp for 8 weeks. They go on a Canadian canoeing/camping trip for two weeks. He can’t wait.</p>
<p>At local public HS freshman, sophomores and juniors all take PSAT.</p>
<p>At the magnet school S attends, only sophomores and juniors take PSAT.</p>
<p>S’s school offers the PSAT for practice in sophomore year (optional) and “for real” (= for National Merit, required) in Junior year.</p>
<p>School offers PSAT to sophomores along with the juniors - I don’t think all sophomores should take it. It might be better to let some develop a little more before they have to take ANOTHER test. DS’12 did take PSAT both sophomore and junior year, but I don’t know if DS’14 will.</p>
<p>D2’14 took PSAT in freshman year (required by her IB program), and will take it in sophomore and junior years. It is required for all IB students in her school from freshman to junior years. For every graduating class in this school, about 18-22 students make the NMSF.</p>
<p>Everyone in our private high school takes the PSAT freshman, sophomore and junior years … the first two don’t count obviously, but it is for practice.</p>
<p>Hi. I am a new poster on this forum. I thought I would take a break from the HS Class of 2011 forum where the college acceptance intensity is just off the charts and this coming week is the final push with many of the top schools including all of the ivies announcing this week.</p>
<p>I figured that someone had already started the forum for the HS Class of 2014 and I was right. Our D is a freshman this year and will be so happy to see her older brother finish the college game as she says that is all she has heard about at home for the past year. After he is away next fall we can focus all of the attention on her and her HS experiences.</p>
<p>For those of you with older kids, you know what is coming. For those of you whose kids are just HS freshman, hold on for quite a ride that will culminate in about three years with the college selection and decision process. I look forward to sharing a lot of good information and learning a lot from many of you as the HS years go by for our kids.</p>
<p>What a bumpy ride for all on the 2011/2015 forum with all of the highly selective colleges releasing their decisions this week. We call them the “reachy” schools where it is more like a lottery drawing as some of the top schools are admitting only 7 or 8% of the applicants! The other common comment is that the numbers of kids being placed on waitlists is also growing quite rapidly from what it was just a few years ago. I can’t believe we get to go through this again in about three years! :eek:</p>
<p>And it’s never too early to make sure the '14s are good candidates. I feel a little guilty bribing my S14 with dessert to take the AP practice tests for his 2 AP courses, but I know his school won’t prepare him well, so he’d better start with the prep books before it’s too late.</p>
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<p>Apollo - you are correct. And not just with the AP tests but with the practice ACT and/or SAT tests as well. We accumulated a fair bit of practice materials from this past year with our S who will graduate in a few weeks. All of those materials have been organized and are currently stored in a tote box for 2014 D to use in her review and test prep efforts.</p>
<p>AvonHSDad, congrats on your son’s successful college search. Last year, GT was my S1’s first choice, and he took the rejection very very hard. To this day my stomach still churns when I think of that. Fortunately he received good news on April 1 and is very happy at Penn.</p>
<p>Hopefully I managed to learn something during that painful process that will make it a bit easier onS2, who is cut from very different cloth. </p>
<p>We think S2 was a bit more plugged in to S1’s search than we thought at the time. He has asked for a summer math, and we are going to tee him up for some PSAT exercises as well.</p>
<p>S’14 is 0/3 for selective summer programs - waitlisted for two and rejected for another. I am scrambling trying to come up with something for him to do this summer. He can’t drive and I have to teach summer school so I can’t get him to a job or internship. I can’t really afford to send him to more than a week or two of academic camp. I’m just really disappointed.</p>
<p>Okay - I know this sounds like bragging, but my non-science kid won the state science fair today in his category. I am totally freaking. I know it is not Intel or anything national, etc. He is a good kid and works hard, but there are a lot of kids that are math/ science - he is not one of them. He is more of a verbal kid. This is just nuts. How in the heck is he suppose to show four years of science interest when that is not really his thing. I will say this, the true science kids gave him major props and were so kind today. I love them for being so graceful to my DS’14 today.</p>
<p>Wow glido, that’s great!</p>
<p>And it’s not bragging…it’s sharing good news:)</p>
<p>Morning All</p>
<p>Hope everyone is well. Gosh, our freshman is so different from our currently second semester Sr…the whole search process will be really different. At least I know how to do the visits and spread sheets!</p>
<p>Have a great week/weekend.</p>
<p>Fogfog</p>
<p>I feel really behind. </p>
<p>The only AP open to sophs at D2’s school is World History. What APs are your kids taking soph year? Anyone doing a self-study AP?</p>
<p>@Apollo6 - What kinds of selective programs are open to upcoming sophomores? The selective ones i have seen are for older kids. D2 is going to a 1 week Industrial Design camp at UCincinnati to see if she has an interest, but it is not selective…yet.</p>
<p>Don’t feel behind. At our school there are no APs offered to sophomores, and personally, I’d really question the quality of a “college” class that a 15 year old could take. Then again, I guess, in general, I question the idea that one can pass a big old standardized test and that somehow shows mastery of the material. But, given the huge popularity of AP, I’m definitely in the minority!</p>
<p>Anyway, just a little encouragement not to feel like you have to get caught up in the AP rat race. It’s tough, I know. </p>
<p>Oh, and self-study for the big old standardized test? Not on your life.</p>
<p>Thanks, ordinarylives!!! It is easy to get caught up in the competitiveness of all this.</p>
<p>Hello all! I recognize a few names from the 2011/2015 list, so don’t feel so alone. S’s school doesn’t offer many AP’s (students take them, but the curriculum is not focused on preparing them for the tests). S will take his first AP this spring (Stats) and will do BC Calc in 10th grade (yeah, I know, but he is a lopsided kid). Still, after watching Child No. 1 through the process, I think AP’s are overrated. If your S/D has a passion, run with that. If not, try to encourage the most rigorous and self-exploratory curriculum possible. They should not be trying to become Ivy statistics, but successful and engaged human beings. The colleges (maybe not all, but enough) will see that at decision day.</p>
<p>My son has three open blocks in his schedule in the fall, so he has been studying his options. He would like to take physics if it’s offered (it was not this year, as it did not have the enrollment needed). He is also interested in at least one AP, so his top choice is Human Geography, which is an online class. He has aced world geography this semester and feels ready to take that jump to the AP level. The kids at his school love the Human Geography class, and all seem to do well on the exam. We only offer four APs in the building, but a successful online program gives a lot of choices to kids (my older son took 13 total).</p>
<p>Aside from course selection, my son is keeping busy this spring running track and field. In three meets, he has bettered his times in one or both of his events.</p>