<p>FromMd brought up a good point about taking the subject test in May when they are taking AP. That makes sense to me rather than waiting until June when they may be very burnt out. I just asked my daughter this question because all of her friends who took the global or US AP this past May sat for the subject test yesterday. I asked her why they did not do the test in May and if maybe they will consider it next year. Her response was, " I don’t know, maybe they felt too pressured to take it in May or maybe they were not finished studying yet." Is the May subject test way before the AP test? If the SAT is in the beginning of May and the AP tests are mid May, it may be that they could not fit in all of the studying before the SAT…?</p>
<p>Mihcal1 we also get out of school towards the end of June. I suspect that my daughter will take the June subject tests next year for the reasons you mentioned. Hopefully she won’t be too burnt out and tired. It is for this reason that she will study for the SAT/ACT this summer and very early fall and take the tests early on. There is just no way she can do SAT/ACT, subject SAT and AP at the end of the school year and keep her sanity. The winter won’t work because she is just too engrossed in school and school functions. So next up is the SAT/ACT- big big UGH. Ok now it’s time for me to enjoy the day a little bit before it rains later. We are going to the track and perhaps we will get a cup of coffee after and sit outside a bit. I will catch up with everyone again shortly. Enjoy the day!</p>
<p>Frommd, Thank you so much for pointing out the posts from Bunheadmom and IjustDrive (posts 3306 - 3308)…and thnk you toBunheadmom and Ijustdrive for posting them!</p>
<p>I am going to order those books for D. It was perfect that the person who originally recommended a couple of them was a student at Wellesley, since that has so far been the top school on D’s list, that will help ‘sell’ them to her. ;-)</p>
<p>That’s really where she is right now, trying to accept that everything doesn’t have to be perfect, and learning when good enough is actually good enough…what to stress about, what to just get done. Also trying to find that balance between worrying about what colleges will want and NOT worrying about it. She is and her friends are all competitive and are bumping into each other in the top rankings in their class. I think D is hopeful that ‘letting’ herself get a couple B’s will just knock her out of that competition, but keep her high enough in rankings to have good college options. I feel for our kids having to spend 4 years feeling like they have to be the best…so much pressure!</p>
<p>Welcome shoboemom! I’m also very invested in lowering the stress levels for my D and in conveying that perfection is really not the right goal. I’ve been happily surprised to see her manage this finals week with a lot more equanimity than I’ve seen in the past so I guess there’s been some growth.</p>
<p>Thanks to Bunheadmom for recommending those books. I’m going to take a look. They seem to reflect my personal philosophy–except that I’m very much an advocate of not trying to be a superstar or to think too much about getting into college. My eldest had a C in each of her junior and senior year grades and was accepted almost everywhere she applied and these were reach schools. She had an interesting voice and a focus that was compelling. Her scores were high, not from prep, but mostly from years of reading. For her, a test like the SAT 2 literature test was fun. Her high school years were definitely stressful for me but I learned a lot about the importance of being true to yourself. OTOH, she was never interested in schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford where I am guessing it’s more important to play the game. She was sort of amazed that her friends headed to those places didn’t really like to read and think the way she did. They were all much more goal-oriented and MUCH harder working than she ever was. (I’m not suggesting that they weren’t smart or that she didn’t think they were smart or that they were representative of all kids headed there!) </p>
<p>In other news, D '15 says that the Chem SAT 2 was easier than the practice tests but that she is sure she made many mistakes and probably got a mediocre score. She didn’t seem terribly upset. D and H both wanted to treat this as practice and cancel the score. This is typically how she sees things though so it’s really hard to gauge. I remember sheer hysteria after she took the ISEE and was certain she’d bombed it and then ended up with a near perfect score. Same with the mock SAT. My advice to her was that unless she felt she was completely out of synch with the test she should not cancel the score. Worst case, the score isn’t terrific. Big deal.</p>
<p>I am also pleasantly surprised at how happy my daughter is considering all of her tests. Usually she would be having meltdowns but lately she is just cruising along with her work without complaining. Maybe she is maturing- who knows. My daughter knows on an intellectual level that things don’t have to be perfect, but emotionally she is not there yet. I think that she will always be an intense perfectionist, but if she can handle it in a healthy way I will be fine. Right now she is happy so I can’t complain. We both know her approximate class rank, but right now she does not want the exact number. She also hangs with the top, and the conversations that they have can make anyone’s head spin. She is handling it well.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree, but it is hard to ignore the getting into college angle, and I like the idea that perhaps student can see that it isn’t a choice of being a superstar (however they define that) OR relaxing a bit and doing what you are really interested in, but that they can do both. To me that would be a true superstar; someone who can make it through the system and not be completely burned out and frazzled by it all. 
Here’s to all of our kids finding balance!</p>
<p>shoboemom, I see that your daughter just took AP US History? My daughter will be taking that next year (NY state curriculum mandates World History for 9th and 10th grades) and her friends who are juniors in APUSH took the SAT US History yesterday. According to them that’s one test where the AP coverage lines up neatly with the SAT. If your daughter was strong in that subject she might want to get hold of the SAT subject review book and see if she thinks it’s worth taking it when it comes up again in October. </p>
<p>This is the link for Oct 2012-June 2013 dates but they’re fairly consistent from year to year.
[SAT</a> Subject Test Dates](<a href=“The SAT – SAT Suite | College Board”>What were SAT Subject Tests? - College Board Blog)</p>
<p>bunheadmom, I’ve heard of the Cal Newport books before; thanks for the links. Since D has been feeling burnt out, I think she should look at them. She’s not a big fan of self-help books, though, so which would you say is the most direct or easiest one to get into?</p>
<p>I wanted to include this as part of my post right above and find it very frustrating that posts can’t be edited 25 minutes after they’re entered.</p>
<p>twogirls, I’m amazed that you D is doing 5 Regents this year! Do you mind my asking what the 5 are? We’re in NY as well. My D has completed 3 from previous years (Living Environment and Geometry 9th grade and Algebra 8th grade) and has 3 this year: Chem, Global and Algebra2-Trig.
Looking at the school-wide schedule, it looks like next year D will have Physics, English and maybe US History–I think that AP USH substitutes for the Regents, though? She won’t be doing LOTE since her language is Latin and there’s no Latin Regents any more. So that adds up to at least 8 and maybe 9 Regents.</p>
<p>Before I moved to NY all I know about the Regents was based on Death of a Salesman and how it was such a big deal that Biff cheated on his.</p>
<p>I made a mistake LOL she is taking 4: algebra/trig, English ( she is in 11H), global and chemistry. She also has a Spanish and health final. In 8th grade she took the 9 th grade math regents and earth science. Last year in 9 th grade she took math, bio and I don’t remember what else ( if anything).</p>
<p>I forgot that they got rid of the foreign language Regents. The school makes the test now.</p>
<p>My D took Chem SATII in May, and decided to cancel score, which made it great to have the June test date also available. So, May test date is a nice option for SATII (in case of need to cancel scores if something unpredictable happens), and June can be used as a backup while material is still fresh.</p>
<p>Also, it is not possible to take SATI and SATIIs same day, which can be a factor at the end of Junior year, so plan ahead.</p>
<p>crepes, My D wasn’t really happy with the AP USH class she took. She didn’t feel that prepared for the AP test (last year she felt much better about AP Euro) So we’ll see when we get the results this summer. Taking the subject test might be something to consider so it will be out of the way. I see the link for when the subj tests are administered. Do you happen to know when you can start signing up for them?</p>
<p>You made some very good points 2prepmom!!</p>
<p>@2prepMom, wish you had told us earlier - I know, I probably wouldn’t have listened. never thought she would mess up like this. D. normally is a good test taker. Well, accident happens. that’s how we learn isn’t it.</p>
<p>2prepMom, that’s a great point about the May and June dates for SAT IIs. Another good reason to make sure SAT I is out of the way or deferred to the following fall.</p>
<p>I think that the May test date strategy with June as a fallback would work better for students whose school year starts in August and ends in May. But for students who don’t start until after Labor Day, like we do, May might be too early and the extra month could make a real difference when it comes to covering all the material.</p>
<p>herandhisMom, I know that October feels like a long time to wait to retake a test, but it did work for us last year. D took SAT Bio last June and didn’t do as well as she hoped. She felt right after the test that she could have done better and when that was confirmed by her score we decided that she would use the waiting time as extra study time. When she took the test in October she didn’t feel as stressed and her score went up by 50 points.</p>
<p>shoboemom, registration for Oct SATs hasn’t opened yet; I think I heard somewhere that it opens next week?</p>
<p>Just catching up with all the testing news. I’m sorry, herandhisMom-ugh. 
How’s she feeling today?</p>
<p>My 2015er takes the SAT I tomorrow with accommodations. We’ll see how it goes! I have a feeling he’ll run out of steam since he’s already a low energy guy. Extra time could be counter productive but he definitely needs it on math and essay.</p>
<p>My oldest son took two SAT IIs in 8th grade after college classes (physics and Math II). He took the SAT II lit in January of 11th. He retook the SAT Math II (ok, he got a 760 in 8th grade but I felt he needed an 800 'cause he was planning to be a math major) in 10th, I think-not sure, though.</p>
<p>So he ended up with three SAT IIs. We’re homeschoolers so it was important for him.</p>
<p>For my 2015er, I am shooting for the SAT II literature exam next year sometime and the Math II (or I) early in senior year. I’d consider another science but I’ll have to wait and see what classes he takes at the local CC. I don’t know if he’ll do any AP exams.</p>
<p>We registered at the local CC last week. He took his placement exam in English and he could take honors English but probably won’t. He visits with the disability counselor on Tuesday. He’s picked out a number of classes that he’d like to take but won’t register until late July and who knows if he’ll get what he’d like.</p>
<p>For sure, he wants to take intro to engineering and probably an architectural drafting class. He needs to take Russian either fall or spring and he should probably take math if he’s going to try and get to pre-calc or calc. So hard to know with this kid…</p>
<p>I guess the big thing is that he wants to have his eye surgery (15 minutes on each eye, snipping and tightening the eye muscle so eyes converge). He’s brave and now I’m the one getting cold feet. Lots to pray about! :-)</p>
<p>@crepes, Thanks. We are trying to see the silver lining out of this. I can’t help feeling bad about it, because we were sure she could do as well as >780, if not 800. But think positively - she will have to keep working on U.S. history, so this will be very solid body of knowledge for her. She loves history, so it won’t be too much of hard work. Hopefully she will do well in October. Plus, this is a good (albeit expensive) lesson that she is not going to forget. I am not going to say much about it. Otherwise, it’d give her unnecessary pressure for her future tests.</p>
<p>Crepes you are right about the testing strategy for those of us who start school after Labor Day. Herandhismom I hear your frustration and I would feel exactly the same way, but they will all make mistakes at one point or another. It’s hard for you because had things gone well she would have had a great score under her belt. My older daughter had a group project and her job was to present part of it using her lap top. Well everything worked fine during the practice, but on the actual day it would not open and it was basically her fault. She forgot to email it to herself. She called me at work SOBBING because the group’s grade would be lowered due to her mistake. Turns out that the group before her on the previous day also had a problem and they were allowed to do it again. My daughter’s group presented on the very last day- no re-do. My daughter did not think this was fair so she emailed the professor who then agreed to open the presentation after the fact. They got a few points back but not the whole thing. Anyway my daughter learned a lesson- make sure you do what you need to do before you present so that this problem does not happen again. You will feel much better in October after she takes it again. A year from now this will be water under the bridge, only to be replaced with another issue LOL.</p>
<p>As well as emailing it to themselves, my d’s upload to google docs. I have had a message asking me to open up d’s laptop and upload a doc to google docs. She was bored in class with a sub and could work on reviewing a project she was working on via her smart phone. I reminded her that students are not meant to be on cell phones during class- her response " most teachers don’t care" I laughed at her " breaking policy’ to work on a school project.</p>