<p>Hi fellow 2015 parents! I am new to this board and just wanted to introduce myself. We live overseas. My DD just started her junior year, and is in an IB program. </p>
<p>I am extremely nervous about this year, as i know how important it is for students who intend to apply early to competitive universities. She is a very smart student, but a bit too sure of herself, which is where most of my advice to her focuses on. Advice that is met with some resistance. I wonder if any of the other parents are facing the same problem, and if so, what is the best way to handle it? I try not to hover or interfere. She is very independent and would not allow that, but i can see that she still is very young and really would benefit from some help from me.</p>
<p>She began private tutoring for PSAT/SAT. She has completed approximately 14 hours so far but her practice test scores have not improved that much (except in writing section which improved 100 points). I think the tutor is doing a good job, but she is not really spending much time studying for SAT beyond the time spent with the tutor. I wonder how many hours other students are spending to study for the SAT?</p>
<p>Welcome Jazz!! My daughter did some vocabulary studying over the summer and completed a few sections of ACT/SAT practice tests. She started tutoring two weeks ago for CR/ writing and starts today for math as well. She receives two hours per week of tutoring and then puts in another two hours each week ( almost) completing the homework, and then she studies vocabulary for 10-15 minutes each morning while she is eating breakfast. I would guess that she studies about 5 hours per week total. The homework is done on the weekends, with the exception of the 10- 15 minute vocabulary sessions in the morning. She does not have much time during the week for SAT work because she needs the time for homework and studying. My daughter is very independent and does well, but does not always have the confidence in her ability that your daughter seems to have.(?) This results in a ridiculous amount of studying and school work which could be cut in half to receive the same grade. She is getting better. Over the years her teachers have emailed her to tell her to stop studying and please go get a manicure instead ( she really does not get many manicures- perhaps she needs one LOL?).</p>
<p>Last year as a sophomore my daughter took 11 H English. This year she chose IB instead of AP English- they are weighted the same. Last years class required a crazy amount of work. This year they have very little work because according to the teacher " IB is for everyone." It’s not like that in other schools, I realize. She literally has very little work so far. I asked her if she wants to switch to AP but she said no. She LOVES the teacher and likes the fact that she has more time to devote to her AP classes. Supposedly this class gains speed in about two months. The other kids in the class are coming from 10 th grade classes and have not taken the Regents ( NYS test). My daughter completed the Regents last year. </p>
<p>Some people here hire private college counselors. They charge a lot of money to come to your house and advise you about different schools. I would prefer to save the money and do the work myself.</p>
<p>For those of you who have received an AP Scholar Award, I am impressed that your school allows that many AP classes before junior year. Congratulations!</p>
<p>D received her letter (AP Scholar with H) a few days ago. I think they are mostly “feel good” letters with no real value added to the process. I don’t even think she kept the letter. </p>
<p>I don’t see D trying ED. We may do SCEA but since she is not into finding “dream school” or “perfect fit” school, I don’t see her applying ED. </p>
<p>Jazzmom - welcome. Your D sounds perfectly normal to me. Are you concerned because she is too independent? As for your test question, D is scheduled to take her first ACt next Saturday. D’s practice scores are flatlined as well which has been the source of her frustration. She’s been doing 1 full time measured practice test per week, followed by some reading/studying, plus a few hours of tutoring. After ACT, she will focus on PSAT.</p>
<p>Welcome jazzlandmom! My D sounds like yours. Mine is not all that interested in prepping for the SAT/ACT. She has seen a tutor over the summer, but except for that hour with him (supposed to be weekly but often it’s every other week), she has not really studied. I’ve decided that I can lead my horse to water, but can’t make her drink and I’m not going to nag her anymore about it.</p>
<p>D is still getting crushed in AP Lit. Apparently the very tough grading is his MO, and the kids’ grades start to pull up in the second quarter. (Not helpful to her very important junior year GPA.) I suggested that she go talk to him to just get an understanding of what she’s doing “wrong” but she said he will only meet if you have a specific question about a specific assignment. Lovely. I don’t want to be “that parent” but I am concerned that this is going to tank her grades. (She’s a straight A kid and right now has an 80 in this class.) Any suggestions? I’ve never approached a teacher about grades.</p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation about the AP letters!</p>
<p>Welcome jazzlandmom, My D13 graduated with an IB diploma in Europe and I think her high IB score compensated her less than stellar ACT/SAT 29/1900. She got into a reach college and so far feels her background has made her well prepared for the college work. She studied a lot for the tests but just could’t break 2000 on the SAT.
S15, also in the IB program, is not going to study as much as sister. He is in a SAT prep class at school 1 hour per day, 3 days per week and I think he looks at flash cards on week ends but not too much because of sports.(I bought him the US history subject test flash cards and he seems to enjoy them)
What are your Ds HL classes?</p>
<p>@suzy100. Reminds me of my son’s APUSH teacher who would give proudly give Bs to top students. Aside from that quirk, he was a great teacher–one of my sons’s favorite. And he had impressive results on the AP, mostly 5s, which raises the question: Shouldn’t people who can get a 5 on the test earn an A in the class? Does your dtr’s teacher have a good AP exam track record? There could be that consolation. Another mitigator, if your school weights the GPA, a B in an AP class becomes the equivalent of an A in an honors class. Many adcoms do their own weighting, at least give lip service to the idea thsta challenging is preferable to easy A courses.</p>
<p>Hi Jazzlandmom, We have the same daughter. D is very independent and doesn’t want to hear from her parents, and sometimes friends. She has been like this since toddlerhood. So, I let her make mistakes - it’s not particularly pretty but that’s all I can do. She’s made some serious ones last year that affected her grades first semester. I’ve learned timing these mistakes may be the best I can do.</p>
<p>As for the SAT/ACT - I had D take them last June. She didn’t study much, way too self-confident. She was devastated by her scores. I signed her up again for the October ACT and November SAT. This time, she’s studying about 30 minutes to maybe an hour every other day. No tutor, just self-study. D nixed the idea of a class or tutor. She is definitely more serious about studying this time than last spring.</p>
<p>@latichever, he does have a very good track record for his students getting high scores on the AP test. She is a (I wouldn’t say “the”) top student in his class and he has thanked her for helping to make the in-class discussions interesting, so it’s frustrating to see these grades, particularly when the other AP Lit teacher is reportedly much easier on his students. Oh well, I suppose it’s one of those “life isn’t fair” things we all deal with.</p>
<p>Welcome jazzlandmom! Your D sounds great. Mine is very UNsure of herself but of course doesn’t take advice from her parents either. Have you lived overseas throughout her high school years or even before? Maybe that’s where the independence comes from or maybe she was just born that way. My eldest was so independent that I didn’t even know which colleges she was applying to until the point when she needed to file the applications (and needed money). I didn’t see her essays until way after the fact. My middle was the polar opposite and this youngest girl is a hybrid. </p>
<p>Latichever, my D has an APUSH teacher just like that. He is notorious for the demands of his class and his brutal grading and harsh style but my D loves him, at least so far. Let’s see how she feels after the first test.</p>
<p>Suzy, are you sure that the boost in grades for the second quarter won’t solve the problem? It’s pretty common here for grades to be significantly lower in the 1st quarter and for that low point not to show at all by the time the semester grade comes in. Can you start by asking a guidance counselor about the grading trends in this class? It also might be helpful to see what the actual transcript looks like. In my experience, very few schools include quarter grades. Some don’t even include semester grades in year long classes and all the colleges see is the final grade based on the classwork all year and the final exam. As for the impact of first semester: Some schools weight the 2nd quarter much more heavily than the 1st and the semester grade is buoyed up that way. D’s school treats the 1st semester grades as interim grades and is very flexible with how they are weighted. My D had a disastrous math result at the very beginning of the year last year and then improved dramatically. Her teacher dropped the first test grade completely. I think it’s worth having a conversation with the guidance counselor before thinking about approaching the teacher. Do you have a back-to-school night coming up? Maybe he will address the issues on his own. If it’s happening to your daughter, you know it’s happening to everyone else too. </p>
<p>My D’s chemistry teacher last year would not meet with kids unless they had specific questions and he was very unpleasant when he did meet. D had missed some school and needed to clarify something with him. He was so difficult that she never went back. She is very glad to be rid of this teacher this year.</p>
<p>3girls3cats, this is very good advice. Thank you. I really don’t want to approach the teacher at all - I’ve never done that. I think talking to the GC is a good idea. She’s new this year so I’ve been wanting to go in and chat with her anyway so I can just include this without making it a huge deal.</p>
<p>Grades are calculated on a semester basis - this is how rankings are reported also. Each quarter of a semester is 40% of the grade, and then the semester exam is 20%. So a rough first quarter can do some damage. The “course grade” averaged over the year shows on the report card, but I don’t know how it shows on the final transcript. That’s another great question for me to ask the GC. Thanks for the great advice.</p>
<p>Suzy and 3girls - I’m angered by these teachers your kids have who refuse to meet with a student unless they have a “worthy” question! Wow. Teachers should be encouraging students to approach them with questions. Yikes. </p>
<p>Suzy - try talking to parents whose kids had the class last year and ask what the tricks to being successful were. Or have your D talk directly to students a year ahead of her. I agree with talking to the GC too. </p>
<p>My S is signed up for the ACT in a week also. He’s planning on taking a practice test at home tomorrow but that’s all the prep he’ll do. I’m blown away by all the time kids are willing and able to spend studying for the SAT/ACT! Our plan is to take a practice test at home for each, take each actual test twice (although my older two only took the ACT once and the SAT twice), and expect that the scores will be good enough. I can’t imagine S’s face if I suggested he study a couple hours a week for it.</p>
<p>Welcome Jazz and anyone else who is new that I missed. Suzy…we had the same thing happen last year with the English 10 Honors teacher. It was a nightmare of a year with tons of work and low grades. The other English 10 Honors teacher gave higher grades and much less work. The kids in that class felt like they won the lottery. It was a lesson of “life isn’t fair” and my D feels like no teacher in the future could ever be as bad. So she has that in her back pocket lol.</p>
<p>I am also impressed by the kids with their AP honor awards. Our school only lets you take 2 as a soph and only 1 kid that I know of could make more than 3 work into the school’s schedule for junior year. Congrats to all!! I know they may not count for much but our school makes a big deal about the kids who get to that level so it’s nice for them to have.</p>
<p>I was wondering about the huge college fairs being too crowded. D and I hate crowds, so the college fair held in the neighboring county’s convention center doesn’t seem appealing, and would not seem likely to leave her with a positive view of any school she sees there. On the other hand, I don’t want to miss out if it is important for her to go. There is an open house at one school I really want her to see on the same Saturday as the huge college fair, so we are thinking of just going to that one. Really, I think any school she is very interested in, we should be able to find a way to visit.
On crowds…yesterday D’s school had a mandatory pep rally, and D came home and announced she wants to go to a college that has absolutely no team big sports so there will be no ‘pep rally’ atmosphere.<br>
I have seen info from some schools that do the regional visits. I will double check on some of the more distance schools to see when/if they might be in our area. Thanks for the reminder to do that!</p>
<p>The college fairs do get crowded. We have a big one here in December- I hope I can get my kid to go at least for an hour. We also have a college fair at the high school in October. That one is less crowded. She seems to be getting a lot of mailings advertising open houses, but all of these dates so far are on weekdays at 7:00. I wish they would have one on a weekend. </p>
<p>I just signed her up for the December 7th SAT and the December 14 ACT. Yesterday the tutor told me that kids in pre-calc do not need a tutor for the math section of the ACT " because the math is easy for them." OK… That would be nice!! Hopefully that is true… He told me that he will show her exactly what to do to study for the math portion of the ACT on her own. So far he has not done that- they are focusing on SAT. I think it’s a matter of taking practice tests and getting used to the timing.</p>
<p>I suppose the results of December testing will determine what comes next. We survived week one of school with no meltdowns. She had more work at this time sophomore year which is odd to me. She attributes this to her sophomore year global teacher- my daughter claims she had to teach herself everything. She also seemed to have a lot more reading to do for English last year.
Shoboe my daughter wants the big team pep rally atmosphere. I do not like crowds- I am with you and your daughter!!</p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier in this thread, BunHeadGirl’s school provides in-school college visits mainly for Juniors, as Seniors should already have their list finalized and submitted by the end of September. Our GC has a process that guaranties the majority of seniors are done with the college selection process during September of their senior year. </p>
<p>Even essays are begun as soon as CA releases the topics, and in conjunction with the 11th grade Literature and Rhetoric teachers, essays only need final revision the 1st weeks of a student’s senior school year. </p>
<p>In addition, D’s school schedules the visits during an extended lunch period by shortening the classes before and after lunch by 10 minutes each so all students that wish to attend the lunch time visits may do so. And for popular schools such as Amherst or Northwestern, the information sessions are scheduled to begin 20 minutes before the end of the school day. All teachers with any 10th-12th graders wishing to attend any session cannot penalize the students and must shorten the day’s lesson. </p>
<p>Our GC also begins meeting with juniors by appointment, and does in-class programming about the college selection during 2nd semester. She’s very into “fit” and not prestige, even though 1/2 of last year’s senior class gained acceptance to HYPS. Most chose other schools due to the vibe/fit, and only applied to the Ivy League schools to see if they could get in. I know, I know, egocentric at best with many thinking these students “stole” slots from other deserving students, but I shall not go there.</p>
<p>We’ve already had our first parent group meeting last week, and will have one quarterly until the end of the school year along with 2 parent/student meetings with the GC. </p>
<p>During the summer months our GC is available for limited hours and by appointment to assist the up & coming seniors with the college selection process. She meets weekly with the year’s current seniors through April 1st each year. Since our school’s graduating classes consist of 30-50 students or less, our GC and her assistants can provide attention tailored to each senior student since she’s known each one since freshman year.</p>
<p>Our National College Fair is 9/24 & 9/25. The school takes all the 9th-11th graders for the majority of the school day. </p>
<p>All students planning on attending was told to register in order to receive their barcode sheet to present to schools of interest so the student does not have to complete a post card, but still provide the schools with majors of interest, ECs interests, current grade, year of graduation, gender, address, email, phone number, and current high school. </p>
<p>So, this year should go much more smoothly with not having to valuable time filling out post cards, and spending more time asking questions of the school reps.</p>
<p>I agree! At BunHeadGirl’s school the teachers are available before and after school as well for in-school tutoring during lunch. No question is to big or small, and all questions are welcome.</p>