<p>Wow–thanks for the great list, BHMom! I just copied this into an email and sent it to d. And good to know about the 2d ed Real Book being the same tests. She is using the 3d ed Real book now and has done 4 of the 5 tests there. The math is bringing her score down–she just isn’t fast enough and can’t get to the last 8-10 questions in the time limit. I’m going to look for a tutor and make sure she does a lot of practice between now and the test.</p>
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<p>Does your eldest D live in my house? Any question I have, the answer is, “I’m on top of it, Mom.” I have no doubt that she is on top of it. Just last night I said that she would come looking for me when she needs my credit card. </p>
<p>D14 seems to accept my insistence that she let me review everything before she hits send. It’s so easy to skip over mistakes when you know what you meant to write. She says her essay is nearly done, but I haven’t read it yet.</p>
<p>D15’s application process is likely to be an entirely different experience.</p>
<p>In our house I operate on the “Need to know basis”; though I don’t have the opportunity to determine what I “need to know”. The DD has been like this since she was 7, no way to possibly try and correct this now.</p>
<p>When she requires something or needs help she asks, if nothing is said than she’s off on her merry way. Hopefully I get the list of schools she applies to prior to typing in the credit card information at the end of the application. If not, then I’ll just require the name the night before she leaves so I can set the GPS.</p>
<p>It’s good to see we all have the same daughter. Snowme - I don’t even know if I have a question. When D was 5, I took to asking her friends and other parents for information. This method still works for me. </p>
<p>BHM - thanks for that excellent list of ACT tests.</p>
<p>I had scheduled D to take the ACT this weekend (sort of to shock her into standardized test mode) but she’s participating in an intense all-weekend programming competition, and I didn’t want to be THAT PARENT who forced the kid to miss out on some cool activity because of a standardized test. She’s rescheduled for October (for a fee).</p>
<p>Just wondering why students are taking the ACT now if they are juniors.</p>
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<p>Are you asking why so early or why so late?</p>
<p>I think the “typical” schedule for most college-bound students is something like what my S’12 did - both ACT and SAT in spring of junior year and if necessary, repeat fall of senior year.</p>
<p>Some high achieving kids take those tests a lot earlier (for a talent search academic program or just to get an early read), and many probably still wait until fall of senior year. But doing the latter doesn’t give much time for a retake if necessary.</p>
<p>Our HS recommends spring junior year and fall senior year, in official guidance office publications. but CC parents are SO not typical ;)</p>
<p>Thank you for the detailed info Keepme!
Suzy- the ACT asks you to answer a ton of questions- it’s very annoying.
Bopper- students in our high school typically begin taking these tests during junior year, and very often take these tests at least twice during junior year. Senior year is typically left for re-takes if one still hopes for a higher score. Tutors typically push for senior year testing because scores often go up, but it’s cutting it close for me.</p>
<p>I am asking why so early…I thought spring would be typical.<br>
Curious: Wouldn’t the junior PSAT score give you an idea of how you will do on SAT?</p>
<p>bopper,</p>
<p>I signed my child up to take the ACT and SAT early because she was a bit arrogant. She thought she would score high without studying but the June tests showed that she had to study to get into the colleges she likes. By taking the tests early, she has a chance to meet the challenge of raising her scores. If she had waited until the Spring of Junior year, then it would have been much more pressure to raise her scores or she would have been boxed into a specific level of colleges. I’d rather she find out earlier than later she had relatively low scores.</p>
<p>She signed up for fall exams so she can get this part out of the way. I see she is more serious and diligent about studying for these exams. D’s school administers PSAT to 9, 10, and 11th graders. She didn’t do as well on her SAT as on the PSAT</p>
<p>IJD, the programming competition sounds like SO much more fun! My D will be jealous. She’s finding AP Comp Sci not as interesting or challenging as she’d hoped and she misses the fun of programming.</p>
<p>Bopper, spring can get complicated because of competing demands: AP classes, SAT IIs, finals, end of year performances, competitions, games, etc. If a kid seems ready earlier some of us think (hope) it’s better to get the testing out of the way. </p>
<p>Snowme, threesdad, slackermom, it’s a blessing and a curse to have this sort of kid. Looking back, that independence was a wonderful thing but at the time my heart was constantly in my throat.</p>
<p>Spring is tough for kids taking AP exams, SAT Subject tests and/or school final exams. I’d like D to get SAT/ACT testing done in early spring if possible.</p>
<p>3girls, this is a team event, for a team of 3. They are up against undergraduates, so they don’t expect to do much, but the same team is going after the competition aimed at HS, so they think this will be fun and get their team actively working together. They did the HS competition last year, and while they had a month, they only really got it together in the last week.</p>
<p>Bopper – I’ve said this before, but the thinking that kids have to do for standardized testing is really different (and the timing is really different) from what they do in their “real life”. So it makes sense (to me and to both Ds) to get into that mindset ONCE and get all of the standardized testing out of the way early, before all of the work and stress of Junior year sets it. This worked out very well for D’12, and I think D’15 will be happy if she can be done with SAT/ACT by the end of October. There will be AP exams and associated Subject exams (perhaps) but this keeps the standardized testing from taking over her life unless she has a really bad day (in which case she needs to adjust her focus for a while.)</p>
<p>Of course, Junior year stress has already set in big time, with a great disappointment in one of her ECs last week. I can’t go into the details, but I got to spend most of the weekend putting the girl back together. Sigh.</p>
<p>Wow…things move fast here!! I come off a 6-day stretch from…well, you know…at work and I’m several pages behind.</p>
<p>Welcome to the additional lurkers who’ve recently joined the online coffee clutch/therapy group. It’s a great place to share info/vent/commiserate/brag about our kids…and therapeutic as well. :)</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any one strategy or timeline for standardized testing that works for everyone, but our thinking was to also try and minimize conflicts/overload during spring of Junior year. D2 is taking 4 AP courses this year (against our recommendations) and will already have the school-sponsored ACT in the spring, so her plate will be awfully full as it is. She is taking the SAT in Oct followed by the PSAT, but she has taken a “combo prep” approach for both of those that seems to be working for her (at least based on practice test scores).</p>
<p>She took the PSAT as a sophomore to get a baseline of where she stood, and took the SAT and ACT last spring to get a feel for the “real life” testing environment. We had no particular expectations for her scores, but she did well enough to qualify for some very nice merit scholarships at potential safety schools and make her competitive for admissions at most “non-elite” schools. That really helps take the pressure off for this year’s tests except for the PSAT, as she knows this is the only one that “counts” for NM purposes.</p>
<p>We haven’t had to force or encourage her to prep for the tests (Thankfully!!). As others have mentioned about their kids, she is DEFINITELY independent and always has been. We realized it pretty early on when she refused any help and informed us she could potty train herself…and proceeded to do a darn fine job of it!!</p>
<p>She has let us participate in the search for colleges, which we’re thrilled about. I’ve convinced her that all my time spent on CC has provided a wealth of info, especially on finding good safety schools. CC Commandment #1…Honor Thy Safety!! 
Either that, or she just realizes from a practical standpoint that she can’t accomplish OOS campus visits without us…but in any case we’re happy to be involved!</p>
<p>S is the polar opposite. Have to drag him kicking and protesting into any sort of test prep, and we’re convinced he wouldn’t remember to shower every day if we didn’t remind him. We still chuckle over his early childhood physicals where the phrase “He can…but he chooses not to” shows up quite frequently when discussing developmental milestones. Some things never change. He can do anything he sets his mind to…he just chooses not to!!</p>
<p>IJD…Glad to hear you’re accomplished at putting folks back together. In the next 12-18 months I suspect there will be plenty of us “Humpty-Dumpty” parents that might have need of your services. :)</p>
<p>Which SAT subject tests to take?</p>
<p>Having a family discussion about this, and I posted this in the SAT subject test forum, but I’m interested in what people here have to say.</p>
<p>My son is planning to be a math major. Most schools that want subject tests ask for two. One line of thinking is not to submit the math subject test, given that my son will be able to demonstrate his proficiency through course work, AP scores, and the SAT math test. Particularly for a liberal arts college, isn’t it better to show how well-rounded you are?</p>
<p>Another line of thinking is to go with your strength–aside from the fact that he’ll likely ace the math test–and that the school wants as much evidence in possible about your area of professed interest. </p>
<p>Some schools say just two of your choosing. MIT says one math, one science. One school said if you know your major take the test related to it–if it exists.</p>
<p>I would go with the tests that would produce the highest scores. I have no idea whether this is a good strategy or not, but that"s what I would do. My daughter has taken bio and chem so far. She will take one or two more in June. </p>
<p>I can’t believe we are into this stuff already. Just a few weeks ago she was working at camp and I had loads of free time! The tutor just left- lots and lots of vocabulary work. Now she is working on AP physics and is surprisingly happy. </p>
<p>I would like her to be finished with this testing by mid March so she can start to focus on SAT 2’s, AP tests and finals.</p>
<p>latichever – if he’s looking to be a math major, he should definitely take the Math2 subject. A student can take up to three subject tests in a single sitting. I would encourage him take advantage of that, and sit two additional subjects, one in a science (for eligibility to MIT), and one in a humanities (to show well-roundedness). Then he’s got all his bases covered.</p>
<p>My D1 (HS 2012) took M2, WH, and Chem all in June of her sophomore year, and was done.</p>
<p>My D2 took M2 and WH but last june, but didn’t feel sufficiently prepared for Chem (she’d had first-year teacher, who struggled with pacing). She’ll probably take Chem and USH this May, when she’s all prepped for APs in those subjects.</p>
<p>I think that Mihcal has this totally right. I would warn you the the physics subject test is very difficult and covers some non-standard topics. Chemistry is very straightforward. </p>
<p>Kids today have enormous access to interesting high-level math. My D’12 was my math kid, and one of the surprises about starting college math is how MANY kids there are who are math obsessed and how much they’ve learned while in high school. She was surprised to find herself in the middle of that pack for the first time in her life because she had so much exposure in high school.</p>
<p>I think taking SAT 2s that match APs if possible is an excellent idea. Study once, test twice.</p>
<p>S has the SATs before winter break and the ACT in April. He’s hoping to get these tests out of the way this year because he has other tests to worry about. He has SAT subject tests to consider because some of his schools require 2 and 3 subject tests. He is also applying to some UK schools and has an extra test to take for his major. And then there are the IB exams he has to be prepared for at the end of his Sr. year. I keep telling him it gets better once he gets to college. D13 reports that even her most challenging college class is less stressful than anything she had in HS.</p>