<p>“I’ve also tried to help her to understand that she doesn’t have to craft a publishable essay. She needs to adjust her expectations to the test.”</p>
<p>3girls - Sounds like that is your D’s fundamental issue. Can you help her understand the objective is to produce a good “draft” essay and not polished final essay? Has she tried 1) spending the first 5 min to outline her essay before start writing? and 2) drafting the entire essay before rewriting (to avoid not finishing the essay)?</p>
<p>D is taking PSAT practice test right now. After ACT yesterday, I have to give her credit for trying PSAT today. I know she is very tired.</p>
<p>CT1417, I realize it’s a low bar on the SAT to confirm the PSAT result but it still means sitting for the test. Yuck. I hadn’t considered the December test because it falls at the time her school starts heaping on work toward finals and because we will be traveling to visit family for Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s worth a look though. I’m going to ask D to look at the dates and at her schedule to see what she thinks makes sense for her. </p>
<p>USC still offers a generous scholarship for NMFs who designate the school as a first choice and this is a school D would consider so getting NM status would be a good thing. There are also some LACs that provide varying amounts of merit money based on the PSAT results. If D weren’t interested in these schools, I wouldn’t give it another thought.</p>
<p>The only school that was on the list is Northeastern- they seem to give NM money. It has since been removed from the list by my daughter. Great school but she did not love it for whatever reason. I won’t argue about it now. Perhaps when we re-visit BU she will take another look, but maybe not.</p>
<p>I gave a quick summary yesterday but she thought it went OK. She said it was very much like practice tests in the Redbook. The only section she had time issue was the Science section - she was able to finish it but didn’t have time to check her answers. I think it’s a common problem with Science. But, other than that, she said it felt like taking another practice. She said English was easy, Math and Reading weren’t too bad… Now we wait!</p>
<p>That’s good to know that the red book is pretty much on target and that the test has not changed much. Thanks for the update #2- yes I do remember reading what you posted ( now that you have re- posted!).</p>
<p>FromMD, yup that’s the fundamental problem, no question about it. Getting through to this girl is not easy. </p>
<p>Yes, she’s tried those approaches with middling success.</p>
<p>When she was 5 in K and the class was starting to write, she would start to draw the arc or line of a letter, stop and erase it, and start again. The lines and curves were never perfect. The teacher ended up moving her to the “back table” so an aide could work with her. She has eased up quite a bit, thank goodness, but that’s the fundamental personality we are dealing with. </p>
<p>(As an aside, it amazes me that she loves computer coding as much as she does because it seems to involve a lot of patience and missteps. I see that it can get her frustrated but not upset. She seems ok to spend hours dealing with a problem, hitting a wall, and then going back to the beginning to try it a different way. Maybe it seems more like a puzzle? I don’t know enough about it to know.)</p>
<p>I’m impressed that your daughter has steam enough to handle a practice PSAT right after the ACT. Maybe it seems like an easier and shorter exercise after that marathon. Good for her!</p>
<p>3girls your daughter is a perfectionist like mine. Mine throws a fit if she does not get something right on her first attempt. Some kids study just enough and get their A or A- or even B+. Mine only accepts an A+. She keeps telling herself that an A- or B+ is fine, but in reality she would flip. It’s very hard to live with this type. She refuses to do group work because she can’t find anybody like her and she finds it too frustrating. Last year she had to do a math project with somebody and she could not stand the other kids method ( procrastinator) so she did the whole thing by herself. Got them a 100 but still… It’s a bit controlling and not very nice.</p>
<p>3girls - If I have to guess, you have a future engineer in the family. What you are describing with her coding work is pretty typical characteristics of engineers.</p>
<p>BunHeadGirl’s ECs are lining up nicely. She’s co-president of one EC, co-chair of another–involved in both since 9th grade in and out of the school setting. She was selected as a Prefect of her school house on Friday. The position comes with a lot of responsibility, and also involves making decisions and providing programming that will affect/involve all students in the upper school. She even has the ability to give merits and demerits. </p>
<p>BunHeadGirl is in the house of Leo, which is the equivalent to Gryffindor. Yes, think Harry Potter, as the school even has a house similar to Slytherin with students to match! The colors and Emblematic symbols are all different from Harry Potter, except for D’s house. All the students always have called BunHeadGirl’s house, Gryffindor, and their arch rival, Slytherin–lol. When BunHeadGirl went through the house selection process, she really thought she’d end in the equivalent of Hufflepuff, and thought they missorted her into her current house, but it’s been a perfect fit. </p>
<p>Being Prefect puts her in the running for Head Girl of her house next year. </p>
<p>So, she’ll graduate with 3 strong school related ECs–all with leadership positions, her pre-professional/professional dance EC, a political EC, and strong volunteer involvement, which overlaps 2 of her school related ECs. </p>
<p>At first, D was concerned about not having enough ECs as compared to her classmates, but I told her she’ll look better on paper as she is vested in 2 of the school related ECs in and out of school where everyone else has a ton of school related ECs and maybe one of true passion. Quality and dedication trumps quantity and superficial participation in the eyes of many Adcoms from what I have read.</p>
<p>I’m note sure, I just checked Ebay and the timer is $15 more than Amazon. Since BunHeadGirl only will sit the ACT, she did not need the SAT timer, so with Prime my Ex-H only had to pay the $41 & no shipping.</p>
<p>What kind of SAT timer? My older one brought a timer to the ACT but evidently the type of timer she brought is no longer permitted. </p>
<p>3girls if your daughter is interested in engineering that is wonderful. Mine seems to be going for the double major in biology and Spanish. So far she talks about being a pediatrician, pediatric PT, genetic counselor, or biology teacher. This may change, of course. We have made progress because just a few months ago it was " I don’t know." Perhaps in a month it will go back to " I don’t know."</p>
<p>Bunhead your daughter’s ECs sound very interesting! Mine plays a varsity sport and wants to be in Vassa ( varsity athletes against substance abuse). She is also the VP of the school, is the asst editor of yearbook ( next year she will be editor), and is President of our county chapter of a national organization ( not a school club). She is also a Peer Mentor in the writing center and tutors a 10th grade boy in Spanish and math. She has a couple of other things going on but those are the main ones. She insists on being in every single subjects Honor Society even though I told her that it’s not necessary. In the spring she is signing up to teach Spanish at one of the local elementary schools. She can’t do it now because of sports. She is very busy and her social life tends to revolve around these activities, which works out fine because she is not one to just " hang out" and she hates watching tv and going to the movies. She goes to a movie occasionally when one comes out that really sparks her interest. There is an opportunity for her to be on a board that advises the Superintendent, but honestly I do not think she has the time. I admire those of you who have kids doing ECs in " engineering things." Mine does not seem to be interested. </p>
<p>Yes I don’t think it is wise to have a laundry list of ECs. Better to have a few and be super involved in them. I am amazed when I read about some of the things that kids are involved in.</p>
<p>The irony is that this girl is a very, very strong English and History student and she always assumed she’d pursue something that used her reading and writing ability. Math was never really a favorite subject although last year’s wonderfully positive, strong teacher did manage to change some of that thinking.</p>
<p>Computer science was not on her radar screen until last summer when she took a kind of immersion course and now it is something that is, if not quite an obsession, a serious interest. She’s taking AP Comp Sci and is thinking/planning on taking the post AP class next year. She’s also starting up a club in school and is busy getting curriculum and advisors in place.</p>
<p>Well, the practice SAT is over and D is sunny as ever. These ups and downs are going to be the end of me. I’m going to wait a little and then see if we can have a talk about planning out this year.</p>
<p>BunHeadMom, is this a boarding school? It sounds fantastically English and interesting. Prefect? Head Girl? I love it. Congrats to your D on achieving these leadership roles. It is definitely a matter of quality over quantity.</p>
<p>I mentioned a week or so ago about my 8th grader’s math class. We had open house and I got the teacher’s explanation. It’s called a flipped classroom and I am not happy about it. For homework, the students are to copy the next day’s notes from the teacher’s website and then they are supposed to watch online tutorials that teach them the material. Then the next day in school the teacher answers questions and they work through problems together and in small groups. Does anyone here have any experience with this for 13 year olds?</p>
<p>Our school made a decision last year to eliminate the honors classes at the Junior High level and accelerate every student. Every 8th grader takes Algebra and Living Environment including the NYS Regents exams whether they are ready or not. So basically the real honors kids are divided and put in classrooms with kids who have no desire to succeed. Now on top of all that, there are “flipping” the class for Algebra and having these kids watch YouTube instead of learning the lesson from the actual teacher. If they don’t understand the YouTube video they have to wait to ask a question until the next day. Or in my son’s case, he asks us to explain it to him. The school claims that some children don’t have anyone at home to help them with their homework so they think this is the answer. It has sure flipped in my house. Before, my son never needed much help with math, he is a very strong math student. Now he wants to completely understand the lesson so he is constantly asking H and D to help him understand. He certainly can’t ask the guy on the computer!!!</p>
<p>I am so frustrated by all of this. They have to take the 8th grade Common Core state assessment in April, the new Common Core Algebra Regents and the old Algebra regents in June. Three state tests in one subject!! And his teachers isn’t even teaching, he’s watching YouTube!!! It’s time to reach out to the school. I guess I’ll start with the Math Chair, the principal and the Superintendent of Curriculum. Grrrr.</p>
<p>Keep me that sounds awful!! Do you mean that your kid has to learn from a video and then the next day they work through problems and ask questions? That would not make me very happy at all. </p>
<p>My junior took the English Regents in 10th grade even though it is typically taken in 11th. She took 11th grade English last year. She now tells me that her entire IB English class ( except her) is taking the English Regents this year- the normal year to take the test. I asked her what she will be doing while her class is taking the Regents. Her response: the school is giving me an old Regents to take because they need to give a standardized test every single year. She got a 100 on the English Regents last year- why does she need another one this year?</p>
<p>I feel for you. The education system is getting out of control. I would definitely call the school tomorrow and ask about this.</p>
<p>Twogirls…my Junior D is in AP English Lang. this year and we were told she has to take the AP test in May, the new Common Core English Regents AND the old English Regents in June. Again, 3 exams in 1 subject. The school will count the higher grade. I have a friend who teaches AP English in another district and she said the CC Regents is ridiculous. I’m so fed up…I’m actually thinking about opting my boys out of the state assessments this year.</p>
<p>And yes, the 8th graders do not learn the lesson from the teacher. They are supposed to learn it from the videos and the notes posted online.</p>
What you are describing with her coding work is pretty typical characteristics of engineers.</p>