<p>Disaster has struck. We’re out of coffee.</p>
<p>(D is fine)</p>
<p>Good Luck and Happy Thoughts to all the ACT test-takers (and anxious parents) this morning!!</p>
<p>SlackerMom…I had to give up coffee many years ago but I know exactly how you feel. Diet Mt Dew is my necessity and obsession, and it’s not pretty around our house when I don’t get my “fix”. Picture the transformation into the Hulk (minus the muscles 
) but add in a sarcastic smart-aleck personality…it’s not pretty.</p>
<p>This is why God invented Speedway gas stations. They know me by name at all 3 within a few miles of our house. Mrs Wolverine and the kids just shake their heads.</p>
<p>Is there a Dunkin nearby? Maybe it’s a good idea NOT to drink coffee before the ACT. Can’t work with a full bladder. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone today!!</p>
<p>SlackerMomMD, I feel ya - that would be a tragedy here too.</p>
<p>I’m off D2’s soccer game this morning. Can’t wait to stand in the freezing (literally) weather for 2 1/2 hours! (Very hot coffee needed.)</p>
<p>Good luck test takers!</p>
<p>Disaster averted. H made decaf espresso (placebo effect?) Then D and I stopped at Panera for coffee and pastry on the way to the test.</p>
<p>twogirls, lol, the coffee is for me! </p>
<p>Suzy100, good luck with the soccer game. I don’t know if I could stand in the cold for 2 1/2 hours, even for my child. Now that I think of it, we’ve only put our children in activities/classes that can be done indoors: karate, swimming, diving, rock climbing. No soccer, hockey, lacrosse, football, cross country, baseball…</p>
<p>I do think there is some placbo affect to the decaf coffee. For me I sometimes think it’s the ritual of having coffee that is almost as important as the caffeine. Just having a cup in the car with me that I can sip on makes me feel more awake than not having it, even if i barely drink any…but then again I would not put myself in the ‘coffee addict’ category. lol</p>
<p>2 1/2 hours of freezing weather, probably better than 2 1/2 hours of sweltering heat, but no thank you! D is in martial arts (indoor), I allowed but didn’t really encourage the outdoor sports, so we did an early brief run of soccer and softball, but they didn’t stick.
She is belt testing today…not sure she’s ready, I haven’t seen any practicing going on at home lately.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the ongoing input about the differences and important notes about each. Here’s the next question…and I know I can just look it up…but since you are here… Someone mentioned an essay that their Kiddo had done that they were going to use as a basis for the SAT essay. Does this mean you get to choose your topic on the essay? We DO have a practice SAT book, so I will look for more info there, but it surprised me that it might be a possibility to come in somehow prepared with what you are going to write about…Did I misinterpret that post?</p>
<p>I actually thought the opposite, 
ACT science is more about reading and interpreting graphs so my strong reader with some background in science (and practice) scored higher on a test that was 1/4 math (ACT) than one that was 1/3 math (SAT). YMMV</p>
<p>SlackerMom- I feel your pain. I’m on a business trip and worked all day today, but there was only instant coffee at breakfast. (I’m at a fleabag hotel and not happy about it). I didn’t think I was going to last until the first coffee break!</p>
<p>I’m also feeling guilty that D took the ACT this morning without me to baby her. Watch, she’ll blow it away, and then I’ll know that I have no more value (as opposed to the coddling before the SAT, which had mixed results; not necessarily low enough to be worth retaking but not clearly high enough to get her where she wants to go).</p>
<p>shoboemom,</p>
<p>here’s a nice essay guide on CC
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1494547-prep-guide-sat-essay.html?highlight=essay[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1494547-prep-guide-sat-essay.html?highlight=essay</a></p>
<p>It talks about memorizing a few examples to use in the essay and having an essay structure in mind but not really a pre-written essay. Otherwise, it seems the longer the essay, the better the score. </p>
<p>IJD - My brother always takes a handheld coffee grinder and aeropress with him wherever he goes. I hope your D blows the ACT away! :)</p>
<p>IJD…Right there with you on the joys of hotel living. Three (Bronx) cheers for life on the road!! As a charter pilot I usually spend several nights each month in various quality level hotels. Some are better than others, but it’s never as comfortable as being home in your own bed. Anyone who “enjoys” staying in hotels has never done it on a regular basis. The escapist quality fades pretty quickly…especially when EVERYTHING seems to happen and/or go wrong while you’re away.</p>
<p>There is the occasional perk, like the impromptu visit to Ok State this week. I did a similar unofficial visit to UAB on a different trip a few months ago. Now if I could just get some trips to Lexington, Orlando, Dallas, Starkville, Cape Girardeau… :)</p>
<p>Shoboe that was me. My daughter did a huge project/ essay last year on a very famous person ( Global History class- think about famous people from all over the world). She concluded that she can take the knowledge that she has about this person’s life and tweak it to fit any essay topic. </p>
<p>She has been doing practice ACTs and practice SATs since 7 am. By February 8th at 1:00 she will be done, regardless. Each test will be taken 2 times and it will be good enough… I hope LOL. The big question is will she take a third subject test- she has two that are good to go.</p>
<p>I heard an interview on NPR this morning with the head of the Writing Dept at Michigan. She was very critical of the SAT essay, mostly saying that 25 minutes was not enough time to write a thoughtful essay and that the graders are expected to get through them really fast and are paid more if they read more, and that this means they are taking 2-3 minutes per essay. (Seriously.)</p>
<p>Good luck ACT test takers! Every time a test date comes up I get this sharp jab of alarm that my D is unprepared for the test. Crazy but maybe revealing. No wonder the poor kid is so anxious. I always feel that I’m hiding away all my own craziness but either I’m doing a poor job of it or it’s genetic. Or both. </p>
<p>My verbal D did much better on the ACT than on the SAT for whatever that’s worth. She felt the math was easier than the math on the SAT. Science, too, was really more about reading than about either science or math. So while she was always able to score very well on the verbal sections of the SAT the math always confounded her. The ACT essay was the sole thing that didn’t go as well as it did on the SAT. D thought it was “dumb” and treated it as such.</p>
<p>Slackermom, my day does not start well without my coffee infusion. I was given a cappuccino machine a few years ago and have taken to making a nice hearty latte every morning. So now I face the potential twin catastrophes of (1) no milk and (2) no coffee. I’m glad you found coffee and I hope it goes well for your D today.</p>
<p>I sincerely hope that my D doesn’t hear the criticisms of the SAT essay. Far from making her feel more confident, it will only paralyze her further. She is convinced that she cannot write something credible in 25 minutes. It doesn’t help that the CB shows you examples of top essays and they are ridiculously well formed. I know based on my older girls’ test taking adventures that they are in no way representative of what really gets an 11. She’s asked me to help her work on writing one today so we’ll try to blaze through. Honestly, I just want this OVER.</p>
<p>In good news of a sort, D had her first two bad grades and took them in stride. We received her first quarter grade report and she did beautifully, better than she’s ever done this early in the year. Then she had a math test which she genuinely did bomb. And she got a B on an APUSH assignment which she said wryly, “wounded my heart.” (At her grade-inflated school where I rarely hear of anyone getting a grade below A-, a B really is a bad grade.) I was impressed that she reacted to both grades with humor and maturity. It’s good for her and it helps me to relax a little at the thought of sending her off to college.</p>
<p>3girls congrats to your daughter for handling a grade that is not typical for her. Last week my daughter did a practice math SAT and did her best ever. Today she took one and went down a lot because there was a section where she really had no clue. She took it in stride and commented that she will learn it before the test comes. </p>
<p>My daughter’s teacher said that the essay readers spend 2 min per essay.</p>
<p>So, for the SAT essay, maybe I should just counsel D to write a great intro and then fill the next two pages with “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?” ;)</p>
<p>This SAT essay guide (link below) gives a sample essay with completely nonsensical invented examples. According to the author of the guide it was scored with the College Board’s automated online essay scoring service and received a perfect score.
The pdf isn’t letting me cut & paste the essay–it’s on the next to last page with the bold title Sample “Perfect Score” Essay<br>
<a href=“http://www.acethesat.com/FreeSATGuideExtract.pdf[/url]”>http://www.acethesat.com/FreeSATGuideExtract.pdf</a></p>
<p>crepes, that is an interesting article about the essay! Thank you! It sounds like it could be kind of fun to invent some evidence to support an argument…but could be difficult under pressure. I just imagine these invented supporting details surfacing later in life when someone is running for office and being used against them…yes, I can worry about ANYthing! lol</p>
<p>D passed her belt test and was asked to try out for the demonstration team, so she came out very happy…always love that!</p>
<p>As a student myself we didn’t have AP classes, so no test, and the SAT didn’t have an essay back in the stone age when I took it. So I wonder…what are the differences between the FRQs on the English AP exams and the SAT essay?</p>
<p>Which belt, Shoboemom? My 8th grader is (was) about 9 months away from black belt in Taekwondo but stopped attending three weeks ago because he was feeling over scheduled and couldn’t handle it. 
I was hoping he was going to join his school’s demo team next year. I hope your daughter does and enjoys it.</p>
<p>Apollo, This was for her blue belt in Kung Fu. I am sorry to hear your S dropped his taekwondo. D actually got started in this as a way to reduce stress and get some physical activity that she enjoys. She did decide to drop other things though. She had done karate when she was much younger but had let it go for a few years. Maybe your S will come back to it.</p>