<p>Hmmm I am not sure I will ask my daughter and check back in. I remember listening and walking away with the feeling of keeping it simple and legible, which is very hard for my kid.</p>
<p>Ok I have forced my D to actually gather all the things she needs for the test tomorrow. I just don’t get it. She truly doesn’t seem to have an issue with going to take the test, but doesn’t want to hear about what to expect, or tips, etc. I am telling her anyway. Sometimes I am OK with being ‘annoying mom’. lol</p>
<p>twogirls, I did some more reading about the 4 vs 5 paragraph thing, and people seem to be split on their preference. It seems to come down to whichever you feel most comfortable with.</p>
<p>Oh, and I am not a fan of the picture D chose to be her SAT ID photo.</p>
<p>My daughter says she was told to write slowly and legibly and to have an intro, two examples, and a conclusion. If she has time she can add a third example, but her priority is to write an essay that somebody can read. </p>
<p>Good luck tomorrow. My kid will have her turn in a few weeks. I think I will sign her up for the Jan SAT and Feb ACT this weekend just to be safe. </p>
<p>Good luck to all test takers tomorrow!!!</p>
<p>I was reading the Black SAT book tonight. D has been using that with the blue book to study. It said to follow the five paragraph essay structure, start with a strong intro sentence. Use two or three examples - these can be made up. The essay isn’t graded on accuracy or realism, just writing. End with a conclusion. It said a few more things but I can’t remember them.</p>
<p>I told D to take the night off from studying. Just relax tonight and go to bed early (she just went to bed).</p>
<p>My daughter uses the blue book with the math tutor and every week he has been assigning her tests from it. Tonight she walked out and told me that he assigned her a " real" test from the blue book for next week. She said that not all of the tests in the blue book are real tests- they are a bunch of examples from different tests. Interesting… Wonder if that is true or not.</p>
<p>Good luck to the test takers tomorrow! Rest well. Hope to hear good news.</p>
<p>Well, dropped D off at the test site. We talked last night and she says she is just really feeling stressed, which leads to more anxiety, etc lately. I think it seems like a teen thing to generalize…like ‘I am having trouble with this class, so school is not going well’…sort of all or nothing. She says she’s having more trouble focusing on homework, and so tends to not get it done more often than she’d like. I think she is still just putting a lot of pressure on herself. I imagine a lot of us have the kids who were always at the top of their class, but now in these advanced high school courses, it doesn’t come as easily.<br>
I’m really hoping she comes out of this test…not unhappy.<br>
I hope all of today’s test takers come out feeling good about the test!</p>
<p>Shoboe I hope your daughter comes out happy as well. If not, just redirect her and let her know that it will be just fine. If my daughter can’t get one physics problem ( two weeks ago she spent two days working on a problem that the entire class could not get, and then emerged from her room screaming " I finally got it!!") then she automatically assumes she is a failure and should drop the class. She has always been this way. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>Well I am happy as my daughter just wrote a legible practice essay- don’t know if it’s good or not, but it’s legible so I am thrilled!! She also just took a practice math test which resulted in a score on par with the CR- it’s a good day. Her math has been kind of all over the place. I must say that I am proud of her as she is plugging away without complaining. I told her that if she does well the first time around then she is essentially done- I think this is motivating her. I am curious to see how she does on the practice ACT.</p>
<p>I’m really hoping she comes out of this test…not unhappy. </p>
<p>This made me laugh - I totally get that. :)</p>
<p>I spoke too soon about the lack of melt downs regarding SAT prep. She has been doing SAT and ACT prep since 8 am and just had a melt down. She just declared that she will be taking each test once and then never again. " One and done " is the new motto. I just looked at her and said " that’s fine." I am certainly not going to argue with her now.</p>
<p>She came out not unhappy!</p>
<p>D came out of the test and said she thinks she won’t have to retake it because it was easy. Okay, when it seems easy…you just never know…She says she will if she needs to, or might switch focus to the ACT if her score comes back low, but she felt confident and finished every section. 
She says there were a handful of questions she didn’t feel sure about (I think all in math) and I think she left them blank. She says on one math problem, where you fill in the answer (not mult choice) she was certain the answer should be a negative number, but they said none of them were negatives, so she left it blank.</p>
<p>I wonder about the essay though…I know you have to write in the space provided, but she says she used the space right under the last provided line (but still inside the box) too. Will that negatively affect her score?</p>
<p>She said she kept getting dizzy. Said that happened in school Friday too. I imagine stress, less sleep, and lots of Halloween sugar probably contributed to that.</p>
<p>It must have been a large group taking the test today. They were split up into different classrooms to take the test. Her friend said the thinks someone in their room had their essay disqualified --She thinks they wrote it in pen. 
</p>
<p>So glad it’s done for now. Now we wait for scores. D is already moving on to stressing about the weekend’s homework.</p>
<p>She came out not unhappy!!! Great!!! Don’t worry about the essay because you will drive yourself crazy. You will know the score in 19 days- until then try not to think about it. Congratulations!!!</p>
<p>My son took it this morning. I talked to him on the phone afterwards. He said it went fine, but he sounded like his head was already thinking about everything else he has going on today, all of which is way more fun that the SAT. Shocking, I know… ;)</p>
<p>Thanks twogirls. Here’s hoping they can truly do the ‘one and done’ plan. ;-)</p>
<p>I just put the score date on the calendar and got approval from her for me to check her scores. lol She seemed puzzled that it would even be a question, “It’s not like it’s going to be a secret!” lol</p>
<p>Pinot, Glad to hear it went ‘fine’! It’s great to have them feeling excited about something else…and not just stressing over tests and grades. I think my kiddo has put off some projects, so dreading a weekend of catch up.</p>
<p>Pinot, Glad to hear it went well for your son…and even better that he’s got some fun things planned for the rest of the weekend! Meet you back here on the 21st to talk score reports. ;-)</p>
<p>PN, Shoboemom, glad to hear the SAT went well for your kids! When I picked up D from school, she felt the SAT was easier this time. That’s a good sign (right?). Now she’s off to a friend’s house and laser tag.</p>
<p>Sounds like a good sign to me. When did she take it before?</p>
<p>Slackermom, that’s great! I would think easier has to be good news! Lasertag sounds fun. Do they play it at the friends house, or go to a laser tag place? I haven’t seen a way to play it at home.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone who took the test today and can relax a little. Slacker is this your kids 2nd SAT?</p>