<p>Our kids do have quite the life, don’t they? You will be nervous but she will have a great time! </p>
<p>I am so glad DS didn’t take the ACT today. He did a one-and-done in December. We are waiting for his SAT scores from January and hopefully he wont need to repeat that. He does plan for a couple of subject tests in May or June. He hates these “pointless” tests but I’m glad he is a good test taker.</p>
<p>Instead today, he participated in a regional level piano solo competition. He earned top marks and could play it at the state competition in two weeks…if he didn’t have a conflict. Seems too many conflicts this year between music and science olympiad. Also today are 2 shows of the school musical. He is in the pit. We left home before 10am this morning and hopefully he will be home by 11pm tonight. </p>
<p>I don’t know how the ACT will turn out for D…Thursday she figured out she needed to borrow a calculator, as her type is prohibited. Then Friday was a snow day so she couldn’t get the calculator from her friend at school, finally wound up getting one at 8pm last night. Then go get fresh batteries for it, get familiar with it, etc. She took a practice math section after that, and went to bed around 10:30. She had cracked the ACT 36 book once or twice, and that was the extent of her studying. She came home today and said everything went fine on the test except the science - she ran out of time and bubbled randomly on the last 5. She wasted time trying to interpret the graphs before reading the questions…she figured this out while taking the test, but it was too late. Of course, the tip to read the questions and then refer to graphs is in the book. Well, we’ll see if she needs to retake or not! Ugh. Anyone know when we get the scores?</p>
<p>I think I read that they come out on February 24, but they come out in waves so some might not get their score right away. On the Dec test my D got her score on the 30th but her friend in the same room got hers a few weeks later. </p>
<p>Wow. So many taking the ACT today! I am sorry to hear that the math section seemed so rough. Hopefully there will be a good curve on it and the scores will be good news. </p>
<p>My sympathies to all the ACT takers this morning. It sounds like it was really tough. I bet the curve will be generous if that’s any comfort.</p>
<p>I know it’s hard to pass up the 4 (IIRC) free score reports you can send with ACT/SAT, but we always tell our kids to leave them blank…just in case they don’t like the score they get. Our kids aren’t planning on looking at highly selective schools that might require all scores from all sittings to be sent with an application, so we would just pick and choose what scores to send to whichever schools they choose to apply to. </p>
<p>I really don’t know how much a “less than desired” score might affect a student’s application, especially if they have a score from another sitting that is better. My guess would be that for most schools your best single sitting would carry the most weight, but that’s just my guess.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear the ACT was really rough today. I’m hoping all your children have exaggerated and they come through just fine. I get really nervous when I hear about these exams now. D isn’t going to retake until June. We’re discovering that she’s NOT a good test-taker which is a bit surprising to both H and me. We were good at tests but we kept D in Montessori through eighth grade (no tests, no grades - lots of projects and written evaluations) so I guess everything has consequences.</p>
<p>I’ve just signed up for yet another college visit to St. Mary’s College of Maryland this week. I’m ignoring the call for snow flurries on the day of the visit. I’m beginning to feel the Admission Office hates us because we keep signing up and we keep canceling. Well, the college closed the last time we tried to visit due to snow or ice.</p>
<p>From the sound of it I guess I should be happy the ACT is not offered in NY in Feb. Hugs to everyone who took it today. Sounds like the math section will have a nice curve. Hopefully it’s not too hard in April bc that’s our next, and hopefully last, round (besides 2 more subject tests).</p>
<p>My D said that the math questions were very typical of those on the SAT, but you do not get the benefit of time on the ACT so therefore it becomes harder. Usually the ACT is more straight forward, but not this time. :-q </p>
<p>She felt that today’s English and Reading were easier than December. </p>
<p>@Wolverine, D used her free score report to send her SAT results to NMSC. We don’t have the results back and they may be pitiful but this is one case where it’s a good use of resources: it includes her November SAT which fulfills the requirement that she provide an SAT score that confirms the PSAT score for National Merit purposes. </p>
<p>Ooh, that was smart 3g3c!</p>
<p>I inally got to talk to D about the test. She feels fine about the other sections although she said science was not easy. She feels marginally better about the math knowing that other kids found that section hard as well. She’s going to sleep on it but she thinks she’ll let it ride and see what the score is and hope for a very generous math curve. She told me she started crying in the section after math because she was so mad at herself for not watching the time. It was good though - we ended up both laughing about it.</p>
<p>Thanks again to all of the support here. It has been a very long stressful day and you all helped me, which allowed me to help her. Now I’m getting into the bath with a book and a big fat glass of a nice California red. </p>
<p>Glad that your D is doing better Suzy. I think it’s a good idea not to cancel the score simply because your D is saying what most people are saying about the math. If everyone thought it was " ok" and your D misjudged the time and messed up, that would be a different story. That’s just my opinion. In any event, it appears as though the ACT is getting harder. </p>
<p>Enjoy the wine!!</p>
<p>:"> </p>
<p>My D’s report on the ACT math section was, “Well, I finished.” </p>
<p>She’s been very busy (as are most kids) and not very interested in test prep. She did one complete timed practice test during a snow day, when the only real issue was finishing the math. She did a second practice math section last night, still not quite finishing. Each time I had her finish the math then reviewed any wrong answers. H was amused as delved into the depths of my brain to remember how to approach the problems. D reported that a lot of the math problems looked familiar as did some of the wording that I had explained. I’ll interpret that as at least a thank-you, if not a “you were right, mom.”</p>
<p>I’m with everyone else hoping for a generous curve.</p>
<p>I didn’t know they can send scores to NMSC! that IS smart. I wish I knew.
suzy, Glad your D feels better. </p>
<p>suzy, Hopefully she did well. You never know. If the test is hard, the curve may be nice. I knew a girl who said she was going to cancel her SAT after the test. It turned out she got 2380. Then she felt really lucky she didn’t cancel it. </p>
<p>In my D’s case, last June, she really had an “accident” - somehow she planned to have 60 questions, (subject, U.S. history) instead of 90, in spite of the fact that she did several sample tests before the test. So when the proctor said there were 5 min. left, she thought she was done, and turned the page and realized there were 30 more questions! She told me she felt she was in a bad dream. She came out crying. We canceled her score. She took it again and got an 800 and was happy. I think only in case like this - when you are sure you didn’t do as well as you could - should you cancel the score. </p>
<p>herandhis, that was/is the dilemma for her: was this a fluke or did she do as well as she could have done? The ACT probably plays to her strengths on a good day, because she’s fast. I think that’s why she got so freaked out, as she has never had a problem with completing a section. But there are lots of curveballs out there, and that’s life. This is one test on one day and if didn’t fall her way, there is always the April test date. :)</p>
<p>Have I mentioned that I hate our new emoticons? I hate out new emoticons.</p>
<p>Edited to add: I also hate that big red line that shows we have edited a post. Despite that, I wanted to add that I felt full of angst just reading your D’s experience about discovering that last page. I’m so glad she got a great result!</p>
<p>@Suzy100, I’m glad your D feels better and given the lovely reviews everyone’s given this exam, her result will likely be better than she fears. No matter what, it’s a bright sign and a signal of her maturity that you guys could laugh about this. I spent part of today at a conference where we discussed the importance of “resilience” in successful and happy people. I was impressed and I am thoroughly convinced that the ability to laugh about a mishap and pick yourself up to move on counts for a lot more than a 36. </p>
<p>Well said 3girls! I have come to the conclusion that the ACT is impossible to predict. On the December test she walked out saying that the English section was the hardest she had ever seen yet that was her highest score. As I mentioned before, she did not finish the science yet managed to do very well on it. I suspect the math will have a nice curve, and I also believe that a year from now we all will have moved on to other things ( like waiting for acceptances). </p>
<p>The next 15 months will be a real roller coaster ride ( and I hate roller coasters). :-SS </p>
<p>The first big drop is even earlier than that. We are less than nine months away from the ED deadlines and about ten and a half away from ED round results. </p>