The subject tests are a big pain in the butt. Chemistry has this weird T/F section where each question has 2 or 3 answers and if you get any one wrong then the whole question is wrong. I ended up buying an extra book shipped same day by Amazon just to get some guidance on that one section. Physics is a total mismatch of the AP1 curriculum so not going there even though 1 school prefers physics to chem. Daughter is completing BC Calc right now so some of the Algebra stuff she hasn’t done since 7th grade so needed to review but at least it comes back in a few minutes. Just one more stress we didn’t need but after Saturday we’ll be on cruise control until the apps open up in a few weeks. DD has promised she will complete them ALL before school starts—ha ha ha ha.
@dcplanner – son is currently taking Physics C but still needs to teach himself some of the material in order to sit for the subject test. There are two different teachers for C this year and the other teacher administered a practice test during class today. (They are only working on projects, now that they have finished their post-AP movie fest.) Son said that his teacher may offer a practice test next year! He is an excellent teacher, but it would have been nice if he had used some of this downtime to address the subject test. The only students remaining in his class are the more advanced Jrs, as the Srs are all off at their internships. Oh well…
Last month’s USH subject test had me off driving to Barnes & Noble to buy a prep book since it was too late for even Amazon.
Son didn’t even consider taking Chem subject test last year after honors Chem. Had no issue with Bio subject test after 9th grade honors Bio, but something scared him off Chem. Good luck to your D.
I would be happy with a few essays knocked off before school starts, but first need to finalize the app list.
@CT1417 Did he take both parts of C? If so he should be well prepared. Our school makes kids wait until senior year to take C after they had an atrocious year of low scores even though I’m pretty sure the Jrs would have been stronger than the seniors since they would only be the kids double skipped in math and taking BC as Jrs. Our AP Chem teacher said he would offer a mock SAT2 plus study guide but I don’t think he ever got around to it…too busy watching crap movies after the AP test 
I think it will all be fine just want the testing to be over!
@dcplanner – No, he has only taken Mechanics and will take E&M next year. Both BC Calc & Physics C have amazing outcomes with the AP exams (24 5s in BC and 1 score of 4; 28 5s, 7 4s and 2 3s in Physics.) Physics subject test scores look worrisome (670), but this is the first year where a large group of Jrs is taking C. The school used to require students to take algebra-based physics before taking AP, but they loosened up the requirement after adding E&M, as they had no one taking E&M. This year’s Jr class has more enrolled in BC also so it will be interesting to see if the AP performance dips.
The movie watching KILLS me…oh well.
@MotherOfDragons actually he wants to get into Intelligence. He’s good with numbers and language and wants to travel so we will see
QOTD: I don’t guess DS will put Spanish as a proficiency. Even though he’s had 4 years and took the AP test, he doesn’t feel proficient. He is qualified for the state seal of biliteracy based on taking 4 years, so I don’t actually know if he should check the box or what AP score if any would be justification for checking it. (For “Languages” his resume currently says “C/C++/C#, Java, Python, JavaScript, GLSL, Lua, HTML, CSS, Assembly.”)
QOTD2: If the more selective major is very difficult to transfer into (often College of Engineering majors), I’d think the kid would need to apply to the more selective major if the kid were determined to double major.
The UCLA news is very sad. We had our own local campus tragedy 2 years ago, and I know how it affects a community. The victim was a friend of some friends.
@picklesarenice Welcome! I know that the California college systems count ASL.
@“What???!!” Welcome!!
Does anyone know anything about Bryant? DS got an email from their T&F coach yesterday, and he would like to talk to DS at the state quals today. They’re D1 and DS’s stats are right on the 50% mark, but the NPC looks awfully expensive unless Bryant can give him more T&F money than most. Can’t find a common data set for them either.
@mdcmom here’s the latest common data set I could find (old): http://web.bryant.edu/~opir/cds/index.php
Try www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ for more recent information
When my son was a sophomore, his school only offered algebra based AP Physics. The school invited 2-3 sophs to take that class (he was the only one who did). By his senior year last year, school offered AP Physics C for the first time. He took that as well. AP exams were tough for the class as a whole (he did well as did several of his friends). Part was no doubt because it was a first year teacher for the class. Part was it also is a tough class/test. E&M really hit some kids hard (several 2s). Will be interesting to see how this year’s class did when the results come out in July. My daughter will take the class this fall. She may need some tutoring from her brother (she is great at science but not the total E&M geek her brother is).
Kids who took AP BC calc set a goal of all 5s on the exam. One kid (of 25-30) screwed that up and got a 4. I think that had more to do with kids who take the class than who taught it. Daughter will take that as well next year. She in many ways is better at math than my son (beat him on the SAT) so she should do fine there.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Don’t know if anyone responded to your question about Truman… I am 20 pages behind in reading. I know lots of people who go there and/or went there. They seem like nice people who are smart and prefer collaborating to competing. They all seem to enjoy their time there, though I have heard that Kirksville is not the most appealing town. I’m sure you saw they have automatic scholarships as well as competitive ones.
I’m surprised it isn’t higher on more people’s lists, as it is a good combination of quality and price.
@Ynotgo I had the same initial thought about my D’s ‘proficiency’ in her second language. If it turns out there D finds a good alternative to show she’s pretty strong in Mandarin, maybe we’ll do that instead.
Re: your S’s language list, that’s pretty good! As long as he doesn’t list HTML or CSS as ‘programming’ languages he’s good! ^:)^. Do they have the same type of certficates of proficiency for programming languages?
“Some” would be the understatement of the year. Even with both parts of C,there are many holes that would need to be plugged.
That’s because he’s not, unless he’s waaaay beyond what is taught in an AP class. The AP exams test to the intermediate-intermediate high level according to the ACTFL. I would not suggest a student list a language as “proficient” unless s/he’s at an advanced level.
@skieurope I googled and what you say about language proficiency makes sense. It seems more akin to fluency but not native speaker fluency, which I agree isn’t reached at the AP language level. Thanks.
@VryCnfsd Thank you so much for the info on Truman. No one else had anything to share. It has moved to my dd’s “very curious” spot. She is already making travel plans to go and see it. What appeals to her is that they are serious about their languages and seems more of a LAC environment. It is within our budget. Finding all of that in one school has been hard.
@skieurope That was my first inclination. I could drop my Dd off in France and she could function without difficulty bc she is fluent in all 4 areas (reading, speaking, listening, writing). But her Russian, even though she has passed the equivalent of the TORFL, is far from fluent or fully functional. She is far more limited in those skills and it would be a real struggle to just be thrown in and survive.
““Some” would be the understatement of the year. Even with both parts of C,there are many holes that would need to be plugged.”
Hmmm…the perhaps I should be concerned about his plans to go out to dinner with his friends tomorrow night? I will have to trust him on this one. He does not seem concerned whereas he was concerned prior to taking the USH subject test.
We had a German exchange student visit with us for a month this spring. Her English is embarrassingly good. As is her understanding of American history, politics, etc. But the ability be immersed in English is much easier than ours to immerse in German. My daughter has 4 years of German and is much, much less fluent in it. Opportunities to speak, hear, read it are much less beyond her German class. German student told my daughter that she need not worry when she visits for a month this summer because everyone speaks English. Good and bad. Good for being able to communicate. Bad for furthering fluency in German.
I have seen people mentioning “Proficient” or “Functional” on Linkedin for languages. Doesn’t common app have choices?
This is for your DD, @saillakeerie: http://www.itchyfeetcomic.com/2013/11/second-mother-tongue.html
And more on Germany: http://www.itchyfeetcomic.com/search/label/%40Germany#.V1BW_JMrKRs
I love Itchy Feet!
@srk2017 I have just seen the question asking for the # of languages the student is ‘proficient’ in…
I am so behind in reading here and have been trying to catch up. I just want to add to a discussions a few pages back about the SAT and ACT testing schedules. Our kids around here are still in school and will be in the heart of finals, projects, and research papers until the 17th. We have final concerts (vocal, band, jazz band), art shows, spring drama performance, and activities for school almost every night for the next week or so. These kids really don’t have a chance to devote any quality study time to ACT/SAT if they are trying to finish strong with a good GPA. I really don’t understand why there is no option for summer tests. It is very frustrating.
languages qotd: I guess my D has to put just 1 language - she has excelled in Latin and has won awards from National Latin Exam every year for the past 4 years but i can not say that she is a proficient speaker of a second language.
D is not taking SAT subject test – may be a strategic mistake but it does not look like she has any schools on her list that recommend or require them and she was just too busy with school work this spring to worry about another thing. If she feels she needs them as her list grows or changes she will need to take them in October – frustrated once again that there is no August and/or September SAT.