@MichiganGeorgia Your sons ECs sound like my D - she mainly does acting and singing - otherwise she spends much time reading. It is so interesting to find kids so similar and makes me hopeful that they will find “their people” while at college
@novicemom23kids - I hope so DS17 reads constantly. While he does a lot of reading on the internet he prefers actual books. The only thing he didn’t like reading were some of the required books for AP Lang last year. lol.
AP scores: My daughter’s AP scores aren’t connected to her College Board account, and she doesn’t have the information they require to let her connect them—so it’ll be a long wait yet for hers… (Her prediction—and kids are known to be pretty good at predicting their own scores—is a 3 or maybe 2 on stats, largely due to totally biffing one of the sections, and a 3 or probably 4 on English lit.)
My DD’17 loves reading those YA books ( I say, useless love stories :)) ). She used to read 120+ such books a year when she was in middle school. She has significantly slowed down now. But I would say, still dozens of books a year. Even though these books have very easy language, but I think they did help her with her writing skills. She writes very well and always has a lot to say. I think that should be a strength for a potential STEM student. My DS’20 is on the other side of the world, I think I can count with my hands the books he read a year. He spends most of his free time on video games [-X
I have two readers DS13 EE major in college and DS17 but… DS19 does not like fiction books. He will only read books where he learns something and that he is interested in. For example books on programming,building a computer or history or politics. When it comes time to read the required English novels for the year it is like pulling teeth…
Congrats on all the AP results. D17 is not understanding the rush (we’re in the Midwest), so we’re just chillin’. @dfbdfb We might be right there with you. I’m not sure if her AP scores are connected to her CB account, either. These are the first she’s taken, so they may not be.
@VickiSoCal – I asked my son to check the percentiles for you.
Euro must be one of the more difficult exams, or the one with a higher curve, as only 7% scored a 5 and 16% scored a 4. Contrast this with Physics C where 30% scored a 5. IIRC from 9th grade when he took CS, he said that curve was also very generous. I believe these are last year’s figures.
@2muchquan – did your D retain that little scrap of paper she was given when she registered for the AP exam? I think it was heavy card stock and blue perhaps? It has an access code to be used by those who did not have a CB account prior to taking an AP exam.
I don’t think either of my boys ever needed to use the access code as the scores were available under their CB accounts.
S17 predicted his scores, 2 on AP Physics which given the national results (only 39% with a 3 or better, only 4.3% with a 5!) is not surprising even if it is a big bummer…although many of his schools don’t credit for Physics 1 anyway. 4 on AP Language. Pleased he was spot on for the Language results. He of course is still asleep but I’m going to buy him a congratulatory donut.
@CT1417 Thanks. I’m not sure if she kept that or not, but she did have a CB account set up prior (for subject tests), and received an email last week (addressed to generic “Dear Student”) about upcoming scores being released, so hopefully we’re OK. Either way, I’ll let her check when she wants to I guess. She has literally ‘gone fishing’ right now, catching dinner I hope.
ETA: OK, I was going to just check to see if her scores were attached to her account, and there was this big button that said: Check Your Scores, so I had to click it, right? 5’s in Eng Lang, Calc BC, and Phys C. Not telling her, though.
Since I’m in CA right now I was able to access D’s AP scores this morning (she asked me to). We’re over-the-moon happy with her scores: 5s on Calculus AB, Comparative Government, Environmental Science, and Psych; 4 on English Language.
I am especially happy because I planned and taught the courses that led to the 5s 
@eandesmom S17 took those same tests and I don’t have high expectations. (He’s the kind of kid that I would be equally unsurprised by 2s as by 5s.) We’ll see if he ever bothers to look at his scores.
@262mom my younger D said the same thing-she didn’t want me to log into a proxy server to find out her (and her sister’s scores) early because “it’s not fair”. Ah, I defer to cooler heads. Plus she said she couldn’t answer any of the DBQ questions on the comp sci AP and thinks she tanked it, so she’d rather not know that one, anyway. Ouch!
I remember now why Tulane came off our list-the CS dept has experienced some “went away, came back” issues recently. I love NOLA, though, but D17 hates the heat.
@srk2017 my closest friend has one kid-they call it the Only Club. Like “what are the other Onlies doing this summer?”
@Hades321 wrote
I don’t think I would do that. It may not feel right to the reader unless there’s some sort of special connection to a specific merit scholarship offered through the school, that showed that the applicant was really connected in a meaningful way somehow with the school. I don’t think anyone on the college application planet ISN’T looking for a little merit moola to pixie dust its way to them…
We have books and bookcases everywhere, all over the house. It’s a lot. We may have a problem. A lot come in, a lot go out (to the library’s bookstore-we’ve got books coming both ways from that resource). We’re on a “no more physical books” rule now because I’m not moving them when we move in a few years. I made that rule, lol.
I have no idea how D17 is supposed to get her IB physics and IB comp sci test grades. I think I ask the IB coordinator, but he’s obviously off for the summer, so I’m assuming he’ll tell her once school starts up again.
I’m completely unsure about the IB scores as well my daughter took two SL classes this year plus TOK. She’s at work all day but she said something about her school having a website she can access them on.
Just received a text from D - she is not too happy but I think she did great.
APUSH - 4
Lang/Comp - 3
Macro Econ - 4
Micro Econ -3
Physics 1 - 3
She was content with the physics, econ., and lang/comp (thought she had a 4 or 5 in language but was not shocked by the 3) . but was really disappointed with history - she is confident that she knew each and every answer and she felt great about her essays – she is worried that her teachers will be disappointed and these are the teachers writing her recs.
Not getting that 5 is a blow to her confidence - I am hoping that she lets it go quickly since she is in the middle of things at business camp. She is loving the experience so it hopefully will provide the right distraction to get over her disappointment.
I am happy we are finished with testing - she doesn’t think she is doing SAT subject tests and she feels that by the time the next round of APs come out she will already be focused on her college choice and not so stressed about these tests.
Congrats. to all of those kids getting 4’s and 5’s – and good luck on the next release of SATs.
For the US schools that my daughter is applying to most of them give credit for threes so it’s not a big deal to get at 3. Good thing since she has a lot of them. For the UK schools that she’s applying to she needs 5’s she may not be able to go to her first choice.
Congrats on the great AP results! My D2 can check today, but hasn’t yet. grrr
As for reading, my H and I have always been voracious readers, usually with two or three books going at any given time. Before they could walk or talk, my kids would crawl over to their basket of books and bring one for us to read. Also, before our last move I spent 11 years as a public librarian in the youth (birth to age 18) department. My kids would come to visit and sit for hours with random books they pulled from the shelves.
I know something was said about YA books above, so let me just respond that in the last 15 years there have been many talented authors who have chosen YA as their genre. As a result, the increase in availability of really great YA books has blown us all away! Personally, I still read as much YA as “adult” fiction.
Reading of any sort is beneficial to teens, though. Every time they are exposed to correct grammar and syntax it reinforces their abilities to recognize and utilize it. Ditto for vocabulary. (That’s one reason I recommended the Twilight series – the writing is meh, but the vocabulary is exceptional.)
So, let’s just make it the QOTD: Do your teens read for pleasure? Do you?
I just got a call from my son at Philmont, New Mexico. It turns out his trail crew most of the kids got sick vomiting, My son has a bad cough, and a runny nose, but other than that he is fine. I guess in this case not being able to eat dairy probably helped. His first shower in two weeks. I guess he backpacked only 76 miles. One day though he backpacked 21 miles. Also one night at elevation of 12000 feet there were horrendous rains and winds. He said it felt like a hurricane, but other than that he is doing well.
QOTD: Do your teens read for pleasure? Do you?
Ds favorite place is either the library or the bookstore and her favorite thing to do once schoolwork, prep, etc. are done is to chill for the day on the couch and read. We have always rewarded report cards with a trip to the bookstore and a purchase of at least 3-4 new books and even to this day that is still the reward she prefers.
I read for pleasure although find myself with at least three unfinished books lying around the house at any given time.
QOTD: D14 reads for pleasure, and I read tons. I got her a tablet as our library has a pretty good e-book selection, and she makes the most of free books through amazon prime. S17 only reads when required, and then only grudgingly. He is an excellent reader, just doesn’t want to. One of my rare parenting achievements was teaching my kids that its ok to hate a book as long as you can explain why. Both were quite shocked at the sacrilege.
@fun1234 - Great news that you heard from your son and good thing he didn’t get the worst of the sickness. I really hadn’t thought about the severe weather that we had and its impact on the boys out on the trails. I am sure you are relieved that he is back in base camp.
My son flies out on Saturday morning. I will worry the entire time that he is gone, but I know that he is in good hands and has a great crew around him. I don’t think I will look at the weather for that part of the country -