DS18 punted on SAT subject tests last Saturday - planning to retake ACT this Sat. Hoping he does a little better than last time - Science has been low score mostly - any suggestions from our group? School ends tomorrow for him. Planning some summer college trips soon.
D18 hasn’t taken the ACT. We focused on the SAT. However, she asked to take the ACT, so she/we may plan to take on 9/9. Kinda depends on the release of the May SAT results this Thursday. [-O<
D18 is super busy this summer, so unfortunately, I don’t know if we’ll get to any college trips. So for those planning college trips, please post your thoughts so I can live vicariously.
SAT taken last Saturday, ACT this Saturday. I sure hope she will be finished! Waiting not so patiently for May SAT results to be released on Thursday. It really annoys me that often times SAT results are not out before the next sitting. Like the college board isn’t sucking enough money out of us already that they can’t release results forcing registration for the next test.
@CA1543, my D said the science section is less about science and more about reading comprehension and logic. She suggests having kids take several timed practice tests for this section, as timing can be tight. Good luck to your S and to all of the kids taking tests and waiting for test results!
My D is taking Subject Tests in August and then should be done. I’ve been nudging her to work on her Common App essay, to no avail. I think this will be the summer of nudge.
My DS focused on reading and science this weekend as those were his lowest scores on the ACT. Yesterday he took both and got a 35 on both! He had a 29C when he took the ACT in April and is aiming for a 33. Fingers crossed for everyone!
He starts his summer job tomorrow. Hopefully he won’t be too exhausted come Saturday.
Thanks for the advice re ACT science. Having a DS17 who just finished this process I do encourage essay writing over the summer if possible - and supps for any EA schools. School visits can be helpful or not - kind of depends on campus activity and scope of info sessions etc.
My D says the exact same thing. She takes a few seconds to skim over the graph/data, then goes straight to the questions. She says the text that goes along with the graph is almost always superfluous.
Good luck to all of the test-takers!
Compass Test Prep came to D18’s school many months ago and said exactly that. The science section is about reading comprehension, not really about science. I remember the representative saying something to the effect that the students tend to get lost in the graphs and data and the questions aren’t really graph and data driven. The answers are in the text. Something like that.
Wow, that’s actually the opposite of how D does it. She doesn’t even read the text. She got a 35 on Science last go-around so it worked for her. This just reinforces that students need to practice and practice to see what method works best for them.
As I said, my D hasn’t even taken the ACT, so I could be talking out of my behind. But that’s my recollection. 
My D took Lit, US History and math 2 subject tests. She decided to add math in at last minute. I was surprised by this. She feels very confident about Lit and US History. She said math was fine and no surprises. She is finishing up AP Calc so has had all the material though it has been awhile. She will take her final SAT (2nd attempt) in August and then we are done. Started working on her essays in a workshop this weekend. Feels good to almost done with the testing. Wish the scores came back faster…seems like previous scores were available sooner. I can’t believe I have a rising senior. Where did time go?
S’18 took US History and Math 2 on Saturday. So, that’s a wrap with the testing. Never bothered with the ACT. He took the SAT twice (one was a freebie at school) and that was good enough. He will be applying to a few SAT 2 recommended schools, so he wanted these done before summer.
He’s doing a 6 week summer program starting in a couple of weeks and then starts marching band the day he gets back. So, he is working on having a good draft (not necessarily final) Common App essay done by time we leave… He’ll also be working on the resume for LORs in Naviance.
Fortunately he’s been off of school for a couple of weeks and has had a little down time.
So I just tried to run a net price calculator on the first college we will visit (so as not to overwhelm myself) and the only one I found on the college’s own website uses data from 2014-15.
What the heck? I guess that’s somewhat of a gauge, but not a good one since it’s four years old. They do have a cost estimator, but that asks you to input stuff I don’t know such as financial aid awards, etc.
I will definitely ask about this when we go visit, but has anyone run into a wildly outdated NPC? It’s a state school, if that makes a difference.
@bearcatfan - was the tuition and room/board from 2014-2015 or were they asking for the tax data from.that time? If tax and income data, that’s because the information from two years before is the year that the schools use to determine eligibility for financial aid.
So for our kids’ freshman year, they will use income and taxes from 2016 I believe.
If it was their own tuition and fees that were out of date, I can’t help you with that!
@RoonilWazlib99 They said their information was from that year. We go on Monday, so I will ask then. It’s not super expensive, but it would be good to know.
May SAT scores are out this Thursday. I know we’re anxiously awaiting them at our house. If they’re not what DD is hoping for, she’ll try again in August, but I hope we can just cross it off the list! Focus on essays and applications, not test taking!
DS took another full length practice ACT this morning and got the 33C he needs for the Alabama scholarship! He’s been on a really good streak for the past week. Hope it continues thru Saturday! :-SS
@odannyboySF I hear you on crossing it off the list. Hope the score is what she’s hoping for!
@odannyboySF Me this Thursday morning. X_X
Actually that’s me also on Wednesday night watching the Warriors play the Cavs.
S18 has completed his junior year. Had a great year, improving his GPA to a 4.1 weighted. He took the SAT in April as part of the school day and scored a 1460. As far as he is concerned, he is done with testing. I suggested that he try to get into the 1500’s but he will have none of it. Very stubborn (Irish Catholic, gets if from me) so I need it to be his idea or he will just fight it.
He is now looking at schools. He wants to major in applied math but I cannot really find a list of great schools for applied math. Probably because there is such a wide array of careers that come out of applied math (I got my degree in applied math and went into SW development). He likes SW and I see him leaning that way, but who knows.
For schools, We have been looking at schools with good engineering programs. Is there a better list to look at?
Congrats on a good year, @jpc763! Junior year is a tough one.
There is this list of schools good for applied math. It seems useful because you can look at a variety of different measures, rather than just one person’s idea of what is “best.”