@RoonilWazlib99 do you mind sharing your sons PSAT scores were? It’s a new test and there is much speculation on what a good score actually is. Is this a private counselor or a school counselor?
@ak2018 thanks for the great suggestion to Google request info with college name. For those parents who are using Naviance they also have a request info feature once you add a college to the “colleges I am interested” category.
@3scoutsmom She is a private college counselor in our local area. I don’t mind sharing. He scored a 730 on the reading/writing portion and a 670 on the math. There were parts he just didn’t recognize on the math section as he had only taken a month of Algebra 2 at that point. We’re hoping that with a full year of it, his actual PSAT score will improve in that section.
For a kid who is not interested in science or math careerwise, would you have them take Honors Precalc, if he is not going to take Calculus senior year? He is going to take regular Chem and has a B in Honors Algebra 2. I’m afraid that precalc will bring things back that he hated in geometry, just much harder.
mommdc - My engineer husband has a theory about taking Pre-Calc and Calc in HS. Most kids will have to take Calculus at some point either in high school or college. Even non STEM majors have to take some version of higher level math, possibly statistics for liberal arts majors (he seems to think his whole theory applies if you substitute AP Statistics for the word Calc) Many of the kids in college have already been exposed to Pre-Calc or Calc in HS you don’t want to be the one sitting in your college Calc class lost and confused because everyone else has at the least been exposed to the concepts and the college Calc class is going to move a lot faster than the HS class.
Does your school offer a non honors Pre-Calc?
@labegg, no. Just honors.
We did course selections for next year this week as well. And since we are also IB, she essentially selected for the next 2 years. We also had drama! But drama of a different sort than you had @labegg my D called me in a panic because she didn’t know what classes to choose and wanted me to choose for her!
We had had many conversations about her schedule, and she essentially had 2 slots where there was flexibility in what courses she chose to fulfill those requirements. I had told her I did not have an opinion on those classes but I wanted her to pick the classes she felt happiest and most comfortable taking, one of them would be an IB HL course so a 2 year commitment. She still called me in a panic and needed me to walk her through making the decision. But it’s done. There was so much drama and angst about it that I truly worry about what she’ll be like when she has to make decisions about college! It’s going to be a bumpy ride with this one…
Anyway, her schedule shakes out to be:
Junior year:
English IB HL year 1
Biology IB HL year 1
Visual Arts IB HL year 1
Math IB SL year 1
Spanish IB SL
Government/Economics(1 semester each graduation req.)
Theory of Knowledge/IB Support (1 semester each)
PE Athletics
Senior year:
English IB HL year 2
Biology IB HL year 2
Visual Arts IB HL year 2
Math IB SL year 2
Psychology IB SL
Theory of Knowledge/ IB Support (1 semester each)
IB Support (full year)
PE Athletics
She will only have one IB exam Junior year, 5 Senior year. IB Support is essentially a study hall for kids in the full diploma program to have extra time to work on the extended essay, study for the exams, etc. So come spring semester senior year she will have 2 of these support periods plus her athletics period and 5 IB classes. I worried a little that she was not challenging herself enough Senior year, but then I remembered this is my kid with high anxiety, 5 IB classes plus applying to college and activities will be plenty. By spring, she will have earned whatever level of break she gets…
On the subject of math @mommdc I’m also in the take pre-calc camp, if only because it leaves more doors open. D has a couple of friends who are not planning to take it (though they are taking IB Math Studies which I think may have some pre-calc in it), and I admit I am confused by it. I had only through pre-calc in high school and ended up taking a LOT of math in college, it was no fun struggling with unfamiliar math at a college level when everyone else had had it before. Even if they don’t need it later or end up having to retake at the college level, the exposure to the concepts in high school is valuable IMHO… YMMV.
Wow, @1822mom I’m jealous your daughter’s school has 8 class periods! Our son only has six and it makes fitting everything in fairly difficult. I’m also a little jealous of the study time/research hour for IB students your school does!
@RoonilWazlib99 – One thing that stuck out to me about your son’s schedule is the IB Math SL. For an engineering student, I would assume that schools would want to see them take Math HL.
@3scoutsmom – a good score for NMS purposes will depend on your state. Some states have very high cutoffs – my home state for example, had a cutoff of 221 (on the old scale) the last time I had experience with this.
DD is also in the midst of course selection but between the IB diploma requirements and our school system’s requirements (e.g., personal finance course, fine arts, etc.) there isn’t much wiggle room in her schedule at all. Thankfully she is now done with the gym requirement and she took the personal finance course over the summer so she has a teeny bit of flexibility.
She will have her four core classes (IB Lang & Lit, Physics, IB History of Americas, Pre-Calc Honors) then fill the rest of her schedule with Journalism (she will be an editor next year), IB Spanish, and IB Business & Mgmt. She will take Theory of Knowledge (TOK) as an eighth class after school in the spring. IB diploma scheduling is so tight that her school offers TOK as an after school class so that kids can fit it into their schedule. Varsity teams cannot hold their practices before 5 p.m. so that athletes can attend class.
On top of all that she will play two sports at school and manage a third. Journalism also requires extra hours after school to produce the newspaper. She is likely to drop her two club sports though. Not enough time to fit it all in, especially since she will also need to find time for the required CAS hours and the Extended Essay.
DD has been very proactive with her course selection. She has had individual meetings with her counselor, sought input on course selection from her current teachers, and has also had discussions with other school counselors whom she knows from other activities. We’ve had several discussions at home and it’s clear she’s given this a lot of thought so I am comfortable with her choices.
@2014novamom Unfortunately IB Math HL is not an option for him as he is in Algebra 2 this year. In his school you have to take Algebra 2 as an 8th or 9th grader to take Math HL.
His school just announced that they are doing away with class rank and Valedictorian/Salutatorian as I think a lot of schools have.
They are going to a Latin honors system where a 3.5-3.74 is cum laude, a 3.75-3.89 is magma cum laude, and a 3.9-4.0 is summa cum laude. They made no mention of whether they would weight IB classes, but because the ranking stops at 4.0, I’m going to guess not.
@2014novamom Yes, I’m aware the score for National Merit varies by state and that NM uses the “selection index” not the actual score. I was just curious as to what this counselor generally thought was a good score for the new PSAT.
I’ve been following some of the prediction threads for the class of 2017 and the usual “experts” (Prep Scholar, Test Masters …) are all over the place. From what I’ve been able to glean it seems that this year’s PSAT has more students at both the top and bottom end and fewer in the middle. Since National Merit only allows for fixed number students from each state I think the requirements may be higher than expected this year. I’m trying to get sense for what this may mean for the class of 2018.
@RoonilWazlib99 agree that Algebra 2 will help the math score. S18 didn’t have any problem with the math but he took Algenra 2 last year. DS18 is taking the new PSAT10 later this month so it will be interesting to compare the PSAT to the PSAT10.
@RoonilWazlib99 Our school is officially non ranking but has to rank the top 10% due to Texas state law. The just released ranks for sophomores yesterday DS is solidly in the top 5% so we good if stays there and wants to go to UT.
Every district does class rankings differently. Ours caps weighted GPAs at 5.0 and every AP and most honors class allow them to earn an extra 0.1. So a student with all As needs to take 10 advanced classes to max out their GPA. They also do not use the titles Valedictorian/Salutatorian. DS graduated in May ranked #1/500 in his class. There were almost 30 students tied for #1 with a 5.0 weighted GPA. I do not think DD is able to match that, which is perfectly fine. She is getting ready to pick classes for next year and there is some uncertainly in one of her required classes. She will need to guess and probably change her schedule this summer when the schedules are available. I will make her discuss her tentative schedule with me before I approve this year’s plan so I know she has everything covered.
Hello! I am very new here, but my oldest D is in the class of 2018 and we now get to worry about college. We have some questions, since she’s our first.
*She is very smart, but we have a tiny, rigorous HS that doesn’t have the staff to offer honors classes other than math for freshmen and sophomores. Math is her worst subject by far and she hasn’t taken the honors math classes, but she is in A2/Trig, so at least she’s a year ahead. Is this horrible? She’s self-studying APs instead. Is that a decent supplement? She’s doing Human Geography and World History this year.
*Next year, D wants to take:
-AP Environmental Science
-English 11 Honors (seen to be one of the hardest classes in the school, teacher gives an average grade of a C+, but D has him this year for 10th grade English and he emailed us that she is an exceptional english student and will be successful in English Honors )
-SUPA US History
-French Honors
-Honors Science Research
-Precalc
-AP Psych
-Gym (required)
-SUPA College Learning Strategies
D really wants to take SUPA history instead of APUSH. It’s apparently a bit harder, but isn’t recognized as much. If it is recognized, she gets 6 college credits, which is awesome. D loves history, it’s her favorite subject and best class: do we let her take SUPA? (Syracuse University Project Advance, literally a Syracuse class at her HS) Also, would English Honors be a bad idea since EVERYONE gets such bad grades? It’s known to be a GPA killer.
*Lastly (sorry for the long post) - PSAT. D got a 1330, but her ratio was off. Evidence Based Reading and Writing was a 740, but Math was a 590! What do we do??
Sorry about the long post, thank you all!
@ak2018, thank you for your advice and suggestions, I totally agree with you that my DD’18 should not take challenge AP courses just for college applications. However, she already ruled out AP Biology (she got B+ in Biology Honor, but she doesn’t like it) and ruled out AP Chem (she is currently taking Chemistry Honor and also getting B), I found interesting that she will not consider AP Science but she would consider taking AP US History and AP Calculus AB. Our school doesn’t offer AP Art Studio, and prerequisite for any Art courses is Drawing 1. We are thinking to get approval from school to take summer Community College Art course instead, but we haven’t get the chance to talk to school counselor yet.
Welcome @giraffe678 my D18 is also my oldest so I can’t offer much in the way of experienced advice, but what I can say is this site is both a great help and can be a source of great angst, a bit of a double edged sword. Don’t fall into the CC trap of feeling like your kid is not up to snuff if she doesn’t have 10 APs a year and taking multivariable calculus as a freshman in HS. It just isn’t so. When I first came on this site I got a anxious about what she should be doing for a while, then I took a deep breath and I’ve just decided to calm down. She’s a smart, capable kid, she’s taking a courseload that is considered “challenging” at her school, participates in a few ECs she enjoys, and she is for the most part happy (as happy as a teenager is with school anyway). We aren’t aiming for Ivies or similar (we’re full pay and couldn’t afford them) so I think taking a more relaxed approach is gong to work best for our family, ymmv.
As to the PSAT, her scores were almost exactly the same as your D’s with the same differential between the math and the english. I’ve told her she needs to work on the math with the Khan Academy stuff and I’ll probably get her a book specifically for SAT math. She’s always struggled with math standardized tests even though she does well in the classes. I think if she spends time on it, she can bring that up.
Welcome @giraffe678, if I read correctly, your daughter will be taking PreCalc (not her strong subject), AP ES, (both challenging already), and she also is considering to take English 11 Honor and super hard History that’s not been recognized. If History is her strong subject, then I would think she should take AP US History (get an A and score 5 on AP test, you still can get university credits), and use the time either for English Honor or PreCalc. Is English 11 honor a weighted course? I think kids want to take AP or Honor courses don’t really consider if they can handle the class, they just want to try. My DD’18 is weak in reading comprehension, but she has taken English 9 honor and English 10 honor and both gotten B+, but she refused to take regular English CP class because her friends are all in Honor and AP, and she believes she can. She is ok with B+ but If she take regular English she would be getting As. I’m trying to convince her not to take AP English literature next year, but hard to do so. If your DD already know the teacher and she can always get help or build good relationship with the teacher, maybe she will have the chance to do well in English 11 Honor. It’s all depends on the teacher. However, taking rigorous course will look good on college applications.
@giraffe678 - where are you guys? We lived in Skaneateles for a few years and miss it so much. I figured with the SUPA classes you would be around there somewhere.
I would have your kiddo talk with current teachers and the guidance counselor about course selection to get a couple perspectives not just on one course, but on the overall schedule.
Our '18 is also our oldest so we are new to the college search and application process. He has spoken with current teachers, his high school counselor, the IB coordinator at the school, students currently in the IB program, and the private college counselor to get input from multiple perspectives on his courses for next year. He is considering all perspectives and will eventually make an informed decision.
@giraffe678, do kids from your daughter’s school get admitted to some reachy schools? If so, that tells me that admission counselors know that your school does not offer many honors classes, and there is no need to self-study any AP classes unless your D is just really really interested in those subjects.
As for the APUSH versus SUPA, are you sure that all schools will give the student credit for those courses? I’m not sure that’s the case, so I’d look into that before she decides if that’s the driver for the decision.
Lastly, on the English, I’d have your D talk with the Guidance Counselor. I’d check to see if the GC will give out data on the number of As, Bs, Cs, etc that students earn in that class. I’ve learned that rumors about classes that are supposed GPA killers aren’t necessarily true.
I had a question that I would like to ask the adults and parents on this thread. I had ask the students on the HS Class of 2018 student thread and they gave some very good, but obviously biased, remarks. The question was about whether or not we are the worst generation yet? I had wanted to find the answer to this question for a while now. I just wanted some opinions from people from other generations. It seems like the stereotypical answer would yes, and the main reason is due to our phones and us constantly being on them. I do know not every adult thinks like this, and has optimism that we could potentially be the so called “Jetsons” generation. What do you guys think?