^ and that is probably the best prep of all!!
I told my d not to do any practice tests today and do very little prep in general. She hasnāt had much time since school started for devoted prep, but school work should already be a lot of prep, I think. Today she glanced over grammar rules and said she knows she gets them better than she did in the summer because theyāve done some of it in AP Lang. I mentioned the grid in tip homerdog wrote about recently and she liked that one. We also read about some other tips she thinks she might use. For example, she said she was flipping to the answer sheet to fill in bubbles after each question. Tips say to do a page of questions and then flip to fill in the answer sheet. She had no school today and so she did some English homework and relaxed. Mostly she needed reminders that this SAT is a win win. None of her friends are taking it and donāt know she is. If she does very well, itās a one and done. If she doesnāt, it was practice and no one else will know she took it or ask her score. No matter what, she will do better that dad and I did back in the days.
At the same time, I so desperately want her to be one and done. If she doesnāt panic and freeze up, itās a real possibility. She really needs the break from stress that scoring well at this point would give her.
Just hopping in. Hope no one minds. My odd is in Integrated Math 3-STEM (equivalent to honors class imho). The math dept has decided to make all junior math classes grade in the following way:
Tests 60% (no re-takes)
Final 15%
Homework/projects 25%
Is this in alignment with other schools? Sheās in a non-competitive public high school.
TIA
My d19ās gradebook is temporarily closed while they calculate interim grades so I canāt doublecheck, but I think that sounds like at least some of dās honors and AP courses @crazyfordlr
Most of the math teachers have password protected websites but I will doublecheck the grade book for dās AP calc BC class to see weighting when it reopens and let you know.
I do know that her AP Chem is tests/quizzes weighted at 70% (that teacherās page is not password protected) and I think thatās similar to many of her classes.
Got the interim grades last night. Kiddo had retaken the disastrous calculus test and brought his grade up to a middle B from a C-. Very proud.
Kiddo has also been talking to the actors during rehearsals, and told us that he wants to take the ACT instead of the SAT. Heās much stronger in science and reading than in math, and the ACT reduces math to 1 out of 5, instead of the 1 out of 3 that the SAT weighs it. Iāve been kind of slack in signing him up for his first SAT, so Iām going to schedule him for the December ACT instead. We couldnāt do the October or November because of rehearsal schedules, anyhow.
So my laziness is looking more like a plan.
They cancelled Tuesday night rehearsal, so kiddo is even going to get a full nightās sleep before the PSATs.
I wish I could reduce some of the math anxiety, somehow. Kid is good at math but doesnāt believe that he is. Witness the C grade that went to B on re-test. That might be the only reason I plump down for a test prep service, increased confidence.
@crazyfordlr that grading sounds typical to me.
@ninakatarina congratulations to your son on the retest. Our school doesnāt allow retests. I wish we had that opportunity.
This teacher apparently usually doesnāt do retests, but enough kids in the class missed the same questions that she concluded that she hadnāt adequately explained certain parts of the content.
I can really respect that. Itās hard enough for any authority figure to admit a mistake, but admitting it and taking steps to make things better, wow.
@crazyfordlr Homework is limited to 10% of the grade in all classes in our HS (a recent district-wide change). My sonās Precalc teacher makes homework āoptionalā but gives them credit for doing it. He had the same teacher last year for Alg. 2 and it took me half the year to convince him to do the homework!
S19 has been deposited at his school for the SAT. Iām hoping he does well and his score will inspire him to look at a Naviance scattergram, lol. Apparently he did do some last minute review after going to a movie with his girlfriend, renting a movie with his buddy, doing an 11:00 p.m. bass practice, and saying goodnight to his parents at 11:30.
This is the first year my d has had teachers that offer retakes. Calc BC is one. The teacher said she started it a couple of years ago because she would prefer kids study and learn what they missed rather than just keep going and moving past a lower than desired grade. They have to meet with her and go over errors, learning what they missed from the original test. I told her itās a huge help for kids with test anxiety as well. Her Spanish teacher also offers one retake per quarter. Another huge bonus for kids with test anxiety.
@mom2twogirls I felt exactly the same way about the Aug SAT. Nothing to lose. Was hoping for one and done but booked Oct SAT just in case. I really think that relaxed S19 just enough to let him score well. He knew his schools accept score choice and they super score. He went in super prepared but really with little pressure and hoping for somewhat easy reading passages since those were always the hardest for him.
I didnāt send him to todayās test. I moved it to March and he may never even take it since he can just use his Aug score. He didnāt take the essay in Aug so that March test will just be out there for him to take if for some reason he wants to add a school that needs the essay.
Good luck to your D today!!
Mid terms for 1st quarter came out and son19 is off to a very good start, so that was good to see. Our school switched to a new parent portal for showing grades and it had not been updated until yesterday, so it was good to see his grades for the 1st time this year.
Son19 said he may do a psat prep test this weekend, as he finally has some free time. Heās sleeping in now, and has a soccer match at 7pm. Free day tomorrow, so maybe he can relax and take the test. I think it would be good for him to get used to test taking again, but Im not going to pressure him to get it done.
No test retakes and homework is worth 10 percent in BC Calc. For most other classes, homework is also worth 10 percent with projects, papers, labs, and tests being weighted differently depending on the class. Tests weighted the heaviest in all classes.
For our semester grades (which are the only ones on the transcript), the teachers count first quarter grade 40%, second quarter grade 40%, and the final is worth 20%. No rounding for final semester grade. What that means in reality is that a student needs a decent A for both quarters because the finals are difficult. If youāre on the low end of an A for both quarters and get a B on the final, you most likely end up with a B plus in the class. 
@4MyKidz @eh1234 Good luck to your kids today on SAT as well. Just reread last few pages of the thread and saw they were at the test as well!
S19 will probably look over a few PSAT practice tests this weekend. Hasnāt looked at them at all. I agree that AP Lang will help hugely with reading scores. Theyāve been taking AP Lang practice sections for four weeks now and S19 improving each time. The teacher said that the AP Lang sections are even harder than the SAT reading (and then, of course, harder than the PSAT.)
Just dropped son off at test centerā¦sitting in the parking lot until after testing begins in case thereās an issue (I.e inability to have his insulin/blood sugar monitor with him, even though CB said that he could).
Itās interesting to read how our kidsā schools differ with their grading policies. My kidsā school operates on 3, 6 week sessions and a final to determine the semester grade. Each 6 weeks grades are calculated: 60% formative, 40%summative. The final is 15-20%ā¦canāt remember the exact percentage but itās enough to make a difference in the semester grade. Only semester grades, gpa & the all important class rank (weāre in TX) appears on the transcript.
The kids are allowed to retest but only if they attended the tutoring session for that particular exam which usually occurs the following day after the exam. I like this methodology because it puts more emphasis on the importance of learning the material you struggled with and immediately addressing those holes. As opposed to the: one and done, get what you get methodology. Students then tend to cram for the semester test by trying to learn material they should have learned/addressed earlier in the quarter and there are invariably holes left unfilled in the students knowledge. Iām sure there are pros/cons for both methodologies but at this age, Iād prefer the emphasis be on learning/mastering the material and I appreciate the teachers taking the time to tutor all of the kids who fail their exams.
Thanks @homerdog.
I keep forgetting the PSAT is coming up this week, too. I donāt think there is anything S19 could do to get into NMF range in our state anyway (222 or 223). If he has a good day, he might get the commended score, but I doubt heāll look at a test ahead of time after taking the SAT today. Heās more interested in the early release than the actual test.
Good luck to the test takers today!
D has not really prepped for the PSAT but she did prep for the ACT. I doubt sheāll be taking the SAT at all, but weāre looking at another seating for the ACT, possibly in July.
Ha! Us tooā¦out at 11:30. I donāt know if the kids need to study if they are SAT-ready. For S19, he hasnāt looked at SAT stuff in six weeks so I just thought he could spend a little time. I donāt expect it to be too much. NMF is difficult here as well. I donāt think kids can get many questions wrong. NMF does not get him much if anything at the schools where heāll apply. I think a few give him $2000 per year. Being NMF would be more about having that distinction on his app I guess. Iām not going crazy talking to him about it.
I completely forgot about the PSAT too. Unfortunately they donāt take it for another 10 days or so. I kind of wish it was earlier this week while the study material is still fresh. It is incredibly difficult to get NMF in TX and based on his practice scores, it would be a shock if he did get itā¦we are definitely not banking on it.
Thanks!
@homerdog d is taking the essay today. She looked over the last couple of days at it and she says itās exactly what they spent last school year doing in English, so she feels it should be ok. The only schools I think she even has a little interest in that want it are lottery schools she is unlikely to get into anyway, so we arenāt concerned with the score.
My fingers are crossed that more of the reading is science based and less historic.
@mom2twogirls The literature passages were the worst for S19. He was hoping for no Henry James, etc. Got a better EW score than expected. Made some comment when he came home that he had seven Cs in a row on the reading and I thought āuh ohā. No way that could be right. Apparently, some of them were at least. We signed up for the score report but havenāt received it yet. Takes six to eight weeks. Has anyone done that before? Does it actually mean we get to see the test and the answers? Maybe Iām misunderstanding.