@apraxiamom that’s great, congratulations! It can be done!!!
Congrats to your kid @apraxiamom! That’s the current target score for S19.
I can relate to those with kids who won’t do extensive test prep. My son won’t even study for regular tests. He acts like he will spontaneously combust if he accidentally spends 5 minutes reviewing something he already knows.
On the very first college visit last week, he learned that his score (achieved with a minuscule amount of prep and no prep at all for the EBRW), while quite good, is 10 points too low for merit consideration. At least he sees a point in taking the test again to keep more doors open, but I doubt that he’ll study for it next time either, even with a new target score in mind. I told him that if he gets a higher (equivalent) score on the ACT, he could be done in December, but he won’t look at a single ACT question.
It’s frustrating because his test scores will probably be the strongest part of his application, even if he goes with the score he has now.
Congrats to your kid @apraxiamom! That’s the current target score for my S19.
I can relate to those with kids who won’t do extensive test prep. My son won’t even study for regular tests. He acts like he will spontaneously combust if he accidentally spends 5 minutes reviewing something he already knows.
On the very first college visit last week, he learned that his score (achieved with a minuscule amount of prep and no prep at all for the EBRW), while quite good, is 10 points too low for merit consideration. At least he sees a point in taking the test again to keep more doors open, but I doubt that he’ll study for it next time either, even with a new target score in mind. I told him that if he gets a higher (equivalent) score on the ACT, he could be done in December, but he won’t look at a single ACT question.
It’s frustrating because his test scores will probably be the strongest part of his application, even if he goes with the score he has now.
For all of you worried about a low test score right now, chasing merit, with a kid who wouldn’t prep—my D16 was that kid. She scored a 27 ACT March of junior year with no prep. This was much lower than her older sister, who got some big merit. We worried she would have limited choices, but It got D16 thinking. She prepped for the June ACT and SAT on her own time, in her own way. She spent a week before each taking practice tests and figuring out her mistakes. She brought her ACT up to 32 and her SAT (first time taking) was up in the mid 1500’s. She got the merit money she was looking for, it was her motivation, and it came later than fall of junior year. No promises but there’s still time. 
S19 is too busy with music stuff. We can’t find a free weekend on the calendar to take a big test until June. He did take the PSAT so we wait on those scores (10th grade scores were very hopeful) and enjoy hearing him sing and play his instruments and worry that he’s not doing his homework.
I hope D19 takes her week off seriously. We got her SAT score today and (as expected), it was worse than her ACT.
But she now has 3 full weeks before the December 9 ACT, and 3 brand new practice tests.
She has no excuses. It’s not even like I forced her to sign up for the next test. She asked me to sign her up as soon as she saw her scores.
I am hoping that S19 spends this coming week studying for the Dec 2nd SAT since he has no school and never relaly leaves the house, just on the computer. Going to institute an hour a day. i want one and done. And since his grades can be Meh, and his EC’s Meh, all he has going for him will be test scores.
Two more performances and we go into Easy Mode. Kiddo fell asleep the moment we got in the car last night. Last night’s audience had a bunch of people I recognized from local professional theater, some big fish from our small pond. Kid was up and peppy all throughout the show, heck, the entire cast was perkier than they’ve been the past two weeks. I think they smell the finish line, too.
There are a few shows in December, but those are just Sunday afternoon matinees so it doesn’t kill the whole weekend.
Kudos to 2019 kids who have done with college visit and testing.
My D19 is still too busy with her single EC. She is preparing for December shows. She told me she will take the SAT in March this morning.
SAT score question: I ordered the Student Answer Service (SAS) for $13.50 along w/ all of the other fees for the 11/4 test. Where can I find this on my “dashboard”?
@jellybean5 The College Board website says “Important Note
In many cases, the Student Answer Service report may not arrive until after the next scheduled test date.” I ordered that too but I think it takes a while and I’m not sure if it comes via snail mail or online.
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/verifying-scores. Somebody just posted a question on the SAT Prep forum asking about delivery time, so I’ve bookmarked it to watch for answers: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/2033139-the-student-answer-service-delivery-time.html
@jellybean5 SAS comes snail mail, probably in another 4 weeks.
Crying! Wailing! Gnashing of teeth!
I finally got the kid to the MVA to take the learner’s permit test. We got through the paperwork portion with no issues. Then kiddo went in to take the knowledge test. I think, no problems, kiddo has been practicing the online version until he gets every question correct.
Wrongo! There are questions on the MVA version of the test that aren’t on their online practice quiz. Kiddo flunked the knowledge test, first thing he’s outright flunked since middle school. And there was much drama.
I don’t know when I’ll be able to drag his carcass to the MVA again to retake the test. Meantime I’ve got to hunt up a copy of the driver’s handbook.
Oy. Oy, and vey.
Clicking Helpful for {{Hugs}}
I’m sorry about it @ninakatarina. I know people who failed the written tests, but they did not practice.
Hope you you find the handbook. Our state had it online PDF.
@eh1234 “spontaneously combust” LoL.
My boys used to spontaneously meltdown when asked to change or get ready for preschool.
DS17 is a natural born cold test taker. His scores did improve over the course of the year. His “practices” were the real thing taken 4 times.
I would just sign him up for every test until desired scores are reached. If he does not want to keep waking up early on Saturdays, he will have to practice.
@ninakatarina I know it would be a nightmare here too if d had failed the written test. She was so upset when she couldn’t even take it at first because she didn’t manage to pass the eye test. Finally getting to take the written test was a comedy of errors and if she hadn’t passed, she would probably have decided someone was trying to tell her something.
Also I bet your local library has a copy of the manual.
There’s an online copy, and a downloadable PDF. I’m considering whether I can sneak a chapter in here and there on the office printer tomorrow while nobody is looking, until it’s all printed out.
I am waffling about visiting UVA the day after Thanksgiving. Kiddo has shown only lukewarm interest in going there, we would be paying out of state prices. The biggest draw would be that the grandparents and a set of cousins live in town. But for a kid who’s in love with big cities, I worry that Charlottesville would seem too small by the end of the first year.
UVA will be a ghost town the day after Thanksgiving. If your kid is impressed by beautiful architecture then by all means stop by but you definitely won’t get a feel for the place. My oldest is a third year at UVA and loves it but she too is totally in love with big cities and absolutely wanted to go to an urban school. However, we are in state, and she couldn’t pass up the combination of low cost, high prestige for her field. Turns out that even though she went grudgingly, she fell in love with Charlottesville and it has never felt too small for her.
Hi everybody! We just got back from another school visit - this time we went to see Rollins which is right outside Orlando. D has the whole week off for Thanksgiving and I noticed Rollins did not so I ran up there to squeeze in a visit.
Her best friend and her mom came along even though they don’t have the program she is applying for, she just thought it would be a fun night away in a super cute town.
Rollins is in Winter Park - an adorable place that reminds me of a New England town. It is about a 3 hour drive from there and we drove up Sunday night. Checked into the hotel (which is owned by Rollins and all of the profits go to scholarships) and walked downtown to check it out. There were tons of restaurants, local shops, chain shops (Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma…), a big park and a train station. We went restaurant hopping and had snacks and drinks at 3 or 4 different spots.
Had to be up early for the 9:30am tour on Monday. Had an information meeting (they are starting to all seem the same - basically just stuff we can read online) then four tour guides came in and you got to pick one.
The campus is just beautiful, it is all spanish style architecture and everything matches. I usually like more of an eclectic mix of buildings but this grew on me. The school is the oldest in FL yet somehow everything seemed so new. The place was clean as could be - we kept saying we felt like this was the Disney of colleges, like it was a set of what a college should look like. It is a small school - 1,900 students - and it is liberal arts so there are a lot of required courses. Seemed like more here than at some other LA schools we have seen. We got to see a dorm room (which I thought seemed really tiny) and went inside the class buildings, library, cafeteria, etc.
Overall D liked it but she is still not sure about such a small school. Her answer to all of my questions (what did you like? what didn’t you like?) was the same as always, “I don’t know.” She has always said she wanted to get out of FL but this felt far enough away that it was OK so we made a little bit of progress. I told her it was pretty much a safety for her so we decided that if she ends up wanting a small school we will keep this on the list.