All of those English electives sound great, @mom2totwogirls. Everyone in S’ school has to have English 9, English 10, English 11 and English 12 (the latter two can be replaced with AP Lang and AP Lit). Other than that, I think there is creative writing and journalism and that’s it! I would have loved a Shakespeare class in high school!
I’m not going to bother S19’s overworked guidance counselor. It looks like DH will be able to access the PSAT score on December 12 (one day early) if he feels like checking while he’s at work in DC, but he probably won’t want to be bothered with it. If I had to work in the office that day, I would totally take the longer metro route that goes through DC to check the score.
By next week, I’ll be more interested in the ACT score anyway. My D16 had to wait 4 or 5 weeks for her score both time she took it, but I guess it could be available as early as 12/19 for the 12/9 test takers.
We’re in an unexpected position with respect to the PSAT. I posted up the thread at #4400 about my D19 taking the PSAT with audio accommodations and how it was a total fiasco with numerous proctoring errors and a fire alarm. The test supervisor for our HS (one of our Assistant Principals) submitted an “irregularity report” and early last week he called to tell me that the College Board was offering us the option of waiving the irregularities and accepting her PSAT score (without knowing what it was) or cancelling her PSAT score and using the “alternate entry” method to apply for National Merit. Although we didn’t know her PSAT score, by then we did know her Nov SAT score – when the testing went smoothly with no issues.
We opted for cancelling her PSAT score. So now we have to submit her SAT score and they use that to see if she qualifies for National Merit. Based on her Nov SAT she has a selection index of 215 which I think should be enough for Commended. We were going to stop with that SAT but to my surprise I discovered that with alternate entry, the NMSC will consider all SAT scores between Oct-Jun and look at the best single sitting. So now it seems worthwhile for her to re-take the SAT in May. I know it seems unfair that she can submit multiple SAT’s but that turns out to be the rule for alternate entry. It looks like our state’s SI cutoff is 220 for the Class of 2018. I don’t know if D can get her SAT up to get a higher SI but it seems worthwhile to try one more time.
This gives D19 some much needed motivation to avoid getting any C’s. She has a number of grades that are precariously close to being C’s. I’ve told her that there’s no point in taking the SAT again to try for National Merit if you’re getting C’s because you won’t make finalist with those grades.
@Corinthian that’s a great motivating option for your daughter! Good luck. I hope if nothing else that it motivates her to bring up those grades a little!
I think knowing the PSAT scores will make a difference for me. I’ve been basing the college search on a whole lot of assumptions, but DS19 has not yet done any standardized tests besides the sophomore year PSAT so I really have no solid numbers to base my assumptions on. Last year he got a 540 math, 700 reading/writing on the PSAT. That’s the only number I’ve had to plug into my college search.
I nagged him to do Khan Academy all summer long, and he did work his way through a lot of the sections. He sits the ACT this coming weekend and I forced him to do a practice test last week. His scores were decent, but not HYPSM good.
So if we get the PSAT back and he’s improved a little but not a lot, I have one set of colleges that we can consider realistic. If the number is higher than last year, I have another set of colleges to consider realistic. My husband wants to start booking hotels on our spring break road trip but we can’t really do that until we know what range of colleges we should be looking at.
Plus it burns my brisket that someone knows something important about my child and I don’t. When I was pregnant I didn’t want to know the gender until the kid was born, but the ultrasound tech said “Oh, the sex is obvious” and so since someone else knew it I insisted that he tell me. Knowing the gender made no difference in how we were looking forward to the kid, but if someone else knew then I had to know.
I am so angry at my S19 right now. He is getting a solid B in AP comp sci. This is the kid that wants to major in Comp sci. We can basically cross our in state Flagship off his his list and many other schools if that holds up., (GA Tech, RPI, and even a far reach for CMU since I am legacy). Comp Sci is very competitive and there are tons are kids who will be getting an A . He is also my kid with out many EC’s. He just goesnt get it. He is the kid who gets 88 and 89’s in many classes, and therefore his GPA is about a 3.5. Irks me so much, because he is so smart, but just doesnt want to try; would rather play on his computer all day. Maybe just sending him to our 2nd tier state school, or UAH, and not push him anymore.
The AP Lang juniors at our school take either AP Lit or an Honors Writing Seminar for senior year. Both are weighted for GPA purposes. The writing seminar is taught by a very well-liked and motivating teacher and I think S19 will go that direction. Giving the kids this option divides these kids between the kids who want to possibly pursue English as a major in college (AP Lit) and the kids who love to write. S19 does love to read but AP Lit is just a little like APUSH in that the homework load is crazy. I forget how many books they read but it’s a lot. Plus, he knows that doing more writing can only be a good thing as he gets ready for college.
Ah, the PSAT. Just waiting I guess. Seems like all of S19’s friends got their scores through the leak. I’ve check Naviance a few times to see if the counselor’s entered the kids’ scores but they have not. My guess is, even if they have them, they won’t enter them until the College Board posts them. Otherwise, they might be getting a flurry of phone calls from parents and who needs that? :))
My guidance counselor must love me. Or hate me. She got me the scores, and it’s lower than last year’s PSAT. RW 690, math 530. Looks like khan academy did absolutely nothing for the kid.
If kiddo wants to get into top schools this won’t do at all. I’m going to have to look into serious test prep services. In our copious spare time.
@ninakatarina Lower than last year fits with my theory about it being a harder test than last year. Professional test prep doesn’t necessarily help all kids, but for some particular kids I think it can be very helpful.
@ninakatarina At least there’s time to study! It’s only Dec of junior year. Worst case scenario, maybe the studying could be done over summer if spring tests are not what you’d like. That worked for S19. He hunkered down and studied this summer for the Aug SAT. Maybe that feels late because you’d like to have a realistic list but you can always just have a long list of schools that work for him and then make deletions after final scores come out.
I’m curious…were both sections lower than soph year? Or just one? S19 did think math questions seemed weird or at least different than the SAT. He expected the math to be a cakewalk but didn’t feel so confident after the test.
@ninakatarina Your post has me busting a gut! Thanks for bringing a smile to my morning. My kids thought this PSAT was not so much substantive knowledge based (for the math anyway), but more reasoning based if that makes sense. They didn’t think it was reflective of the math section of the SAT at all. So maybe take one of the 8 released practice tests (timed) to get a better gauge of what materials he needs to cover for the real SAT. The scores my kids got on those practice tests were pretty on par with the scores they got on the Aug. test.
@homerdog The math score stayed steady, lost one point on the EBRW. So if it was actually harder than last year’s, he gained a step. That’s some relief.
@ninakatarina That’s a good way to look at it! I kind of agree with the randomness. You see it in the SAT 1 and the ACT too. Kids say certain tests dates feel “easier” and I’m not convinced that the pre-determined curve that is used really does equate all of the test dates. With the PSAT, these kids get only one shot. If someone has a bad day (for any reason!), there’s no other chance. I wouldn’t be concerned about the PSAT scores. I think I shared this before but S19 got a 630 EW and 720 Math on the PSAT as a soph and, after summer studying, got a 740 EW and 800 Math on the SAT.
@ninakatarina It might seem overwhelming, but if you have a kid in Calc as a junior, then reviewing the old math from middle school probably won’t require a huge time commitment - it’s all in his head somewhere! Sounds like he is in good shape with the English/writing portion.
I fell like my kid is actually at an advantage being in the more “regular” math track with trig/pre-calc as a junior. He’s getting these tests while everything is pretty fresh in his mind.
Yeah, kid wanted to do AP statistics this year instead of AP calc AB but we just couldn’t make it work with his schedule. He’s pretty much forgotten the geometry and algebra stuff. I looked at the practice test book and I’ve almost completely forgotten geometry and algebra. It’s a bunch of chicken scratches now.
I had a perfect score on the math SAT, once. In 1980… all gone now. Gone to dust.
A lot of kids think the PSAT is harder than the actual SAT or ACT. My son17 only scored a marginal score on his PSAT but he ended up doing fine on the ACT after a few tries.
I’m a big fan of having the kid take the test numerous times ( unless you have a near perfect score) because anything can happen on any given day. The test could be harder or easier fro their perspective. The kid could be tired. The kid just might not remember something and it comes up numerous times. A certain section stumps them.
With so many schools superscoring the kids might get a little boost from combining the scores of multiple tests. I think son19 will end up taking the tests 3x apiece. Two times this year, and he’ll take them again senior year. It seems a lot of my son17’s friends did better as they got older and more mature, and maybe better prepared for the tests themselves. If the kid doesn’t hate taking them, then I don’t see a big problem with the multiple test approach.
So mentioned up thread that my son’s best friend really wants to go to Columbia in 2019. He is a really good student, probably in top 10 kids out of 350. Loads of ECs, some awards, varsity sports etc. I don’t know a lot about Columbia, other than it’s an Ivy in NYC. I’ve just never paid any attention to it, and I don’t know anybody who went there.
Our kids go to a top 20 public HS school in MA.
Intrigued I went to check our Naviance and noticed that not one kid out of 30 applicants has been accepted in the last 3 years of data. Pretty crazy, many really high stats kids flat out rejected.
None accepted to Brown either. I’m surprised because we live within 45 miles of Brown. Figured they’d give a local kid a chance.
Kids have gotten into Cornell, MIT, Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton, Harvard , Stanford. Not a lot, but at least there is a chance, lol.
I haven’t really checked out Naviance much since son17 finished his apps up last year. What an eye opening tool!
Naviance scattergrams are interesting, but there’s always that one green checkmark in the lower left corner that mocks you. Athlete? Big donor legacy? Transcription error?
@RightCoaster Our suburban Chicago high school (top three in the state) also has problems getting kids into Columbia. We have friends whose son was tippy top everything (grades, scores, sports, music) and didn’t get in ED. He got into Brown, Georgetown, Northwestern and a few more I cannot think of in RD. He’s at Brown. I get the impression that Columbia really needs to be convinced that the student understands and wants the NYC location. It’s not for everyone. I think lots of kids think it would be cool but they don’t really know what they are getting themselves into. Maybe the AO’s can sniff out the kids they think are a good fit.
@rightcoaster…I agree it can be a very eye opening and useful tool if accurate. It is also very interesting how each school handles how it is used. Some schools keep a tight control where only the counselors can populate it. Others are self populated and if the information is incorrect (on purpose or accidental) it misrepresents the admission number. I do use is as a gauge when researching the schools.
Naviance is kind of fun now since S19’s October SAT was just uploaded recently and he actually appears as a blue blob in the midst of all the red and green. It’s still pretty discouraging based on his current GPA so I guess I’ll know more when it’s recalculated at the end of the year (our scattergram data is based on weighted GPAs). His will go up but it’s hard to tell how much without doing a lot of speculating.
I think our data is pretty accurate - every senior is asked to turn in their college results to the student services office at the end of the year and I don’t see why people would lie at that point. People are definitely not telling the school they got in to all the Ivies but decided to attend JMU.