@RightCoaster I would let him stick with the SAT if he doesn’t like the ACT.
Some schools superscore SAT, and I don’t really know any that superscore ACT.
Also once you send the scores, SAT reports all previous sittings in one report, ACT you have to pay for each score report I think.
Our school sponsored SAT is also in 4 weeks. We are between plays right now so it’s a perfect opportunity for the kiddo to get some extra studying in. I hadn’t thought about the library, that would be a great place to study together and there is a built-in reward at the end, free time browsing the stacks and picking out something interesting.
He has gotten onto an essay writing kick. He asked me yesterday how many words should be in the Common App essay, then sneered at the 650 word limit. He has discovered that he likes writing about himself. I told him not to worry about the word limits and the essay, because he’s going to have plenty of time in the summer to get it together and the best essays happen when you write, wait a while, then edit it down to the essentials.
I have no opinion on the testing stuff because my S is one of those kids who has yet to take either. His scheduled SAT was snowed out. Hopefully the rescheduled date happens as planned.
S had a meeting with his guidance counselor this week and it was really worthwhile. First, she told him he had to take an AP next year because he was taking one this year and it would look really bad to go backward. So he is taking AP Stats next year. His schedule for next year is: AP Stats, PreCalc, two half year English electives, two half year history electives, gym (half year required), economics (half year required). video production 2 and finally he will be a TA for one of the history courses he is taking this year. Much to his delight there is no science and no Spanish (he is in Spanish 4 this year so no need) and he will have a study all year long.
They also discussed colleges. His GC suggested several that we had already talked about which I think helped him realize that I wasn’t just making stuff up. Most interesting for me, is that S apparently told her he wants to major in history and he wanted a career in politics, so I guess the interest in business lasted only a couple weeks. He also told her for locations that he was OK with the NYC area, NJ, PA, NC, SC, and FL which is different than he had previously indicated. I guess I can forget those midwestern schools that I was researching and start looking south. I hope he makes up his mind on major and locations before apps are due.
@me29034 the kids change their minds so many times between now and next May 1st. Many of them don’t know exactly what they want to do with their lives or where to go to school. The college chat really starts happening in school next Fall between the kids to see where everyone is applying. Once they get results back everything gets reassessed again, they chat with their friends more, compare notes and stories, and many don’t decide on a favorite until mid April. My older was kind of all over the place at first. He thought he wanted a small campus business focused school, but in the end chose to go overseas for a semester and come home and live in the city. I would’ve never guessed it.
Your son will figure it out in time. It’s a good time to let them explore right now.
Son17 knows what he wants to study, but I don’t think he has a clear cut favorite place or environment picked out. It’s all up in the air!
@RightCoaster Exactly. Last night at dinner, S19 said maybe he should study at Oxford. What? He doesn’t even know what that means. He’s not doing anything at Oxford. Good grief. Who knows what other nonsense will come up before April next year.
I’m still trying to persuade S19 to make an appointment with his GC for next month. I agree with him that she likely won’t be very helpful, but it least it might force him to spend a few minutes thinking and talking about this stuff. He is still very clueless.
He was talking about majoring in music and that is not something he can just make a final decision about in the fall when he prepares his applications. He needs to choose his schools now, look at the repertoire he needs to prepare, and perfect it. If he doesn’t get started soon, it’s just not happening and I’m not sure what he’ll do. I wish he were just slightly academically inclined because I don’t really see him going to trade school, the military, etc, and he needs a backup to music. He seems certain that he’s not interested in anything STEM related, social sciences, health sciences, humanities, business, communications, architecture, design - really anything at all!
I haven’t opened any ACT or SAT emails lately, although I’m still getting plenty of them. Time to unsubscribe, I guess. S19 did one of each, is sticking with his December ACT score (eked out a 34), and won’t be taking subject tests. This is really the only thing he has a grip on at this point.
@eh1234 that ACT score is a good thing to have a grip on!
My kid has been remarkably consistent about the short list for months. It makes me nervous. We have one solid safety, two solid matches, and 3 super reaches. Nothing reachy in between. I get the sense that he is meh about at least one of the matches, so to be safe I would like one more match and an in-between reach. But he is looking up last year’s essay prompts for his list of 6 and drafting responses even though the prompts are highly likely to change.
Eh, I shouldn’t worry. Most of his classmates are in the “maybe I will go to college” mindset at the moment. I don’t think it gets real for them until SAT scores come back, then everyone will start to scramble/panic.
@homerdog, @bjscheel and @ninakatarina My hat is off to both of you for taking the practice SAT/ACT with your kids!! So supportive. I have to study up to help my 6th grade son with ratios, so the math would be an uphill battle for me . . . maybe DH could do the math and I’ll do verbal and we’ll get a parent super score 
I actually think D19 and D21 particularly would like the solidarity of all of us practicing together.
I did practice SATs to get my d motivated early on. She loved kicking my butt on the math! I totally was guessing on 95% of it and my score reflected that. I did beat her on verbal, but not enough to beat her composite.
I can help her with much of the verbal to figure out why answers were right or wrong but she’s on her own with the math. Luckily, she really didn’t need me to help with that part anyway. Occasionally she will get a little stuck and will just have to talk out the problem while I nod along and then she will find her mistake.
In terms of the College Board making money, my money spent to take the ACT 3 times ( one was free) was well worth the money spent to only pay for books and fees for DS16. I never paid for AP tests because our school paid for them, and my son never took SAT II tests . Very happy customer . And yes, I do know that College Board doesn’t care if my son gets scholarships, but I do and so do many other parents.
@ninakatarina @bjscheel @homerdog I am the crazy mom, so I registered/paid for&took all the tests S17 took. I am not repeating that with S19 though. 
At that time I was sort of motivated by the book Perfect Score Project.
I have been using math/science all my life, but I can no longer do timed-writing and my handwriting is terrible.
My scores were
Old SAT (Jan 2014) 2150 R 760 M 720 W 670 (Same total with my GRE from 80s incidentally.)
Old SAT (Jan 2016) 2220 R 780 M 770 W 670 (Bringing reading glasses helped. lol)
ACT (Apr 2016) 32 E 30 M 36 R 28 S 34 W 23 (zero prep other than SAT prep, ran out of time in all sections.)
SAT Math 2 800 (Dec '15 & June '16) SAT Chem 780 (May '16) SAT Physics 800 (June '16)
S17 showed no desire to compete with me. 
S17 got 720 in Dec Math 2, so I had him retake it the following June. I told him I really do not want to take Math 2 three times. He got 800 the second time, so I did not have to take it three times. :))
After my first SAT, I realized I need to bring my reading glasses. I was probably the only one taking those tests with reading glasses :))
I would have taken AP tests if they were to let me 
@RightCoaster Revisiting the ACT retake after SAT result sounds good. He may not need any more testing then. I like a problem disappearing itself. I think his SAT prep would certainly improve his ACT scores if he were to retake ACT.
@payn4ward That’s hilarious. I would compete with S19 but I don’t think he’d appreciate it.
@payn4ward I read that book too! It is what convinced me that S19 could do this on his own if he really applied himself. Love that you took it on as well. We all need to keep our brains working as we get older!
Many schools superstore the ACT. Schools also change year to year so always check and don’t assume. Our flagship just started superscoring this year for both, brand new.
Wanted to chime in and say that both S19 and D21walked out yesterday. I was pleased that our district was very supportive of students’ choices to walk out or to stay in class, though they were expected to return to class after the walkout and it seemed that almost all did. Student leaders were in charge of organizing at the high school level, and these amazing kids researched information about the 17 students who died last month and read each person’s name and added some personal details. Others made very passionate speeches. There was a great deal of talk about reducing violence. I understand that many elementary schools focused on kindness during the day and reaching out to other students. Overall, it seemed enormously positive for our schools.
@payn4ward what commitment to take them with your kid! I drew the line at finding and printing every practice known to peoplekind as well as identifying the best practice books available through interlibrary loan. I then proctored all the practice tests.
So we are visiting some reach schools during our April break (I say reach especially given the Tuition Exchange) in the philly area and then we’ll decide if we get back on the ACT prep wagon again for June or July. And really that’s because I have also seen that many schools are now superscoring the ACT. He’s planning civil and we’ll go see Villanova, Bucknell, Lafayette, and Drexel.
@payn4ward It never even occurred to me that parents could sign up for and take the tests! I never took a practice test - at most I hovered over S19 once or twice during his rare Khan Academy sessions to see what he was working on. I assume I could probably get 700s on the EBRW and maybe a 500 on the math. I can’t believe that I ever knew how to do any of that stuff!
All of this SAT and ACT talk reminds me that I need to donate my son’s decorative prep books to the school’s guidance office. I guess if I wait until May I can add the pristine AP prep books to that pile.
S19 walked out on Wednesday - some kids organized a meet-up at a local park and brought in some speakers (including a Columbine survivor). The school was pretty relaxed about it - just an unexcused absence from one or two classes for kids who went to the park, which is not something that has disciplinary consequences.
I’ve been watching the 2018 acceptance threads. It’s freaking me out that this will be us next year. Seems extremely stressful, especially since S19 may only have one EA school. Now I’m back to searching for more schools that are better bets for safeties. Skidmore, Denison, Dickinson in that category for S19 now but Denison getting harder to call a safety this year. Let’s face it. Any school in the top 50 doesn’t seem like a safety for anyone anymore. Bums me out a little bit that S19 put the absolute STOP on applying to Wisconsin.
Anyone know much about Vassar? Looks like the male acceptance rate is much higher than the female one. Pretty artsy, right? Is social justice a big thing there? S19 not big on that.