Parents of the HS Class of 2019 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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@3SailAway Hi, I’m a high school senior just snooping around forums lol.

I took three SAT II tests (chemistry, physics, math ii). From my experiences, it is definitely necessary to take AP classes (except for math) before taking the subject tests.

For chemistry, I took the SAT II right after the course and I got an 760/800. The test requires the critical thinking that you build during the course itself. Non-AP chemistry classes will fail to cover such topics and depth. On top of that, you have to study extra topics by yourself, as there are concepts that aren’t taught in

For the physics subject test, I took it without taking a 2nd year AP physics class (although I’m taking one now). I love physics so I found the motivation to truly learn and understand the material throughout summer. I got a 760. That’s a good score, but only because I spent my whole summer learning.

As @evergreen5 stated, AP Physics I isn’t enough to take the SAT II. Physics I only covers mechanics topics and a few drops of electricity and waves. Meanwhile, Physics C: EM covers mechanics, as well as a detailed study of electricity and magnetism, all of which are required on the SAT II.

From my understanding and experience, honors classes are very different from AP classes. They typically teach a wider variety of topics, but the ideas are much shallower. The SAT II is designed in a way that tests your depth of understanding. Lastly, the SAT II isn’t written based off of any course. However, a lot of the topics and depth levels align with an AP curriculum. Even still, the SAT II covers more topics than learned in AP courses. For example, despite taking AP Chemistry, I had to learn additional topics by myself (ex: nuclear physics, experiment history…). Same goes for physics.

As a student with some experience, I personally recommend that you have your daughter take SAT II for courses that she is great at, or already understands (such as foreign languages). If she loves physics, focus on that. However, if she doesn’t, don’t waste your money on the test. It won’t waive any credit, and it will just be a burden that will be hard to overcome, as she likely won’t have the motivation to study it. I know I wouldn’t if I had to take a history or global language subject test. Good luck.

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Thanks to all for the SAT II advice. At D19’s school, you have to take Bio, Chem and Physics (and get A’s) before you take AP Bio. You have to take Honors Chem before AP Chem (they also have two levels of Chem below Honors Chem–Honors is no walk in the park).

@billyjones, I appreciate you taking the time to write out your perspective! I’m going to leave it up to D19 to decide on subject tests. She does truly enjoy science, but I think she’d rather wait for college to take college-level Physics rather than try to teach it to herself in her not-so-abundant free time.

It did also occur to me that D should ask her physics teacher whether she would be prepared for the SAT II at the end of the year.

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@3SailAway The physics SAT II aligned with AP Physics B. The Physics subject test does not align well with the new AP Physics I class. Sparknotes has a free online prep section for the physics SAT II that will provide your D with an idea of all the topics that she needs to know for the test.

The curve is very generous on the physics subject test. However, the students are not permitted to use a calculator and no equation sheet is provided, which is problematic for some kids who were provided an equation sheet with all of their classroom tests and never had to memorize the formulas.

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I think one registration for the SAT II lets you take up to 3 different tests, right? DD is probably going to take Chem this June since AP chem will be fresh in her mind. I figured she’d also take the Math II since most colleges that want SATII seem to want a math one. But it seems a shame to waste the third test so she was thinking of taking Bio even though she won’t have AP Bio til next year (She had honors Bio in 9th grade and honors genetics this year and she’s curious to see how she’d do on the test). Does anyone know if you take 3 and score well on 2 and not so good on the 3rd, can you only send the 2 you did well on? Or do they all get sent if you take them all on one day?

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DS is not really in a good place to take any of the SAT 2s. Ideally he should have taken the chemistry test last year when it was fresh in his mind. He got bumped to an honors history course because there weren’t enough bright kids who wanted to take AP history at his school. They don’t cover literature until he takes AP Lit next year. He didn’t take a language this year because his schedule was too full. He will be taking French 3 next year, so we may be able to squeeze something in under the wire in December. Math is really not his subject.

Two of his schools Recommend subject tests, which is a bummer. In a highly competitive environment Recommended = Mandatory.

Once one of the two plays he is in is over I’ll sit him down and we will look at the requirements and the list of subject tests together. Time to give him ownership and make the choice up to him - does he want to self-study for a couple of tests and take the risk that his score might not be stellar, or risk making his application weaker than it otherwise would be by skipping the tests?

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@zozoty a very few highly selective schools require all the tests, but others let you choose which ones to send. And many don’t require them at all, so look at the schools on your list before deciding.

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@3SailAway our school is the same. You have to take bio honors before AP. Same goes for Chem and Physics. So…the only kids who take the science SAT 2’s are the kids who have doubled up on science starting soph year. That’s usually to the detriment of something like foreign language because you can’t fit two science classes otherwise. S19 took the Bio SAT 2 freshman year after Bio Honors and I think he got a 700 so not great. We wouldn’t send it.

Most well-rounded kids at our school who take APs in most subjects go with Math 2 and then either History or Lit. If they need a third SAT 2, then they take their foreign language one. Our high school’s AP science classes prepare the students really well for the APs and the school feels the kids need that honors class beforehand in order to do well in the AP class. It’s the only subject that has prerequisites.

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@collegeandi WPI is located in a pretty safe part of Worcester, it’s tucked into it’s corner sort of. Seems pretty safe. Some parts of Worcester are better than others. For whatever reason you will see homeless people, sketchy characters, beggars, etc. scattered around town. Worcester had been in economic decline for a while when it lost a lot of factory/mill work. It’s been a gritty town, but I don’t think it’s particularly dangerous. You don’ hear of shootings and murders regularly. Not many bad stories from WPI that I can remember. The campus at WPI is small and nice, with police around it. Not really sketchy around there. Mostly college kids and people working at local shops and eateries. Both of my kids have looked at WPI, and they liked it, no complaints. I’d send my kid there without worry.There’s plenty of fun stuff to do in Worcester and surrounding towns.

RPI, both of my kids liked the campus itself, but thought Troy was kind of gross. The run down section of Troy seems pretty close to campus too. I’ve read that RPI has been getting more involved with the town to improve the area . My younger son loves the athletic complex there, looking out over the hill towards the mountains, great view. Nice training facilities too, They run a nice program there. Some of the dorms are decent, some less so. They are renovating more of them now. The student union is nice, and my kids just liked the layout of the campus and over all vibe of the kids. For my son17 it was a choice between RPI and Northeastern.

My older son chose to go to Northeastern as he thought the location was way better and he wanted to co-op and travel overseas. It’s stupid expensive though. But it’s a solid choice if you have a kid that wants urban colllege, likes to work hard, doesn’t care about rah-rah D1 sports, doesn’t care about Frats etc.

I’d also recommend UVM if you are looking for a great New England college town, a school that might give some merit, safe area, decent school. It’s a great place to be a student if you don’t mind winter. My older son was accepted there with some merit, maybe 17k per year or so, which brought the price down enough for consideration. My son17 liked the town a lot, but he just wanted real city living like Boston.

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3rd Marking period ends today and S texted me to say he brought his Photography grade up to a 91! The easy A class was kicking his butt this marking period and he is thrilled to have brought it back up from an 83 to a 91. Now we wait to see what HL Math shakes out to be. He said he has an 89 but doesn’t know what he got on the quarterly exam. There is always one class at the end of each marking period that he has an 89 and we play this waiting game. My son loves 89’s!
It feels like spring has finally arrived in Maryland!! Loving the sun and and blue skies.

I can’t believe that tomorrow marks the beginning of the end of junior year! Feeling a little sad that this year has flown by so fast.
Have a great day everyone!

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just six weeks to go here until summer. The weather broke yesterday and it was 60 and sunny.I’m sensing a little spring fever in the kids but they both have to keep their nose to the grindstone just a little longer. For S19, once APs are over, he will feel some relief.Those classes don’t have true finals and have some sort of project for their “finals” grade which I understand are less stressful…

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@Kona2012 My son also loves 89’s and 91’s! Actually,when I looked at his raw scores on the SAT and ACT, I realized that he got about 89% correct on the SAT and 91% on the ACT. At least he’s consistent!

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Spring Is sort of here too, sunny and milder. Our school 3rd term just ended last week, but for some reason son19 has been pounded by work this week. Really busy. The kids have a spring break week off next week. But son will be busy with soccer ref, track, and college visits. Unfortunately I think it’s going to be a stressful week instead of a week to relax.
When they get back from break its a 6 week grind until the end of the year. Son is going to be flat out, no rest for the weary. Too much stuff going on honestly. I’m hoping he can muster up enough energy to handle it all and keep his grades up. He’s been doing fine so far, but the next stretch is going to be brutal and I’m not looking forward to it. I think he feels the pressure to perform at high levels right now at school and in sports. He’s been getting a little cranky here and there, and that’s not like him. But knowing the track season starts getting hectic, prom coming up, SAT II tests, soccer ref job, college visits and coach calls, etc he’s getting stressed. He also does not like having zero downtime for normal kid stuff like playing video games, youtube, movies with friends. It’s just going to be a lot of work coming up.
I think we are all looking forward to summer to where it should be less crazy for 6-7 weeks.

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We have 9 weeks to go, seems like forever but I know it will pass by quickly. I’m not ready for junior year to end. I can’t possibly be the mother of a senior in high school, there has to be an accounting mistake somewhere.

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I don’t want to rush junior year either, but I love summer!!

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@ninakatarina we actually have about 8-9 weeks too, just the next 6 which will be the most challenging. Once we get to June there is a little less stuff going on, but Finals week comes up.
Good luck to everyone surviving the last term!

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@zozoty I’m pretty sure you can select which tests you want to send, for most colleges. For some, such as Stanford, you have to send everything in. So check with the colleges your child is interested in.

For your question about how many tests to take:
There is a registration fee of $26 that you pay for any test day. So this is a base fee that you have to pay every time you register for a test day. So this means that if you take 2 SAT II in one day, you only have to pay the registration fee once. However, if you take an SAT II in June and another in August, you have to pay twice.

On top of that, you pay $21 extra for every test you select. So, on top of paying the base fee, I can select up to 3 (I believe) tests, but you have to pay $21 for each one. So, in my opinion, I don’t think it is necessary to tell them to take an extra test because it will only cost more money and you don’t know if they will do well. Good luck.

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Just this morning, DD said, “All my friends are sad we’re going to be seniors and leaving next year but I can’t wait.” She is so tired of her friends and is ready to start fresh somewhere else. I agree her friends aren’t particularly good friends but it’s a tiny school and there is little choice. I do hope that she finds her people at college, she needs that. But I told her I’m a little sad my baby child is going to be a senior and leaving!

This week is a whirlwind of soccer games and music practice. At least it’s been home games this week. There is one tonight. Tomorrow she drives to a town north of us for an ortho appointment, then 1/2 hour south to school, then ride the bus back to that north town for soccer practice and back to the school town, do her cleaning job and drive home. Then back at the school at 6:30 am for solo/ensemble contest Saturday. Then to the airport by 7 am Sunday for a college visit trip!

We’ll have nice 70º weather for the game today, 78º tomorrow and then a high of 29º Sunday! (At least we are headed for warmer weather that day!)

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we are done right before memorial day weekend. As a matter of fact, since most of his classes are AP classes or has many seniors in them, May will pretty much be a wash. he exempts from finals in some of his classes. So i would say mid may, so likely 5 more weeks tops. Now to get through one End of course test, and 4 AP tests. This week the teachers have been giving unit tests as well. S has dug himself into a straight B hole that he is not digging himself out of . this does not bode well for college admissions. Might have to hold off on the ED route.

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@billyjones - thanks! I for some reason thought it was one flat fee for up to 3 tests – I thought you could actually choose which tests you wanted right then and there in the testing center. Don’t know where I came up with that impression, but clearly I was wrong!

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Kiddo doesn’t have many friends in his year. He has three or four very solid senior friends who are graduating, but none are going far for college so he will see them again socially just not in school. He has made several good friends in the freshman class but they are achingly young. That won’t be the case next year, obviously, but they won’t share many classes. He has a lot of acquaintances in his year, but I can’t call them solid friends. The kids who are intellectual peers in academic classes are not interested in the things he likes, the kids who are interested in the things he likes aren’t great students.

The seniors graduate at the end of May but classes drag on for two more weeks. Kiddo will be one of two or three people in half of his classes. Should be a good way to get closer to the teachers writing his recommendation letters, right?