@RightCoaster These are good problems to have! I bet his teachers can work out something for his finals. It’s not something that happens here often, but I know some kids who have ECs that interfere with finals (ballerinas competing internationally in New York, equestrians…) and they work with their teachers to work it out. Sometimes it means they have to get things done sooner which isn’t a great option but it is what’s offered as a compromise.
We never actually got a physical score report from the ACT. I was assuming we would. For the amount of money it cost it would seem that they could afford a single printed sheet and a bulk rate envelope.
When did your D take the SAT, @toomanykiddos ? My heart leapt just a bit when I saw you had your score report back already, then I remembered that not everyone gets the SAT in April.
My kid’s quarter ended two weeks ago and the report cards come out next week. You would think that the school tracking website would have the grades already, but they don’t. Kiddo had a very good quarter and I wanted to see if it bumped his GPA up, but no such luck. I guess at this point a quarter’s grades have to be an extreme outlier to make the final GPA budge?
@RightCoaster Congrats to your S on New Balance! That’s great. He should try to work something out with regard to his finals. Maybe take the angle that he is representing his high school, and it’s a big coup to get to New Balance, so great for the school too, so they should support him.
@liska21 Liked how you put 2 schools together and asked your S to choose. That’s a really great way to figure out priorities and what’s most important
@liska21 Brilliant!! I may be PMing you. Midd, Dartmouth, and Williams on the list as potential reach options. I know the differences but the vibes are harder to figure out.
@Kona2012 I do have experience with a kid who thinks she has to do all the highest level things. One thing I learned was not to suggest she shouldn’t do something because it was too hard or that easier would fit her better. That either hurts her confidence, her feelings or makes her dig her heels in (or all of that at once). However, if I tell her that she CAN do everything but doesn’t NEED to, that part of growing up is to decide which things are worth prioritizing and stressing about and which just aren’t worth it for her, that helps. I tell her she can do all the higher level and do them well, but will she be happier than if she balanced it more and had some time to spend more on the things she actually likes? Sometimes she takes the easier path after thinking about it, sometimes not, but at least she knows going in that she really thought it out.
Zipstermom–I agree with you. I’m not sure if I should encourage D19 to take the SAT II’s either. She’s got good/great SAT and ACT scores. Shouldn’t that be enough? A lot of the colleges recommend SAT II’s but also say that they are not required. Is that just another way of saying they actually ARE required? Will her application get thrown out if she did not take any SAT subject tests?
@mom2twogirls Thank you! I love the way you put that and will definitely use that as my approach. It’s funny because at the beginning of this school year I was stressing the HL1 Math choice and kept checking in with my son. Are you handling it ok, are you sure, do you want to switch… one day he said mom stop asking me because you are going to make me think I can’t do it. LOL… so your approach is much better.
I’ve used this year to stay away from parent connect and to let my son handle his grades and communication with teachers. I figured he’s going away to school and he needs to learn. It’s been much less stressful to let him take the wheel and for me to ask him how things are going.
@LakeAlto My understanding is that “recommended” really means required if they think you can afford it and if you live in a school district where they expect you know about these tests. They leave it open like that because it’s not restricting kids who maybe live in a place where SAT2s are unknown. If the college says that the tests are “considered” then that’s less of a reason to send them. Our plan has always been to take them and, if they are good, send them. If not, oh well. Just go with his SAT. We will plan on also self reporting APs if the scores this year are good.
@homerdog–that was my general impression as well. D19 will take them if I ask her too but I think she’s pretty burned out by school work right about now. I just don’t want to put more on her plate, you know? I feel bad for her…
@RightCoaster she is scheduled to take another SAT next month, and I am going to look into taking the ACT. Our school doesn’t promote that at all, so I need to figure it out on my own. But we will give it a shot and see if she does any better.
@ninakatarina she took her SAT Mach 21 (school given).
@LakeAlto Could she take a breather and take them in Aug? S19 will SAT history the weekend before APUSH but he needs to go back and review for Math 2 so he’ll take in in Aug. He just cannot add anything else to his plate this fall.
@toomanykiddos You have an ally. I could’ve written your post about DS 19. It’s really hard to see them disappointed in themselves .
My son just texted me and made me tear up… he got a 91 on his math quarterly which bumped his overall grade to a 91 so he finishes 3rd quarter with all A’s. These kids work so hard!! Kudos to all our kids as they finish their junior year!
@toomanykiddos My eldest son’s experience was somewhat similar. He studied so, so hard for standardized tests and just couldn’t get scores that matched what you’d expect from his GPA. The day he got back his last set of scores (3rd time), he was sobbing on his bed. It was so tough as a parent and hard for me to hold it together and help him put it behind him (lots of hikes and reminding him not to think about it for 2 days to give himself a chance to bounce back). His scores did not hold him back at all though perhaps the schools he attended were different (put more emphasis on GPA than tests). He got into some great schools, went on to a great school for graduate school, and ended up in the field he dreamed of.
@LakeAlto Have her try practice SAT subject tests. That might help. My d did that over spring break and decided that she will do fine on them with a little review (mostly of early math concepts, but she is in BC calc and says if she had taken it last year after precalc, she probably wouldn’t need the review). She got an 800 on a practice math 2 but not within the time limit because of having to remember things she hasn’t done for so long. She’s going to take the tests in June, figuring after the May APs are over, she can review for them and ask her math and chem teachers questions.
I proposed some schools that recommended SATIIs. S19 was a definite “no schools that make me do that.” He is a chip off the ol’ InfiniteWaves. LOL!
Wishing all the kids who are braving the SATIIs a stress free (mildly stressful?) experience. Becuase as @Kona2012 said, these kids are working so hard.
Yeah. After today, there will be eight weeks, one AP test, and an SAT standing between S19 and the end of junior year. A year from now, we’ll know what his next step will be. Gotta work on stopping this “MY OLDEST IS GONNA LEAVE HOME” mental snowball from careening down the hill. 
I was in touch with the guidance counselor this week. She is meeting with S19 for the first time next week. I was all “oh, here’s his list.” #thankscc
GC’s cool. S19 attends a small, Catholic school so GC only has about 110 each in junior and senior classes. She worked in admissions at a CTCL school for a long time as well. So I am interested in hearing her thoughts.
I’m trying to avoid direct contact with S19’s guidance counselor, but I do currently have the sign up form for a college planning meeting with her open on my desktop. I’m making him pick a date/time when he gets home in 15 minutes (early release, yay!) Glad the third quarter is over - not quire sure how it went yet. Not great, probably.
I also may have added some schools to his “colleges I’m thinking about list.” I really just want him to have some contact with the GC so she has some clue who he is when she does his Common App rec. I also want to see what his “high test score/not bad GPA” combination means in terms of in-state schools.
@toomanykiddos scheduling the ACT is just like scheduling the SAT. Just log in, set up an account, schedule a date online to a site near you.
Maybe have your D take a few online practice ACT tests just to get used to it. It will help.
My older son took the SAT 2x and did OK, but just didn’t think he would get better at it. He then took the ACT and did better, and then in senior year he did even better and ended up with a pretty resectable score. I think if he could’ve taken it 1 more time he probably would’ve done better.
My son19 does much better on SAT Math than he did on ACT, but similar in other parts. He doesn’t want to take the ACT again though, he just didn’t like it.
He has taken the SAT twice and the English section is his challenge area. He has a decent score, but I don’t think he’s going to get much higher even if he takes it again. He’d like 40-50 points higher is his goal, and he he think he could get 10-20 points higher on math maybe, and maybe 22-30 more on English.
I’m secretly hoping that after we make some upcoming school visits and meet with some coaches they can assure him his scores are sufficient for athletic recruitment and not to worry. I’d just like to move on from it all at this point.
I think he’s right on the bubble at a few schools, but more than sufficient at a bunch of others, we’ll see.
Question: D19 is in Calc BC right now. But she hasn’t had anything geometry or trigonometry related since freshman year. Do you think she’ll need to review things to take the SAT subject Math test? She’s pretty good at math overall but I’m not sure how much Geometry or Trig will be on the test? I’m asking because if she will need to brush up on that stuff, I think we’ll just skip it all the way around. She’s burned out and needs a break. She will be in the Dominican Republic for the majority of summer so I’m not sure how much studying she can get done over the summer. I’m inclined to ditch the whole thing…
@LakeAlto Yes. She should review. S19 in BC as well and didn’t remember some geometry topics specifically. There are also some stats type questions that he needed to practice. Stuff he hadn’t really ever studied. You’d hate for a such a strong math student to not do well on these tests just because they learned the material 2-3 years ago.