Would you guys believe that D19 was about to get out of the car this morning to go take the SAT when she realized she forgot her ticket?! Thank goodness we were early and we live six minutes from the high school. Still, she made it in five minutes before they close the doors–too close for comfort. Here’s hoping a little adrenaline boost is helping her!
Last year S took the AP world test without taking the class (took on level world), and got a 3. It would be nice if he got a 4 or higher on APUSH, but his grade in class in not determined by it. I am hoping for 4/5s on AP physics, comp sci, and Calc. Little concerned that Comp Sci is after Calc on the same day. so this weekend I am hopeful he will study for physics. They took a “practice” test in class this week and he said that was the hardest test he ever took.
@sdl0625 kids have to remember, though, that these APs are not graded like school tests. You can get a very low percentage correct and still get a 5.
DS is at school right now with my husband, getting approval for the final poster design for the play and helping construct sets. I pick up pizzas for the crew around 1:00, pick up the kid. We swing by Free Comic Book Day. Then it’s downtown to see the end of the Kinetic Sculpture Race (he has a friend competing). Then home, get dressed and prepped for prom.
Tomorrow we have a faerie festival and more work on the set.
Somewhere between now and Monday there is studying for the APs.
I’m thinking longingly back to those lazy empty weekends. I know we had them once. I know I’m going to miss the frantic pace of events when the kid is headed off to college. Eyes on the prize.
DS16 loves his APUSH class. It combines memorization of dates and trends and writing. AP classes are accelerated and taught differently. They should be more detailed and difficult IMO.
DD has a rare free day today (and it’s driving her nuts- she’s begging to go to the zoo). We were discussing summer jobs and no place in our rural area is too appealing- basically ice cream shop which she has already done and dislikes, or the grocery store.
We ended up sending an email to the summer church camp we go to, to see if she could work there around her trips, or if they’d have to have her the entire summer. If she goes, she’ll be three hours away. She loves it there though, and her cousin will be working there all summer. We’ll see what they say! Practice for being away at college I guess.
Decided last minute to sign S19 up for the June 9 ACT. Even though his composite first time was very good, his math dragged him down and he had yet to learn trig back in February. I guess what’s one more morning.
Ah the ease of a boy getting ready for prom. Shower. Put on tux. Done. Prom is over here. Two AP tests coming up. S seems to be doing daily review to prepare.
No visits yet. Just conversations about some state schools and small LACs. Sister was kind of the same at this point and then really solidified what she wanted over the summer.
APUSH was hardest class for her because of lack of interest in the subject and poor preparation in earlier years. Social Studies was always the class where students were pulled out for picture day, guidance meetings etc. Also had multiple subs in 9th grade American History so just did not have the assumed knowledge base. Her best friend loved it, but she’s a history buff. D opted out of the exam since it was senior year, would have required major review, and would not have gotten credit.
S will only take Math and Science APs. Opting only for most rigorous courses in areas of interest.
Good luck to all on AP exams!
Congratulations parents of the Class of 2019! This is your year, Best of luck to all! There is so much helpful information on the previous years’ pages. Gather up what into you can. ( We learned so much from the previous posters). Your kids are great and they are going to do so well. Encourage your DDs and DSs to get those essays written this summer. It will make the fall so much better. Best of luck!
I had a great discussion with DD’s GC the other day. He very helpfully confirmed that the Ivies (at the least the ones she would be interested in) were not realistic for her, so we can cross those off the visit list. The hard thing, though, is that it’s the NESCAC schools that would really be in her sweet spot for admissions, but so many of them are geographically remote, which is a big turn off for her. Of the ones she would consider, she loved Wesleyan and I suspect she’ll end up applying ED there.
She took the SAT again this weekend, and reported that she felt the math went somewhat better than the last time. If her scores come up to the high 1400s (possible, though I’m not holding my breath), then Georgetown and Johns Hopkins become possibilities for her. We’ll go do some more school visits after she’s done with exams – probably see those two, plus Lafayette, Lehigh, and maybe one other. I’m trying to limit the school visiting to just those that are potential early application candidates, so that (a) she doesn’t get overwhelmed with lots of schools, and (b) the potential safeties don’t end up looking disappointing in comparison to the ‘reaches’. She’s mostly only looking in New England and the mid-Atlantic, so it wouldn’t be hard for us to go visit some additional schools in the fall or even after she gets the decision on ED.
We’re also going to figure out a time to have her go see St. Andrews and University of Edinburgh (my husband is a big golfer, so he’s perfectly happy to be ‘assigned’ to take her on that trip!).
“NOTICE TO ALL IN THIS HOUSE, I WILL BE CRAMMING FOR APUSH ALL WEEK. THE TEST IS ON FRIDAY. FRIDAY!!!” ~ S19 at 6:45 a.m. this morning.
I think he might be feeling it a bit right now. 
S19 is taking the AP Psych this afternoon. He wasn’t stressing about it at all this weekend (prom was a good distraction) but he was feeling it this morning. His AP Psych teacher took maternity leave this spring. Back a few months ago he really liked the long term substitute and thought they were getting good instruction, but this morning he was panicking and thinking that long term sub didn’t teach them enough.
He had plenty of opportunity to study yesterday. I had offered to buy him a review book and everything. But nooooooo.
D19 is also taking the AP Psych exam today. Studies most of the day yesterday and seemed pretty confident this morning.
For all who were on pregnancy forums way back when, remember the “two week wait” while trying to conceive? I keep thinking of that phrase now that we are waiting for SAT scores!
@3SailAway that’s an awesome analogy!
Are you looking for signs of a positive score like you did back then too?
@3sailaway I’m dying! To bad, D can’t just pee on a stick and have her ACT score appear.
D is taking the ACT in June and then retaking either the SAT or the ACT in Aug, depending on which one she feels she can get a better score on.
Any other kids planning to test in Aug or Oct?
Yes, my d19 is planning to retake the SAT in August. She would like to raise her verbal (mostly reading) score a bit. We are going to take advantage of the homework free summer to work on test taking skills for those areas and give it one more try. It’s completely her call though and I’m strongly suggesting that regardless of the score, that’s the last shot and afterwards she just enjoy her senior year and let the what ifs go.
S wants to take the ACT once more in July and I have tried to discourage that, but I also want him to have some freedom to make decisions in this process. From what I have read, so many people suggest to spend the time on essays instead of test prep when the scores are already high. Since he didn’t really study much at all before, I’m not convinced he will do it this time, but I don’t want to be too pushy. Any thoughts?
He will take two SAT subject tests in August.
My opinion would be it depends.
We messed up and D19 took 2 SATs basically back to back in the fall, with no time to really work on skills in between. Her score basically stayed the same. Her math was already at the ceiling, so getting a different score was just going to be a matter of luck on a couple questions or maybe catching a careless mistake or two.
But her verbal scores could improve. Grammar is really just a matter of practicing those grammar rules and memorizing a few. But the reading is tougher. So many passages are fairly archaic sounding and she really needs to practice deciphering that kind of language more. That wasn’t going to happen in a few short weeks with little free time.
So @elena13 I think I’m trying to say that if your son does have room to improve the scores somewhere and is willing to put in some time prepping (in math, studying some earlier math topics that may have been forgotten, learning grammar rules, reading less modern books/passages, etc) then it could improve and maybe be worth it even if the score is high. But if nothing has changed in those areas, it seems a waste of time and money to me, that could be spent elsewhere. But maybe it would be worth it for him so that he isn’t wondering whether taking it one more time couldnhave bumped him up a little. Sooooo, I guess it’s one of those things with no real right or wrong answer.