Thanks all for the helpful information and suggestions!
@CAtransplant I hope your D feels better soon!
Thanks everyone! I forgot to mention today she is also taking what she thinks is considered her AP Bio āfinalā (not the AP Bio test itself which is next week, but the test that the teacher considers their final in the class). Itās supposed to be a practice test for the actual AP and sheās worried she wonāt do well and it will affect her overall grade in the class 
I spent the afternoon running the NPR on Dās short list. Some are so complicated and others have 10 questions. How can they both be accurate. I wish I knew how close to reality they were. Also, schools that include questions for merit money, does that mean its they award merit based on predefined thresholds? Can I expect what they predict? So many questionsā¦
@MuggleMom Definitely, the more questions asked, the more accurate it will be. Those ones with 5-10 questions and dated 2013 are ridiculous. If they are hosted by CollegeBoard, then they are pretty accurate, and itās nice that you can have them save your information. As for merit, Iāve always found that number to be pretty accurate as well, as long as they ask for the breakdown of test scores, as well as the GPA and whether it is weighted or unweighted, as well as the scale. Right now most schools have probably not determined their tuition increases, so you may want to pad that another 4-5% of tuition.
I only trust the NPCs (NPR, lol!) that are hosted either by CB or by the school themselves. And they should be using 2018 tuition rates.
@CAtransplant
Hope your DD feel better soon. And I am sure she will ace her tests too!
@hgtvaddict
I believe all colleges are looking at the rigor of courses taken based on the course options available in your DCās high school. Ask your DCās college counselor whether āmost rigorous courses takenā would be selected on the college profile page. Also, calculus BC does not add a lot new learning than calculus AB anyway.
Well she thought AP Physics 1 and Chemistry were both exactly what she expected and she felt well prepared for both.
My D20 took the AP Chemistry test today and seemed to feel pretty well prepared for it also.
S20 is scared to death of APush tomorrow! Weāll see how it goes! Good luck to everyone else taking it.
S2 is sitting right here studying away for APUSH. Seconding @NYC2018nycās good luck wishes for all who are sitting for that one tomorrow.
Nice to hear about kids feeling well prepared for the ones theyāve already taken!
S20 took a much needed mental health day today. Heās had 5ish hours of homework nightly and then studying for his APās did him in. He also has horrible allergies. When we had him tested he reacted to everything outside, mold, and cockroaches. This time of year is awful for him. Heās already had a sinus infection (he had sinus surgery 2 years ago due to the frequency) and that, combined with all these assignments and tests, I think he truly just needed some good sleep. So stressful!
Glad to hear everyone feels good about their AP tests! S20 took APUSH last year and did well. I hope the same for your kids!
D20 studied 2 hours for APUSH and says there is no more to be done on that. She has the same teacher and tends to do as well or better as D17 who got a 5. I hope sheās not over confidant.
@redfraggle she goes straight from last AP test next Wednesday to allergy testing. Which means she has to stop Claritin tomorrow.
Good luck with APUSH! DS also took it last year and he is sure happy to have it done and over with.
@redfraggle sleep is so important! Sorry to hear about your DSā allergies! Is he doing the allergy shots?
We often jokingly say that DS is allergic to nature, his test shows he is allergic to all sorts of pollens and the pollen levels have been super high for a couple of months now. DSā allergy shots have been very helpful in reducing his symptoms, but he still has some congestions due to the high pollen count in the air.
As usual, I just read 10 pages of comments to catch up. Three weeks in a row of travel have tired me out. At least this weekās travel was fun (as opposed to work), in that I picked up D17 from her school to bring her home for the summer! I canāt believe sheās halfway done with college already! She has a great EE internship lined up that pays well and is close to home. She ate lunch with the group sheāll be working with today and starts a week from Monday.
D20 only has 2 APs this year: Bio on Monday and English on Wednesday. Sheāll take two more next year. Thatās enough for us. D17 also took 4 APs and entered at her university with sophomore standing because all four counted towards her degree and each gave her a full year credit for her scores (Bio, Chem, Calc, and English).
I think in our district itās possible to get to 8 or 9 APs, but we just donāt see the need to go overboardā¦ 4 APs and mostly honors classes otherwise are enough rigor for her target schools. She dances a lot and does other activities, and she barely gets enough sleep now. It doesnāt help that her bus time is 6:30 AM.
@makemesmart and @VickiSoCal S20 does not do allergy shots at this point-mostly because our ENT wanted to get him through the sinus surgery and see how he reacted to adult meds. The Allegra-D helps, but this time of year still kills him. I think shots and local honey are next on my list. I laugh at him a little because during his allergy testing he even reacted to the control element. I think heās just broken, lol.
We had our first āOMG college and $$ discussionā last night. Maybe a little freaking out going on here!
@redfraggle Who was doing the freaking out?
For juniors and seniors we have almost no honors classes just regular or AP. Thatās how D20 ended up in 5 AP classes.
No honors English only Lang and Lit
No honors history only AP Euro (10).and APUSH(11)
No honors Calc. Only AB and BC
Honors Bio and Chem then only AP Physics/Bio/Chem/ES
@Itisatruth freaking out was mainly from my husband. I made him think about the NPCās. I had free tuition when I went to college (my mom worked there). He had loansā¦we may still be paying these off (he consolidated with his grad. degree, so not sure). Itās a boatload of money and S20 is our first of 4. His GPA isnāt stellar-with a legit explanation- but his test scores are awesome. We arenāt sure where to go from here, tbh. Choosing reaches and matches are pretty complex when S20 had home and hospital tutoring and in patient careā¦his grades suffered
Well it looks like D20 will end up with B+s in both AP physics and AP Calc, sighā¦ just hoping there are enough points left in the year to bring the English grade up to an A. Applying early decision is looking more and more like a good ideaā¦
@VickiSoCal our school is like that, too. No honors classes except for 4th year Spanish and French. I think UC is very strict with what they count as an honors class and then the high schools wonāt call anything else honors. We have CP (college prep) and AS umā¦ advanced standing? English in 9th and 10th grade but thereās no GPA bump for AS, and then there are AP options for social studies starting in 10th grade, and we have most of the other AP courses available.
D20 just has 3 APs this year. All her tests are next week: Bio, AB Calc, Lang. Not even studying outside of school for them this year. She does not want to skip any classes in college, so she is not worrying about the scores. Next year she, too, is just taking 2 APs: Stats, Psych.
Today her AP Bio teacher was talking to D20 about college plans, and when D20 told her that she wanted to go into Nursing, her teacher told her she should at least try to be a PA because nurses donāt get any respect, blah blah blah. The teacher also disapproved of her top school choice, tell her, of course, that it would be ātoo easyā for her. I know she was probably trying to be encouraging, but Iām questioning whether D20 should use her as a reference, which was the plan. 