Being in Illinois you are forced to take the SAT with writing. Don’t know anything about the curve. Funny side story the school’s portal has the ACT score on there not the SAT. Took the SAT first. LOL
Not an advice but some random thoughts on this subject: agree that the curves seems to have become harsher (or at least uneven) in the past year and practice test curves may not be accurate anymore. The test questions seems to have become easier and any mistakes are curved harshly. But this is just based on DS and his friends ‘opinions’ not sure if its true across the board (I earlier interpreted it as DS20 prepped a bit between his PSAT and SAT - his comfort level with questions increased and so he is ‘feeling’ that questions are easy - but heard the same comment from multiple friends/kids, there maybe truth to this). For DS20 strategy was to use practice test curves with caution and treat them as guidance but shoot for the minimum wrongs and practice different test strategies (for example he spent some time at the end of sections to verify his answers, especially in math - he is a mathy kid and likes to go fast but in the process makes silly mistakes - he adjusted this to minimize any errors and seems to have worked). Each student may have to adjust their test taking strategy to fine tune - I too wish CB release more practice tests ‘officially’
TBH most of his friends moved to ACT - they feel that it has become easier to score 34/35 in ACT than an equivalent SAT score. But these are all math-competition kids and ACT suited them well (DS was happy with his March SAT score and never took ACT).
I have always told my kid the best strategy for either the ACT or SAT is to try to get as many correct as possible. Anything else is overthinking. Practice tests help with pacing, but scores on practice tests are fairly meaningless.
A question about the Letters of Recommendations from teachers/subjects:
Our DS20’s school recommends students to ask teachers from Junior year - DS is close with 2 teachers - he took both their classes and also had them as advisors in two clubs that he is active in. This is all good - but the problem is both of them are Math teachers (DS doubled up in math this year). Is it ok to have both LOR’s from same subject or is it better to ask one from some other teacher. His intended majors are math/cs but still worried if this make him look like too one dimensional. his backup is his economics teacher - who does not know him well but he is doing really well in the class.
Another related question: is it possible or advisable to have him send all three teacher LOR’s along with councillor LOR. I assumed that most apps have a limit of 1+1 or 2+1 (teacher+councilor) letters but checking.
My D20’s school has students ask a math/science teacher and a more humanities related teacher so the faculty can speak areas of strength in both. I believe that some schools will allow for additional recommendations, but not all and how do you ensure that if they only take two, they select the correct ones.
@homerdog I really think the curves are and will be a crap shoot. My sons took the SAT in November and then again early this month. In November, 1 wrong in r/w was a 780, 5 wrong was 730. 4 wrong math 740, while 6 wrong math was 700.
In May, 4 wrong r/w was 760, 5 wrong was 750. 1 wrong Math was 790 while 2 wrong was 770.
The son with the 780 r/w (1 wrong Nov) thought the May test was much more difficult. Granted he really only concentrated on upping his Math, but he still thought May was harder. By a lot. He was happily surprised with his 70 point math jump. His r/w May was 760 which was a 20 point drop from November, but he was also fine with that because he thought May was that much harder.
The son with the 4 wrong math in November did not think May was harder. He improved both scores on the May test. His thought was they were both the same, but he also prepped more for May.
Both boys were annoyed that 1 Math wrong was 790, while 2 dropped you to 770. You really just never know how it’s going to be.
I’m not sure I’m answering your questions but this was their experience.
@hs2020dad With regards to the three teacher letter of recs - that is not advisable as I don’t think other people do it and they don’t request it. They are inundated with applications so might get annoyed. Hopefully your son can decide which are the best two teachers to ask. I also want to add that sending an additional letter of rec should only be used to speak to something unique that the other letters can’t convey.
You should check the specific college requirements @hs2020dad - I think several of the ones on my daughters list that require two specify that one is from math/science and one from a humanities.
@NYC2018nyc
Don’t know whether you have seen this thread about college interviews, it is not WF specific topic but I found it to be helpful.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2131618-crucial-4-5-college-admissions-interview-questions-to-prep.html#latest
Which school still requires essay writing scores? AFAIK, the SAT/ACT writing has little to no relationship to a given test-taker’s writing skills, and it is pretty arbitrarily graded. We signed up for it when DS was taking the SAT last August, when we was told that Duke dropped its requirement, we skipped the essay portion.
@makemesmart Amherst still requires the essay score.
@Dancingmom518 Amherst says on their website that the ACT/SAT with essay is neither recommended nor required.
I think Univ of California system still requires the essay.
I agree that SAT/ACT writing has little to do with test takers writing skills - there are templates out there using which test-takers can score well (for any given passage). Thought its a waste of time/money for kids to take this for only handful of colleges but unfortunately once a college says it requires/recommends it, kids cannot ignore it (irrespective of its merits in assessing students writing ability). Hope the remaining colleges take this requirement/recommendation off the list and make students life a little bit easier.
Yes, University of California does still require the essay and Oregon State recommends it. S20 has UC Merced and Oregon State on his list so he has to do it. They really should all just drop it.
@hs2020dad I struggle with these questions too. I’ve sought the advice of the CC community, friends who have gone through the process, and D20’s Guidance Counselor. The consensus is that the LORs should come from two different teachers. Not necessarily, a math and humanities per se (although this seems the ideal), but not from two math classes (like Calc and a math elective). Maybe Stats and Calc, or Calc and CS, or better yet a Math and Science (this is what MIT asks for) if you want to steer clear of humanities. The idea is to get good LORs so I think there is room within the general math and science departments to show a little more breadth. My daughter was thinking of two English teachers and that was shut down pretty quickly.
As for the 3 teacher LORs, I wouldn’t. I’ve heard from AOs that they want what they ask for. They are inundated with materials for each student and an extra letter is extra work for them, especially as it is unlikely to unearth such new and different information from the other two LORs. I think a 3rd LOR could only be worth the effort for everyone if it’s from someone totally unexpected and really adds another dimension to your child’s dossier. Like if you son trained and mentored under an Olympian athlete, or worked in Uganda every summer under the tutelage of a well respected minister – then an LOR from someone like that adds another perspective that teachers at school or a GC wouldn’t be privy to.
FYI @fencingmom MIT specifically says one should be from a math or science and one should be from a humanities. Directly from their website:
MIT requires two letters of recommendation from teachers. One recommendation (Evaluation A) should be from a math or science teacher, and one (Evaluation B ) should be from a humanities, social science, or language teacher.
@Darcy123 thanks for clarifying! My error.
@fencingmom I think 3 LORs are helpful, not for sending in when only 2 are requested (I agree this is not good), but so that you have ones to choose between, or if you are applying to/for something else in addition to the normal college app. In our case for D17 it was someone besides a teacher, but it could certainly be a 3rd teacher. It could also be a boss or coach, or someone in the community outside of school.
Agree with @bigmacbeth and @fencingmom that if a third rec really adds something different, it can be good to have it for certain specific applications or situations.
In our case, too, we have a third one relating to S2’s outside sport / job - it takes up a giant portion of his time and speaks to why he doesn’t do certain things at his school. It also spotlights certain character traits. His GC is totally on board with this.
@homerdog
The SAT prep is pretty much the same. The only difference for my kid is psychological. She knows she needs to pretty much answer all the questions correctly and there is no cushion for error. She loved the subject tests where you know a careless mistake or one omitted still gives you a 800 or a very high score. That put her at ease and made her less nervous. The SAT on the other hand makes her a little nervous as she knows one mistake could drop you 30 points. It totally depends on the personality of the student though. The worse for my D has been that there is really nothing to learn concept wise or material wise. For her is all “performance” on the day and her personality and she is a bit of “scattered brain”. She managed to break 1500 but still feels she under-performed knowing the kind of mistakes she made. She is waiting to see the June results. If the test returns to slightly more difficult she ll take it in August. If it stays the same it is what it is. I would say the thing to do is drill and drill some more and make sure you check and double check your answers. No cushion for silly/stupid mistakes.
@am9799 I totally relate to that story. You are right. It’s not the material for D21 as much as it is the pressure with these recent curves. Lots of drilling coming up this summer and I think she’s less likely to do one and done like her brother. And that’s ok.