<p>Is she happy at her high school? You thought it was nuturing, etc, but what did she think? Were the tears about just the scores, or about the scores compared to how well she thinks her classmates did? If it was the former, yes-- it is probably a good learning experience (reality check and/or dealing with disappointment). If the latter, maybe she’ll learn perseverance. I hope, though, that when she chooses a college that it will be one where she can thrive and not just persevere.</p>
<p>My daughter was in the same situtation. Lowish scores in an highly competitive private high school. Guess what helped? the knowledge that several of last years seniors who everyone considered to be “brilliant” were rejected at a lot of places, even though their scores were near perfect, while other seniors with less than perfect scores got into those same schools. This cheered my daughter up tremendously. I bet her guidance office would have that info.</p>
<p>fastMEd, wow, those are some sweeping generalizations. Have a heart, please.</p>
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19382, I’m sorry but I think you are confused. You’re thinking of the Tinman would you should be thinking of the Scarecrow. ;)</p>
<p>Didn’t read through the whole thread, but know what it is to go through the disappointed kid route-- during the EA round. </p>
<p>How you deal with the disappointment here will be a harbinger of how she will deal with the disappointment if she shouldn’t get in come EA result time. </p>
<p>It was a pretty low time in our household from EA result time to regular decision result time. But all worked out for the best and I am sure that things will work out for the best for your D.</p>
<p>I agree w/ OP- the system is badly flawed. Our kids are being tested and stressed to death. I’ve read the whole thread and what sticks with me the most was the OP’s d’s comment that she “didn’t have time to cry”. What are we doing to our kids?
I don’t have any answers…my d’s SAT scores were lower than expected too based on her GPA, even with prep. Taking a tip from a college counselor, we decided to have her focus on the ACT, where her initial scores were a bit higher than her SAT. But she still had to take the ACT multiple times to get it into merit scholarship range. Then there were the SAT II’s…we made the mistake of having her take 3 in one day…2 were OK, but the third one she kind of bombed. Unfortunately the bad score was in her area of interest, but she hadn’t taken the class inseveral years and didn’t prep enough. AP’s she did quite well on, with a fair amount of prep. We’re actually sending AP scores wherever possible to try to offset the one bad SATII score. </p>
<p>she’s applying to quite a few colleges as we need aid and she’s one of those on the bubble kids…so now we have the costs of sending multiple test scores to multiple colleges, not to mention the original costs of the prep and multiple testing. (We didn’t know we were probably eligible for fee waivers.)</p>
<p>Sorry about the rant; I know there are test optional schools, but as of now, there aren’t enough to just opt out of testing and only apply there…I just know college board is getting rich on our kid’s backs.</p>
<p>You know, I’ve talked with alot of Moms of seniors this year, and alot of people’s kids scores were lower than anticipated. I wonder if having the writing section (i.e., meaning having to test for a longer period of time), didn’t have a major impact on the kids scores. Now granted, those 2400 kids, will always be 2400 wonder kids. But I am talking about your average middle of the road B, B+,A- student, who’se scores weren’t that good. Perhaps adding that extra hour or whatever really screwed the regular kids.</p>
<p>We are all on the same footing. If you got screwed over, the other guy got screwed so there is little difference because it is your overall percentile. </p>
<p>How is the system of having an unbiased test acting as a factor in college admissions flawed? It isn’t. It is an universal measuring stick. Even considering the fact that wealthier kids can get tutors, the material on the test is still middle school stuff. Besides, the online course beats most SAT courses and tutors out there easily and its only $60 and free for some people. I don’t really see how it is “unfair” or “flawed”.</p>
<p>It is typical of people born to wealth to be weak like this. They lack the hunger to succeed. One little failure and they cry.</p>
<p>Good lord fastmed, your arrogance is ridiculous. And your non sequitor tangent on “perfect” chinese applicants was quite humorous. Reminds me of the dinosaur riding nazi in Dilbert. Get a clue.</p>
<p>It is dissapointing to see the hopes and dreams of students discouraged or crushed by a simple test. But with that being said, I disagree as to the fairness or stress placed on students by such tests. It really doesn’t get much better than America for college placement; in other places, you’d have to be in the top 1% of 1% of 1%…you know what I mean, just to get an oppurtunity to suceed. And the SAT is fair. In fact, it is even more fair for the privileged, private school type. And most importantly, only you place pressure on yourself (I know, very cliche). But still, if you can’t do it, you just can’t do it. I don’t mean to sound crass, but that’s just too bad.</p>
<p>Arrogance? I think you need to get an education. Search up USAMO and look at all the participants. You will find that almost all of them are indeed Chinese. I merely state some basic facts. SAT is a test of reasoning. All concepts were taught in middle school. Nothing more than 8th grade algebra in the math section, some basic reading, and a few basic grammar rules needed to get a decent score. Disappointing? What bull. I think it is good. If you can’t handle 8th grade, how can you handle college? Seriously. The only valid excuse for scoring less than 800 is either stupidity, incorrect bubbling and thus stupidity, illness during test, lack of 8th grade knowledge, subjectivity due to the essay, or you are foreign and thus lack 8th grade English knowledge.</p>
<p>Man, you insult me and then you basically restate what I stated about the SAT being fair. You are free to huddle around the woman and console her as you please; I am free to state whatever I please.</p>
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<p>Yes you are. But you’ll find that some empathy and humility will get you much farther in life than scoring 2400 on the SATs.</p>
<p>FastMed, there are two confounding factors that I have seen. The first is that the test can be trained for. This is consistent with what you state. The content of the test is from 8th, 9th and 10th grade, so it becomes more a matter of mistake avoidance than knowledge. My D took the SAT while taking precalc and was therefore at least two years from the material on the test. She raised her score on the retake 70 points while taking calculus by taking sample tests (2) out of a book and looking at where she was prone to make errors. The other tests can be taught as well, so they are not a pure test of ability. The other confounder is the tendency of some takers to choke. Most males release epinephrine when stressed (“This is a timed test, and the rest of your future depends on the result”) and therefore perform at a higher level on the SAT than they have in school. Many females release acetylcholine when stressed and perform at a lower level than they do in school.
I agree that the test is not totally useless. The colleges can use it to compare schools and as a very rough guide to ability, but is like cutting with a chain saw compared with cutting with a microtome. My D did not improve a standard deviation in 4 months in her ability to do math. She was a good student before, had the math teacher both years and idolized him.</p>
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<p>I did awful in 8th grade algebra and went on to calc and now econometrics and statistics at a graduate level.</p>
<p>I think I handled college pretty well, actually. </p>
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<p>I dunno about that. I’m not stupid and I didn’t score 800. I think molliebatmit might take issue with that, considering that she didn’t score 800 on it (or the GRE math, which is the same). I’d say she’s far from stupid.</p>
<p>Sorry if I was slightly offensive in my post. </p>
<p>Most males release epinephrine when stressed (“This is a timed test, and the rest of your future depends on the result”) and thus perform better than usual. </p>
<p>Lol. Yeah, stress usually helps guys a bit more.</p>
<p>Well, I suppose you could attribute it to one of the other excuses like incorrect bubbling/temporary stupidity.</p>
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<p>Or how about…“Some people just don’t perform as well as others on certain types of tests?”</p>
<p>fastMEd, you didn’t get a 2400 on the SAT. Are you just stupid?</p>
<p>i am attribute my score to misbubbling.</p>
<p>“i am attribute” ???</p>
<p>Clearly the SAT isn’t perfect, but given how different various high schools are, I’d say it’s pretty darn useful–and becomes even moreso when you throw in the SAT II subject tests that most top schools require.</p>