How have you and your children spaced out SATs, SAT IIs, ACTs, etc.?

[Hunter's Moon]

I was looking through a Kaplan book today on how to stand out during the college admissions process.

 

One suggestion was not to wait until Junior Year to take SAT IIs.

 

Well, I did because I never thought of it. I am freaking out because everything is just hitting me so fast.

 

PSATs in Fall.

SATs in Spring.

And I have to figure out how to pay for and when to take the SAT II and ACT tests.

 

I want to try some AP exams, but maybe I won't depending on how much I am already freaking out.

 

When did your children take their SAT IIs and ACT? How many SAT IIs did your child take?

 

Thanks :)

[AngieW in Texas]

My oldest has not and will not take any SAT IIs. The schools she is interested in don't require them and she will have 48 college credit hours by the time she graduates high school, so she'll have plenty of outside verification.

 

She took the PSAT in 10th and 11th grades, but she was way off from National Merit level.

 

She took the SAT for the first time in January of 11th grade. I made sure it was the one that had question&answer service available. We got a copy of the exam book along with the answers she marked and the correct answers, so we were able to go over all the questions she missed and figure out why she missed them.

 

I tried working with her using Xiggi's method as posted on College Confidential, but my dd just doesn't do well studying on her own and wasn't doing well working with me either. I ended up signing her up for an SAT prep class in our area that had a 100-point guarantee (money back if you don't raise your score). She took the SAT again on June 5th (her class was for the entire month of May and finished the day before the test). She got her score over 2000, so I think we're going to stop at this point. I don't think she'll be able to improve it much more.

 

----------------------------------------

OTOH, my middle dd has already taken an SAT II. She did the US History subject test on June 5th (same day her sister was taking the SAT). She got an okay score (not stellar, but not bad either), so she won't be retaking it. She might possibly be going to a college that requires 2 SAT-IIs.

 

We are going to do physics next year (10th grade) using a text that is typically used for AP Physics B classes. I don't know whether or not she'll do the AP test at this point. She tends to freak out pretty badly for tests even though she does well on them. If she doesn't do the AP test, she will probably do an SAT II test for physics.

 

She will do the PSAT in 10th and 11th grades. She has done a practice test for the PSAT and was almost at National Merit level. I don't know how accurate the practice test was for determining scores though.

 

She will do the SAT in winter of her 11th grade year and summer between 11th and 12th. I'm hoping that will be it.

 

She will take dual credit classes as soon as she is eligible to take them (summer between 10th and 11th grades).

Edited June 30, 2010 by AngieW in Texas

[Gwen in VA]

9th --

bio SAT2 in June

10th --

PSAT (doesn't count) in October

SAT2 math level 1 in December

AP US government exam in May

chemistry SAT2 (if not doing AP chemistry in 11th) in June

US history SAT2 in June if taking US history

11th -

PSAT in October

SAT2 math level 2 in December

SAT in January (with possible retake in March)

AP exams in May

SAT2's in June -- US history and/or the ones related to AP exams

12th --

the leftover SAT2's -- foreign language, English literature -- in October

AP exams in May

 

After high school graduation, celebrate that your days of dealing with the College Board are over. But do remember that if you want to go to grad school, the GRE's will come up way too quickly!

[Susan C.]

My ds took the SAT at the end of his junior year (after finishing Algebra 2). He took another SAT in December of his senior year. That's it! (But his score was what we needed it to be.)

 

Dd will be a junior, but is taking Algebra 2 this coming year. So I may do a PSAT, and will definitely do an SAT at the end of the school year. She will take at least one more SAT in her senior year, depending on her score.

[Blue Hen]

Here's what DS took and when:

Freshman: NONE

 

Soph:

Oct, PSAT practice,

May AP Bio test

 

Jr:

PSAT fall

Mar: SAT

Apr: ACT (we didn't know whether he would do way better on the ACT or not. That was his only reason for taking it)

May: AP tests --- he was taking AP classes so it was part of his curriculum

June: 3 SAT2 tests --- a couple schools DS planned to apply to wanted SAT2 scores otherwise he would have skipped SAT2 tests. He took the tests in Chemistry, Biology and Math 2. He had just completed the AP Chem test and AP Bio the previous year. He studied the month of May for the SAT2 tests and was quite pleased that he did do that.

 

Senior

Oct---SAT

May: AP tests --- again, he was taking AP classes so it was part of his curriculum

 

Carole

Edited June 30, 2010 by Blue Hen
add which SAT2 tests he took