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Azalea

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Posts posted by Azalea

  1. I continue to be confused. How will they administer within two weeks and publish scores on time? Aren't ACT test scores supposed to be published almost exactly two weeks after administration?

    Also, which test will they administer? Because kids are already discussing the test online (even though they're not supposed to, obviously). Just by trying to figure out if my kid's science section experience was common, I already read what one of the science sections was about online.

    If my kid wasn't given the test on test day, he'd not be able to take it as we drove directly to brunch and to the airport for his overseas flight. But for him it doesn't matter.

    Thanks for the cautionary tale, OP!

     

    I have all the same questions. The test prep center said that they would contact the ACT people and find out some information. I'm not sure if I want to contact them myself until I have a definitive answer from my son about whether he wants to re-test. I think I just want my money back at this point.

    • Like 1
  2. You can get a pretty good idea of his admission chances by looking at the ACT scores for the flagship - look for the average and range. If a 34 is not in the top 25% for a public school, I really want to know what state you live in, lol. 

     

    Does his major have selective admission? 

     

    Does he want to retake or not? 

     

    I personally would not retake just for honors college purposes, I don't think a 35 vs a 34 is going to be the deciding factor. 

     

    I live in the great state of Oregon, where it almost always rains in June. No we don't need a higher score. I do think my son might like to apply just for fun to a more selective college, but that will probably fade fast when he sees the application, essays, etc. that need to be completed. 

     

    His major is computer science with maybe a math minor and I don't know if that will have selective admission - I suppose it might - I probably need to look into that. He will have plenty of courses in comp. sci. and high level math. Not a lot outside academics...

  3. A person with a high initial score is less likely to improve their score on retake and more likely to see their score go down (regression to the mean, and all that).  This is why when the first time my son took the ACT he got a score that placed him at the 75th percentile for admits at the schools he was interested in, we decided that he shouldn't take it again.

     

    That said, I would be concerned that the people taking the test on the make up day might possibly be more conscientious students that might move the curve to the right.

     

    That's a very interesting point. 

  4. Thanks for your responses! I agree it's insane that they ran out of tests, I will type in what info. they gave at the bottom of this post. About why we are retaking...heck if I know, I guess I was just following the plan.  We did use a test prep center, and fyi  I can say with both of my kids we have seen a 3-4 point increase from the initial practice test, to the final practice tests and this carries over to the actual test. The testing centers plan was for my son to take the first test, then come back in for additional prep./discussion and then re-take. I am now trying to convince my son not to re-take, I can't quite get out of him why he wants to bother. (oh, fyi our contact at the test prep center has not had this happen before to any of their students, so hopefully it is rare)

     

    Here's the letter my son was given:

     

    Dear Students, 

     

    We regret to inform you, that due to a shortage of testing materials, we will not be able to administer the ACT test for you today.

     

    ACT will contact you within the next 2 weeks, to reschedule you for a makeup test date. That test should be administered within the same testing window as today's exam. There should not be a delay in your scores.

     

    If you are in need of further assistance, please contact ACT at (319) 337-1270. They are in the office today to take your calls.

     

    (Please note, this was not the fault of XYZ High School. Please do not contact them with your concerns. ACT contracts with the XYZ School District for the use of their buildings, but the two are not affiliated.)

     

    Thank you for your understanding in this unfortunate situation.

     

    We apologize for this testing materials error, and we are truly sorry you are not able to test at this time.

     

    Sincerely,

     

    The testing staff

    ACT Center #178890

  5. My son, and many others, was turned away from taking the ACT exam yesterday do to not enough test booklets. Has this ever happened to anyone else? Partly this is just a hopefully, helpful warning that this can happen. The school gave the students a letter stating that they would be contacted by ACT within the next two weeks to reschedule the exam. One girl was very upset as she was leaving for Russia the next day, can you imagine! I guess the moral of this story is don't wait to take the exam. For my son, I'm not sure I care if he takes it and I'm wondering what the Hive thinks. My son's first score was a 34 composite. He was taking the exam again to try and bring up the math score - 32, and the writing portion - 8. Maybe we just shouldn't bother - would you??? He has a 3.9 gpa and plans to go into computer science hopefully at our state flagship which we think he can get into. He doesn't have many extracurriculars, probably won't apply at prestige schools. We do hope to get into honors college at the state school. He will also have 4 terms community college after senior year. My son has scored 35 composite on practice tests, highest writing on practice test was a 9. 

     

    Anyway, strategically it makes me wonder if they will give a unique test or the same test. I would think it would have to be a unique test. Would a strong test taker do better in a small pool or a large pool, would it make any difference? the letter said that test scores would be reported in the same time frame as the June 10 test. Any thoughts?

     

     

  6. Hi Ladies, does anyone know what the current thinking is on HRT? I'm 52 and my periods are very irregular. The symptom I am having that is causing discomfort is hot flashes. I know many experience this worse than I have and I probably shouldn't complain, but it's uncomfortable. I'm too hot, then too cold, suddenly bathed in sweat, etc. Do you use HRT? Am I crazy not to try it? What do you think?

  7. Just venting. My kid is sick. She saw her doctor last week. She is worse now but she just needs an oral antibiotic. On-call doctor says to take her to urgent care. Ok. I'll take her there, spend $200 and get an antibiotic or you could just call one in and save me time and money. If I could talk to our real doctor, he would call one in because he knows me and the situation.

     

    I agree. How many of us are now on high deductible HSA's? Do they even get that we are paying out of pocket? Do they even care? 

    • Like 4
  8. A friend came to the states on H1B through one of the big outsourcing companies. He has worked in many MNC's IT dept as a vendor-on-site. So when one job ends, the outsourcing company just put him in any available job. At one time he had basic pay because there was no jobs back to back. Another time he just went out of state for a project for a few months while his wife and kid stay here because there was no in state jobs with vacancies. They have to file for their green cards themselves and he had to pay for some of the H1B costs to come here. For him, $60k annual (from the NYTimes article) would be double what he was earning back home. I do not know how much exactly he earned when he came over in 2005 but it was higher than $60k because his wife was complaining about pay mentioning numbers as she was house hunting for a single family home. A H1B holder who was retrenched can file for an extension to stay. We know a few who filed an extension successfully. They do not get deported, the government would rather they pay their own airfare back to Europe and Asia. They just become overstayers if they didn't file for extension.

     

    My husband works in an extremely niche R&D subset area of nanotechnology. H1B is rare and employers would be at tech conferences with the aim of hiring R&D staff. Also headcount is low. His first employer paid all the legal expenses for our green cards since they have very few H1Bs. The legal cost all in was close to $20k for all of us and took about eight months. Many in his dept are Vietnamese boat people who came to the states when they were school age as refugees.

     

    My husband's first employer was in a class action settlement for overtime pay. Every employee in that affected time period was awarded a few hundred dollars. The company was losing money during that time period and is still losing money every year. The unofficial reason it is still surviving is that it prevents another chip company from becoming a monopoly/antitrust case.

     

    Yes I did simplify a bit, and deport was definitely the wrong word. If you lose your visa you are expected to leave the country, do we agree on that? The employer controls whether or not you have an H1B visa do we agree on that? Of course once they are eligible for other ways of legally remaining in the country (green card), I agree they can jump through the hoops needed. But their current employer controls their LIVES while they hold the H1B visa. They have families, they may have bought a house in the community, their children are enrolled in schools, they have a car payment(s). They fear losing their visas, do we agree on that? I don't know, maybe my husband was lying about all the crying and screaming people during the last round of layoffs...

    • Like 5
  9. What is obvious is a race divide but the motivation is employee salary and being able to threaten H1B workers with termination rather than it being about racial discrimination.

    This article has nothing to do with the company OP is talking about, but is about the general H1B being abused issue.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/06/us/outsourcing-companies-dominate-h1b-visas.html?_r=0

    "Under federal rules, employers like TCS, Infosys and Wipro that have large numbers of H-1B workers in the United States are required to declare that they will not displace American workers. But the companies are exempt from that requirement if the H-1B workers are paid at least $60,000 a year. H-1B workers at outsourcing firms often receive wages at or slightly above $60,000, below what skilled American technology professionals tend to earn, so those firms can offer services to American companies at a lower cost, undercutting American workers.

    ...

    The vast majority of H-1B workers are from India.

    The top outsourcing firms primarily bring temporary workers from India. American companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple have drawn from a wider range of countries, including China and Canada, for their H-1B workers. But in 2014, 70 percent of the H-1B visas went to workers from India, according to the Department of Homeland Security."

     

    I wanted to expand on your point. The employers may actually pay the H1B visa holders the same as American born workers. However, the H1B holder will be deported if terminated so will do anything to hold on to their jobs. The visa is provided by the employer and unless the visa holder can get another employer to sponsor him/her for a visa they will have to leave the country. The tech firms were already sued by the government for colluding in hiring practices - there was even a class action settlement.

     

    So the effect of this is that the employer has basically an indentured slave for 6 - 8 years who will work any number of hours to keep their job. 

    • Like 5
  10. My mother is 77 and my dad is 85. They are on Medicare and a supplemental insurance that costs $400 per month. In the last year, my dad has had a triple by-pass and hip surgery. If Medicare was going to ration, they would have rationed him. Can you imagine if he had been on an insurance plan before ACA? Even if he could have gotten insurance the moment he started having real problems he would have been dropped. Medicare is a miracle. My mother has had multiple health problems. Stroke, broken arm, multiple stays in hospital, a couple of weeks in a rehab. Between the two, they have probably cost $200,000 in the last year and Medicare has taken care of them wonderfully. No rationing! Next month, my dad will have cataract surgery. My parents are currently enjoying life. Viva Medicare! Let's make Medicare for all!

    • Like 7
  11. I think you should calmly and courteously call and ask for an appointment. Tell them that you were injured during the procedure, you would like the dentist to look at the injury, and you do not want to pay for the appointment. Then wait for the response. I think you have a very reasonable request, they injured you. If they won't see you without payment, insist on talking to the dentist directly. At least get it directly from her that she won't stand by her work. 

    • Like 2
  12. I think I probably want corded, but could go either way. Right now I want to be able to do a sanitary cut, but in the future might like to trim paw pads and also try a comb cut in the summer. It's hard to say how that would look on a tabby though. 

     

    My cat tolerates having his nails trimmed, and he likes bathing, but he doesn't always like brushing, and really doesn't like me to go near his back end. At this point, I think I either need to take him to the vet for grooming on a regular basis or try and do it myself with clippers. I would like to try and do this job myself. Last week, he was ill, not eating, not hacking hairballs, but obviously sick. Two vet visits and $1,000 later he hacked up a thumb sized hairball. 

     

    I am off to Google your suggestions.

  13. Can anyone recommend an electric pet clipper for my cat? My cat is a siberian long haired cat. He has problems with hairballs and sometimes keeping himself clean. I would like to be able to do a sanitary haircut on him.  Any thoughts?

  14. I'm thinking of the Republicans actually manage to put together a decent healthcare plan...the Democrats are likely to fight it tooth and nail. Because that is how the game of politics is played; they will not want the opposing party to get credit for anything successful.

     

    In my dreams, politicians would consistently have the good of the people at heart, and bipartisan cooperation would be the norm. That is a dream world though.

     

    I can agree with you that politics is an ugly game and that the Democrats will likely do their best to obstruct the Republicans on many issues. But I'm not sure about this issue. I can see the Reps being able to get 60 votes to repeal ACA, because it has so many problems. They could do this to force Reps to actually have a replacement plan. Then the dems will be glad for their constituents if it works, or glad for their own election prospects if the reps fall on their faces. Enough voters will dislike whatever change is made that cynically I can see this working out well for the dems regardless of what the reps do.

     

    Great big hugs to everyone who is scared and hurting, I am right there with you.

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