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MyThreeSons

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Posts posted by MyThreeSons

  1. How about this:

     

    A doctor in the ER shared some information about my son's medical condition with the director of the college program my son is enrolled in, without my son knowing about it or giving his permission. (Ds is 20yo.) And to top it off, the doctor painted a very different picture of my son's limitations than what his own doctor has prescribed, and now the director has said that he will be withholding ds from participating in some aspects of the program. Ds is livid, and I am trying to not be in too much of Mama Bear mode. 

  2. Here is what the College Board website says:

     

    "The College Board will email you an access code to view your online score report about two months after you take the test. Teachers and counselors will see scores about a day before you do and can give you the access code if you didn’t provide an email address when you took the test.

    Teachers and counselors will also give you your paper score report."

    I thought I remembered hearing that in the past, the student would receive their actual test booklet back. The website doesn't say anything about this. Or maybe I'm remembering incorrectly. Does anyone know if they will receive their test booklets back? 

     

    It used to be that you got a copy of the test book, but you didn't get your exact copy (the one that you did your scratch work on). But you could see the questions and answer choices, and your score report would show what you answered for each question as well as what the correct answer is. 

  3. My DD said this too.

     

    They didn't give them scratch paper and didn't tell them it was okay to write in the test booklet.  So DD wrote very lightly in the test booklet and then erased it.  I have no idea how she managed to do that and still finish, she has time issues with testing.

     

    This is mostly just SAT practice so I didn't discuss it much with her beforehand, but kind of wish I had.

     

    The instructions in each of the math sections say this: "You may use any available space in your test booklet for scratch work." Didn't she notice that other students were writing in their test booklets? 

     

    This is one reason why I highly recommend that students do some prep work before going to take these tests. You also don't want them taking time to decipher the rules for the grid-in (non-multiple choice) questions in the middle of taking the test. 

  4. D thought the questions had tricky wording so that one could easily make a mistake without close reading. She said the two language sections were easy. She was disappointed in the lack of geometry problems, one of her strong points. First words out of her mouth were complaints about percentage problems :lol:

     

    On the old PSAT / SAT, Geometry was around 25% to 30% of the test. On the new version, there will be at most two Geometry questions. Crazy, huh?

     

    But there will be questions about standard deviation, confidence intervals, and other statistical data that I don't think most high school juniors have ever been exposed to. 

  5. My boys thought the math sections were harder than on the practice test. They didn't have time for the last four or five problems, so they just bubbled in random answers.

     

    I'm glad this was only practice, but I'd hoped for fairly decent scores to up their confidence. This might be better, though, because they'll be motivated to prep before next year's test or at least try more practice tests w/ a timer so they learn to pace themselves better.

     

    If you're going to wildly guess -- you haven't eliminated any wrong answers -- it is statistically better to choose an "answer of the day" and stick with that, rather than jump around. So, on the way to the test, make up your mind that, let's say "B" will be your answer of the day. Any time you have no clue what the answer is, choose B and go on. 

     

    From what I'm hearing around here, lots of students, including at the expensive private schools, didn't even take the practice test. So those who did any preparation at all may be slightly ahead of the game. 

    • Like 1
  6. People who don't return emails or otherwise communicate as promised. Twenty-two hours ago, he said, "I'll keep you informed" about a decision that was to be made within the half hour. I haven't heard a word. Sigh .....

  7. We actually went and purchased a watch for it yesterday. :) The only one in the house with a functioning watch is my husband. I typically check time on my cell phone.

     

    Erica in OR

     

    I warn my students to not go buy a watch the day before. I often find that watches come with pre-set alarms that will go off at inappropriate times and that the new owner doesn't know how to turn off. It does not go over well in testing centers.

  8. Last night I tutored a student from another local private school. Her school counselors don't seem to know this will be the new format tomorrow, either. 

     

    I must say I am not impressed with these private schools and charter schools. What these kids don't learn is amazing. And several of them don't even use textbooks at all for their math classes -- it's all worksheets the teacher prints out. Those are great for practice, but all of the instruction has to come from notes the student takes. And I frequently find that the student has mistakes in her notes. Last night, for instance, we were working on some trig stuff, and the student had a flat-out wrong value in her notes. She insists that's what the teacher said. 

     

    And then there's the fact that this one school says that if a student takes Algebra 1 as an 8th grader, it counts as Honors Algebra. But she is in the same classroom with some 9th graders, doing exactly the same work, and they get CP credit. That's not the way it's supposed to work. Oh, and if the student doesn't get an A in Pre-Algebra in 7th grade, they have to take Honors Pre-Algebra in 8th grade, and then when they take that same Algebra 1 class in 9th grade, it becomes Honors Algebra again. 

  9. I just got a message from a friend on FB saying that at a PSAT meeting (?) with parents on Friday, the test prep person at a local, very expensive private school here, apologized for not knowing that the test would be the new format and therefore not adequately preparing the kids. He tried to tell the parents that the practice test was "just released". Funny, I taught a Summer class based on the official practice test in August, which was at least a few weeks after that test was released. 

     

    I have been trying to give folks a heads-up about this new test for several months now. Panic is setting in. 

  10. When I had pneumonia as a kid -- and that was several times -- my Mom used to make me a steam tent on her king-sized bed. 

     

    She would set up a card table on the bed over the upper part of my body, set the vaporizer on a chair right next to the bed and pointing into the area under the table, and then drape a sheet over the table and chair. I would breathe that for a while every couple of hours. When I was young, she would stay near by and read to me.  

  11. I don't see that anyone has mentioned genealogy as a factor in all of this. I'm not big into it, by any means, but I was just thinking how much more confusing it would be to track down family members when there are all of these name changes going on, for example when a child's birth certificate has one name and she changes it to something else later. 

    • Like 1
  12. On another name-changing note: 

     

    My grandfather was given a "family tradition" middle name at birth that he hated. It reflected his Italian immigrants parents' heritage, but was kind of weird in America. When he was a fairly young man, he started using an Americanized version of his father's first name as his middle name. He had a drivers' license with his new name, filed his taxes with his new name, got a SS card with his new name, used his new name on his childrens' birth certificates, etc. But he never legally changed his name. Then after he retired, he and my grandma were going to take a cruise to Europe. When he went to get his passport, he ran into trouble. He ended up having to have an old buddy, who had known him since before he started using his new middle name, come to court to swear that this was the same man, and that he had not used the new name with intent to deceive. 

  13. The only woman I can think of off-hand that I personally know who didn't take her husband's name is my cousin. And it was her second husband's name she didn't take. She was established as a professional artist and as an art therapist with her first husband's last name, so she has kept that. 

     

    Our shared paternal grandmother was the opposite: her husband's name became her identity. She introduced herself as "Mrs. Ovid H_____". It really irked my Mom when grandma would introduce her to her friends as "Mrs. Bill H____". My Mom was proud to take my Dad's last name, but she wanted to be known by her first name, not as my Dad's wife. 

    • Like 2
  14. Has anyone else noticed that there have been zero stories about looting in the aftermath of the flooding in SC? We are doing a great job of pulling together and helping one another.

     

    Our state university in Columbia was supposed to have a home football game tomorrow. It became evident that just couldn't happen, and I haven't heard a single complaint. Louisiana State University, our opponent, will be hosting the game instead. Here are some of the cool things along with that:

     

    They are turning over all of their after-expenses money to USC. 

     

    They are flying our team there and back home. 

     

    Their band has been busy this week learning the USC fight song and Alma Mater, to be played at appropriate times before, during, or after the game.

     

    They are providing a huge before-game tailgate party for our fans before the game -- completely free.

     

    25 student volunteer organizations at LSU are working on on-going projects to provide relief to the people of SC.

     

    There are billboards around Baton Rouge welcoming USC fans to town.

     

     

    • Like 17
  15. No offense meant at all by the "just" an optometrist.  I just meant as opposed to anything more specialized as has been suggested that we need. 

     

    ETA:  That particular post was a re-type after I lost a much longer, detailed one.  So I was frustrated & just trying to get it posted.

     

    No offense taken. It's just that so many people think of optometrists as less than what they are. When it comes to fitting lenses, I'll take an optometrist over an ophthalmologist. 

     

    With a young child, I would be much more concerned with the specialty of "pediatric" rather than "ophthalmologist". There are so many things that go into fitting lenses for a child that are different than working with adults. While there is certainly no implication that someone who hasn't done a pediatric specialty doesn't like children or doesn't work well with children, someone who has done a pediatric specialty is much more likely to be especially geared toward working with children. 

    • Like 1
  16. I should have added: Every optometrist we have seen screens for glaucoma, dilates the eyes to examine the retinas and other internal structures of the eyes, and takes an overall health history. We have also had optometrists perform a full field of vision test, and take a photo/map of the retina, neither of which has ever been done by an ophthalmologist. 

  17. OK.  I hear what you're saying.  I may not have been clear enough or maybe it doesn't matter, but instead of saying he could only see the top lines, I should have said he could only READ the top lines.  Does that make a difference?  Even the top lines while reading the chart, he called 'D' an 'O' and a couple other mistakes.

     

    This was just at an optometrist - although with a very good reputation here.  We don't have vision insurance ATM because nobody else needs glasses but we'll get it ASAP and take him for a full eye health/vision assessment.  

     

    I was not differentiating between "see" and "read" the top three lines. The "D" versus "O" mistakes are not uncommon. I wouldn't count that as "not reading" if he got other letters on that line correct. The whole process of reading the charts isn't as simple as it sounds on the surface. 

     

    And please don't say "just an optometrist". An optometrist is a very highly qualified medical professional with respect to eyes. An optometrist has an undergraduate degree, and then spends four more years in Optometry school focused (no pun intended) on eyes. Many optometrists do further postgraduate residency studies in an optometric subspecialty, such as contact lenses, vision therapy, pediatric optometry, etc. Within my own family, we have had several critical diagnoses made by an optometrist. An optometrist will refer you to an ophthalmologist if needed. 

  18. The "plus" in his prescription should indicate that he is mildly farsighted, which means that he could be having trouble reading, but is able to see farther away fine. I'm surprised that you say he could only see the top three lines. 

     

    Another recommendation for a doctor who specializes in working with children. And it doesn't necessarily need to be an ophthalmologist -- optometrists do an excellent job of prescribing lenses. We were pleasantly surprised when the specialist ophthalmologist my son saw this Summer for his rare eye condition candidly told us that the optometrist would do a better job prescribing his glasses. The M.D. was the right one for part of the appointment, but the O.D. was the best for the glasses fitting. 

    • Like 1
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