regentrude Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 DS is on his way now. Wishing everybody good luck. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Oldest is taking today too for talent search (renewal) and trial run. After act we have german movie time at his german school :) Happen to be on the same day. ETA: The registration line was as long as Black Friday :lol: He is taking act without writing. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Clear thoughts and steady pencils to everyone! I have to decide when dd should take the ACT and/or the SAT... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 DS is on his way now. Wishing everybody good luck. Today, my youngest child is taking the last SAT/ACT to be taken in this house. It is one marker I am glad to be finished with. Did your son happen to look at the sample essay for the revised writing portion? I am afraid my son has his mother's "eloquence." He read the prompt and looked at the top scored paper and pronounced that it was hard to build castles with sh_ _. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Did your son happen to look at the sample essay for the revised writing portion? I am afraid my son has his mother's "eloquence." He read the prompt and looked at the top scored paper and pronounced that it was hard to build castles with sh_ _. Yes. I had him write a practice essay on that same prompt. He said that he would have a much more nuanced opinion than he could elaborate on with the time limit and the formulaic nature. But the essay was decent, and he even quoted a famous person he invented, along with his quote ;-) He takes the writing portion just so we have it; most colleges won't want to see it. We focused on practice for the other sections. I hope he isn't too tired at the end to bs his way through that assignment. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Yes. I had him write a practice essay on that same prompt. He said that he would have a much more nuanced opinion than he could elaborate on with the time limit and the formulaic nature. But the essay was decent, and he even quoted a famous person he invented, along with his quote ;-) He takes the writing portion just so we have it; most colleges won't want to see it. We focused on practice for the other sections. I hope he isn't too tired at the end to bs his way through that assignment. I am wound impossibly tight with the Common App, circumstances with an older child, and a dying cat. Your reply gave me a much needed laugh. While homeschooling, I have always felt that there were so many wonderful things to teach and not nearly enough time. I greatly resent the time we've taken from good studies to learn how to play "the academic game." 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 While homeschooling, I have always felt that there were so many wonderful things to teach and not nearly enough time. I greatly resent the time we've taken from good studies to learn how to play "the academic game." Yes, this. The past two months where we devoted some time to test prep really led to other subjects being put on a back burner. We just had that conversation in the car today on the way to lunch (we always take the test taker out to a restaurant of her or his choice after the ordeal) - learning is going to pick up again on Monday! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Yes, this. The past two months where we devoted some time to test prep really led to other subjects being put on a back burner. We just had that conversation in the car today on the way to lunch (we always take the test taker out to a restaurant of her or his choice after the ordeal) - learning is going to pick up again on Monday! Ds has put in a minimum of an hour an evening for the past month at least. Without the time constraints, he can nearly always earn a score between 33-36 on any section. The boy is a slow, but thorough and deep reader. Test preparation for him for the ACT is a speed drill. Over and over again. So we are spending all those hours to acquire nothing in the way of new knowledge. He is a senior and there is still so much I want to explore with him. Speed drills are not on my list. I vaguely remember that in TWTM (not sure which edition) SWB talked about her regimen of studying for the SAT, I think it was. I know the money is important for nearly all of us, but all I could think of when I saw the time she had committed to was that my kids could learn a whole other language during the same time period. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 The boy is a slow, but thorough and deep reader. Test preparation for him for the ACT is a speed drill. Over and over again.I'm planning for my slower child to sit for the June date when he does his trial run. We finish the school year unofficially in end april almost every year so speed drills won't have as high a time sucker impact compared to other test dates. When he finished the practice tests, his untimed score is almost double the timed ones. My oldest finished everything except science. He finished early for math. We shall see when results are out how that tallies :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 So we are spending all those hours to acquire nothing in the way of new knowledge. He is a senior and there is still so much I want to explore with him. Speed drills are not on my list. I just have to say that test prep really doesn't need to displace actual learning. I work with a lot of students preparing for ACT and SAT, and one of the things I like about it is that so much of what we do as "test prep" is really reinforcing and reviewing skills and knowledge that they (should have) learned and that will be genuinely useful to them in college and life. For example, we do a lot of grammar review, which helps with the English section of the ACT and the Writing section of the SAT, but is also just stuff students should know. When we prep for the Reading section or either test, we practice determining the main idea of a passage, making inferences based on text, figuring out unfamiliar vocabulary words based on context, etc. All of those are skills that will serve students well in the future, not just "tricks" they need to win the "academic game." Similarly, I work with students on basic essay writing skills, like brainstorming arguments and counterarguments, organizing ideas, building an outline . . . There is some test-specific strategy, like recognizing different types of questions and figuring out which ones are easiest or most challenging so that students know where to focus their energies, but it is far from the focus of what I work on with them. I think it's really possible to make sure students are well prepared without sacrificing actual instructional time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 I just have to say that test prep really doesn't need to displace actual learning. I work with a lot of students preparing for ACT and SAT, and one of the things I like about it is that so much of what we do as "test prep" is really reinforcing and reviewing skills and knowledge that they (should have) learned and that will be genuinely useful to them in college and life. For example, we do a lot of grammar review, which helps with the English section of the ACT and the Writing section of the SAT, but is also just stuff students should know. When we prep for the Reading section or either test, we practice determining the main idea of a passage, making inferences based on text, figuring out unfamiliar vocabulary words based on context, etc. All of those are skills that will serve students well in the future, not just "tricks" they need to win the "academic game." Similarly, I work with students on basic essay writing skills, like brainstorming arguments and counterarguments, organizing ideas, building an outline . . . There is some test-specific strategy, like recognizing different types of questions and figuring out which ones are easiest or most challenging so that students know where to focus their energies, but it is far from the focus of what I work on with them. I think it's really possible to make sure students are well prepared without sacrificing actual instructional time. I disagree. A student can have all the skills needed to succeed in college - and still need to spend significant prep time on speeding up and catering to the special format of the test. Having to speed read scientific data or solve a math problem per minute are not skills the student needs in a realistic college scenario. Nor is having to improve sentences that are so bad that they would benefit from throwing out the sentence entirely and rewriting it from scratch instead of selecting one of the offered fixes - what the student needs in college is to be able to write with correct grammar and semantics. Which, OTOH, does not appear to be sufficient for gaming this test. During our test prep, the only useful time spent was reviewing a few math topics. I have not encountered anything else my student did not know how to do - it was all drilling to play to the format, to manage in the narrow time limit, to focus during the several hour ordeal. He knows math, can write with correct grammar, interpret scientific data if he can give them a careful look instead of a cursory glance, read and infer (but not always guess at what opinion the author would probably have held on a topic about which he does not say anything in the text.. .the most idiotic of all questions). He would have benefited more from actual instruction in actual content subjects during the wasted time. As a college instructor, I do not consider the test a realistic model for any actual college skills. They do make clear which students lack the basic math and English skills as evidenced by extremely low scores, but that's about it. A student with a 34 is obviously very smart. But the difference between a 27 and a 31 says absolutely nothing about a student's college readiness. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I disagree. A student can have all the skills needed to succeed in college - and still need to spend significant prep time on speeding up and catering to the special format of the test. Having to speed read scientific data or solve a math problem per minute are not skills the student needs in a realistic college scenario. Nor is having to improve sentences that are so bad that they would benefit from throwing out the sentence entirely and rewriting it from scratch instead of selecting one of the offered fixes - what the student needs in college is to be able to write with correct grammar and semantics. Which, OTOH, does not appear to be sufficient for gaming this test. Well, again, this does not reflect my experience or observations as either a parent or a tutor working with a good number of students. Neither of my own kids required more than a few hours of introduction to the tests to get the scores they needed. And the majority of the time I spend as a paid tutor is spent on meaningful skills, not teaching students to game anything. But I do recognize that other people's experiences and viewpoints may differ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justkeepswimming Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 YES! DDs issue is time and time alone. If she could only have an additional 10 minutes in 3 of the sections - she'd have had a 35 easy peasy. So, we have spent a TON of valuable time just taking practice tests and drills over and over and over again to help her be able to process the information more quickly. In "real life" situations? She's usually the first one in a group to solve a complex math problem, translate information from a data sheet, or read a graph. She can make decisive decisions and be correct in those decisions faster than those in her peer group. But, with that "false" time crunch hanging over her head? Nope. Notsomuch. IF I calculated the time we have spent on "useless" test prep (I am SO not going to do that), I would weep. (I don't count the math review useless... she needed that. But all the rest? She's not learned a darn thing!! It's just been drilling for speed, over and over again!) With that said - she's now done with the ACT forever. Unless I decide to sign her up for December's test "just for fun!" (oh the glares I received from her for suggesting such a thing! lolol!!) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Time is a huge issue here. My kids have a 10 point difference between their ACT scores so far. The main reason, ds qualified for extended time due to disabilities. When dd takes a practice test with no time restrictions her scores are in the same range as ds's. However, with time restrictions - 10 point difference. Who will do better in college? I have very little doubt that dd will. Ds is a smart guy, but dd has time management, organization, communication, and people skills he struggles with. Her score doesn't reflect who she is as a person or who she will be as a college student. She has done enough dual enrollment to prove that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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