It’s easier for average kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son did neuropsych testing recently. His FSIQ was 131. His junior year PSAT score was 1050 which is dead average. People seem to think that kids who score lower on tests are dumb or shouldn't even bother going to college. What a shame. I'm glad that test-optional exists because these scores are pretty meaningless out of context. My brother scored in the 1400s when he was in HS. That was a high score back then. He failed out of college because he didn't do the work. He was so used to coasting along in public school and then he went to a real college and failed out.

My dd, hs class of 2020, went from a 1010 on the sophomore PSAT to a 1310 on the Spring of junior year SAT. Only took SAT twice and PSAT twice.

But that’s probably because she didn’t take algebra II until junior year.

OP here. He just took the SATs a few weeks ago and got a 1100. No magic happened between October and March. He's in algebra 2 this year and he did improve in math but only by 40 points.

PP here. I would encourage your child to keep practicing. The math and grammar are much easier to improve on than the verbal section. Get Erika Meltzer’s grammar book.

No thanks. I'd rather save the money from test prep for tuition. He can apply pretty much anywhere as TO. It's not worth the stress to a kid who already has mental health issues.

Didn’t need to be rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son did neuropsych testing recently. His FSIQ was 131. His junior year PSAT score was 1050 which is dead average. People seem to think that kids who score lower on tests are dumb or shouldn't even bother going to college. What a shame. I'm glad that test-optional exists because these scores are pretty meaningless out of context. My brother scored in the 1400s when he was in HS. That was a high score back then. He failed out of college because he didn't do the work. He was so used to coasting along in public school and then he went to a real college and failed out.

My dd, hs class of 2020, went from a 1010 on the sophomore PSAT to a 1310 on the Spring of junior year SAT. Only took SAT twice and PSAT twice.

But that’s probably because she didn’t take algebra II until junior year.

OP here. He just took the SATs a few weeks ago and got a 1100. No magic happened between October and March. He's in algebra 2 this year and he did improve in math but only by 40 points.

PP here. I would encourage your child to keep practicing. The math and grammar are much easier to improve on than the verbal section. Get Erika Meltzer’s grammar book.

No thanks. I'd rather save the money from test prep for tuition. He can apply pretty much anywhere as TO. It's not worth the stress to a kid who already has mental health issues.

Didn’t need to be rude.

How is this rude?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP. There definitely is a sweet spot in terms of admissibility to most schools. A 3.8 (unweighted), 3-5 APs, and a 30/1300 will get you into the majority of schools out there, and there is a lot less pressure on these kids to get into a top 20 school (which is a crapshoot no matter what your stats are).

What percentage of kids have a 3.8 unweighted Gpa? When i went to school 40 years ago, that was quite probably top 5%.

[Anonymous]

we have so much to teach you grasshopper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP. There definitely is a sweet spot in terms of admissibility to most schools. A 3.8 (unweighted), 3-5 APs, and a 30/1300 will get you into the majority of schools out there, and there is a lot less pressure on these kids to get into a top 20 school (which is a crapshoot no matter what your stats are).

What percentage of kids have a 3.8 unweighted Gpa? When i went to school 40 years ago, that was quite probably top 5%.

Hear, hear. Everyone thinks their Larla/o is an unmatched genius. HS grades are inflated and SATs have been diluted down. E.g., a 1450 SAT today equates to something like 1380 back before they went to 2400 scale. Never mind that standardized tests correlate most strongly to HHI.

And in many school districts a 4.0 is the most common GPA (and, yes, I know that is different from the average GPA). Almost everyone agrees grade inflation is happening, but apparently only at “other schools.” It may be heresy, but we should just eliminate reductive letter grades since they don’t mean much (they actually never did as far as I’m concerned) and have narrative, qualitative evaluations. We had universities for >1000 years without letter grades, which are actually fairly novel. They were invented to create less work for teachers actually, not as a benefit for students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sick to death of the expectation that every kid should get a 1550+. Real life ain't like that. Fwiw, my 1300 SAT "average" kid just got a full ride to her reach school, so OP, you can just go suck it.

That’s cool for your kid. Did you need the free ride? Which school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP. There definitely is a sweet spot in terms of admissibility to most schools. A 3.8 (unweighted), 3-5 APs, and a 30/1300 will get you into the majority of schools out there, and there is a lot less pressure on these kids to get into a top 20 school (which is a crapshoot no matter what your stats are).

What percentage of kids have a 3.8 unweighted Gpa? When i went to school 40 years ago, that was quite probably top 5%.

Now that’s more like top 30% at some schools.