Busy teens and standardized testing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously . . . . how did your kids do this. My junior is a competitive athlete, competing year round. Has a TON of homework (all honors/AP classes, and hard ones too). Does some other clubs and community service. Plus, these kids need some down time/friend time.

I do not know how DC is going to find the time to study, much less take any sort of prep class. I know lots of schools are TO but . . . are they really? And some are not.

So how did your kids do this? It's adding an unreasonable amount of stress even trying small times to study. DC would be aiming for the 1450-1500 for the schools that are not TO.

He’s taking all AP and honors classes. Why would he need to prep? Unless he is just memorizing information to spit back on testing he should be comfortable with any testing. No need to add something useless to his busy schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think for recruited athletes, test-optional really means optional.

But not everyone who has this level of practice schedule will be recruited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a junior and does 1/2 hour of focused khan academy (linked to her practice tests) per day on school breaks only. There’s just no time otherwise. Similar to OP she’s a competitive swimmer in all APs and there is just no time when school is in session.

Or even more simple: mine didn't prep. We tried to make that happen, but no dice. One and done in the high 1400s, so we let it be. Also a competitive swimmer with 5 APs, plus 3.

That’s excellent. If a student takes all AP classes and can’t get a decent score without prep you have to wonder how much they are retaining from their classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just chose another route for my DS. He got into every school he applied to w/o test scores but he didn't apply to super competitive schools. You have to decide if all of this is worth it.

+1

I had a kid with anxiety and undiagnosed adhd. Their mental health was terrible.

Smart, good grades, athlete.

Kid did TO. I regret the time wasted on test prep and testing without accommodations.

They love their big T50 university, enjoy their classes, have an excellent advisor, and made a group of solid friends.

They are happy and learning a lot.

I hope it all works for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a junior and does 1/2 hour of focused khan academy (linked to her practice tests) per day on school breaks only. There’s just no time otherwise. Similar to OP she’s a competitive swimmer in all APs and there is just no time when school is in session.

Or even more simple: mine didn't prep. We tried to make that happen, but no dice. One and done in the high 1400s, so we let it be. Also a competitive swimmer with 5 APs, plus 3.

That’s excellent. If a student takes all AP classes and can’t get a decent score without prep you have to wonder how much they are retaining from their classes.

Meh.

Kids with adhd have worse memory for math. Mine can do math but they are not fast, and they are anxious.

Kid can do the math but is only so so on the test.

[Anonymous]

So how did your kids do this? It's adding an unreasonable amount of stress even trying small times to study. DC would be aiming for the 1450-1500 for the schools that are not TO.

My kid didn't prep and scored 1490 and 34. He wasn't that great of a student, wasnt busy and was not taking a lot of APs - he just didn't feel like prepping. The figured the tests didn't cover anything he didn't know as a literate native English speaker or info that wasn't covered in his math classes. He took regular English throughout high school and had honors precalc in 11th grade.

He didn't have any barriers like test anxiety, slow processing speed, etc. He has ADHD but also weirdly likes standardized tests so can hyperfocus and zip through them. DD did need to prep because she didn't retain much math from year to year. All kids are different but get a baseline before you add more stress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously . . . . how did your kids do this. My junior is a competitive athlete, competing year round. Has a TON of homework (all honors/AP classes, and hard ones too). Does some other clubs and community service. Plus, these kids need some down time/friend time.

I do not know how DC is going to find the time to study, much less take any sort of prep class. I know lots of schools are TO but . . . are they really? And some are not.

So how did your kids do this? It's adding an unreasonable amount of stress even trying small times to study. DC would be aiming for the 1450-1500 for the schools that are not TO.

Too late now, but this is why our kids prepped summer after 10th grade and took ACT/SAT in Aug Sept of junior year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for recruited athletes, test-optional really means optional.

But not everyone who has this level of practice schedule will be recruited.

Well that’s the gamble OP’s kid is taking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a junior and does 1/2 hour of focused khan academy (linked to her practice tests) per day on school breaks only. There’s just no time otherwise. Similar to OP she’s a competitive swimmer in all APs and there is just no time when school is in session.

Or even more simple: mine didn't prep. We tried to make that happen, but no dice. One and done in the high 1400s, so we let it be. Also a competitive swimmer with 5 APs, plus 3.

That’s excellent. If a student takes all AP classes and can’t get a decent score without prep you have to wonder how much they are retaining from their classes.

Meh.

Kids with adhd have worse memory for math. Mine can do math but they are not fast, and they are anxious.

Kid can do the math but is only so so on the test.

A prep test isn’t going to help him if he only does so so on the tests. There’s no getting around that it’s a test. Can he get extra time because of learning disability?

[Anonymous]

We do UK lent so anything like Princeton Review bc there just wasn’t time. Prep is starting now for March. We said no working on the weekends and passed on NHS bc the extra hours made it too much with the already crazy schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for recruited athletes, test-optional really means optional.

But not everyone who has this level of practice schedule will be recruited.

So maybe you shouldn’t put all your eggs in the same basket. Stop relying on a sport to get your kid a spot in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do UK lent so anything like Princeton Review bc there just wasn’t time. Prep is starting now for March. We said no working on the weekends and passed on NHS bc the extra hours made it too much with the already crazy schedule.

"We couldn't do anything like....."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for recruited athletes, test-optional really means optional.

But not everyone who has this level of practice schedule will be recruited.

So maybe you shouldn’t put all your eggs in the same basket. Stop relying on a sport to get your kid a spot in college.

Honestly I think expecting grades to get your kids into college is more of a gamble than expecting sports to get your kid in. I say this as a nerd raising two nerds.

[Anonymous]

Sorry if this is a repeat... I haven't read the other responses...

I encouraged my son to study over the summer before junior year. And by study, I mean that I got him a book with 5 full-length practice tests, and he worked through different sections whenever he had the time. That was it. We did not want to fool with expensive, time-consuming prep classes or hours upon hours of practice.

At the end of the summer, he took the SAT in late Aug and then the PSAT in mid Oct. Done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kid's only strength is academics, OP. He got into college solely based on that. So he had to take standardized tests to bolster his profile. He has learning disabilities as well (2e type), and he's slow. Adding tutoring for standardized testing was a burden, but he did it anyway. Got a 35 on his ACT. I think it helped get him a reach acceptance, and helped with offers of merit aid at safeties. He took the safety with merit aid.

Congrats, but how is this answering OP's question about sports practice?

PP you replied to. I was trying (badly), to say that my child has challenges that made it hard for him to fit in test prep. Even without many extra-curriculars, and no sports at all, he worked all out and sometimes went to bed at 3am. Not because he was goofing around. But he did it anyway, because there really wasn't anything else he could stand out in.

He's a college freshman now and did surprisingly well the first semester, but I can tell you that the last two years of high school were BRUTAL.