You still have plenty of time.

Yaya is writing her SAT in 2 weeks time. I bought the SAT books for her when we visited US last year. She also had 2 weeks  term break last week that she could have used to revise.

Two days ago , she came to me practically in tears telling me ” Mom, I got my SAT dates wrong, I thought my Maths test is in June, but it is in May, what am I going to do?”

I swear, I contemplated wringing her neck. SAT is one of the most important part of her getting admission to her Uni of choice. Beginning of the school holidays I had told her o start working on her SAT preparation. She had the books for almost 15 months now !

There are only two things I could do. One, yell at her and make her even more miserable, two..tell her she still has enough time to study, 2 weeks is 24 hours x 14 days..that is a lot more than what I had when I was a Medical student and burned the midnight oil often the night before the exams.

Yelling at her was not going to give any benefit to either of us, so I went for option 2. Also roped in friends who are brilliant in Maths, who could help her if she needs help.

Today, I am wondering if I should take a bit of the blame. I am not your typical hands on Mom. I felt my job was to buy her the books and pay the fees. She filled the college board application etc and chose when and where she wanted to write. I didn’t check the details.. Had I done that, then perhaps I would have known that Maths exam is in May.

I guess you can’t just get through life without feeling guilty..

12 thoughts on “You still have plenty of time.

  1. Is she a good test taker? If so I really wouldn’t worry that much unless she’s aiming to score a perfect (2400). In my opinion it’s really based on if you know how to take a test, not whether or not you know the material. I’m studying for GRE’s and just prep for it because my test taking skills are mediocore..trying to score good.

    • J1206: She needs a really good score to get the admission in her dream Uni..I used to do GRE sample tests when kids were young and I was home..so my brain won’t rust.

  2. Your subject line is what I keep telling myself about my kid’s SAT! I think I am freaking about it more than she is..

    btw- SAT is changing next year, so I think this is the last year when you can take the 2400 score test. It will be 1600 starting next year (most likely when mine will take it) and essays are going to be optional, but it is recommended. The vocabulary is being replaced with ‘more commonly used words’ instead of ‘obscure and not often used words’.

    yikes! more experiments. This year they have introduced a new PAARC test, computer based tests, which is new and neither the teachers nor the students have a clue about this, and no one knows how the results are going to be used..
    Your daughter will be fine.. first is not to freak out ( I am doing that, but I am not writing the test ;))
    Good Luck.

    • MS: I haven’t yet started freaking out..I am saving them for her IB finals..I read about SAT changing next year..Yaya likes essay..and English. Like me, she hates Maths..

  3. Always admire you for your level headedness esp. when it comes to parenting issues…. i find myself going the emotional way a bit too much to my own disdain !
    Hope your health is getting better

  4. Where does she want to go, Sarah? Even if she doesn’t do well this time round, she can retake it easily. She’s going uni 2016, right?

    • Acacia: Unis don’t like you to do many SAT to improve your score. So it is essential that she does it well the first time around. She will start Uni in Sep 2016. She desperately wants to get admission in one of the top 10 unis.

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