I will definitely pass along your suggestions. The getting up part won't be a problem for him. The test starts at 7:45... he has to be at school every day at 7:30 so he is accustomed that early hour. Getting 8 hours of sleep every night, though... that will be a challenge for my boy.
Eating a big breakfast... he's got that covered. He makes his own breakfast every day, and the kid can eat an amazing amount of food. He is and always has been a good test taker... doesn't get ruffled at all, has plenty of confidence, gets the methodology for testing (and the peculiarities of the SAT and ACT)... so that's a plus. The relaxing walk is a good idea, although he's taking the test at his own school and they are so weird about security and anyone walking around the campus. He has had more advanced math since he took the SAT the first time so I think that will help a lot. We'll see. Thanks, Jerry! Cee ----- Original Message ----- From: Jerry Belloit To: gatortalk@googlegroups.com Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 10:24 PM Subject: RE: [gatortalk] A day trip to Mecca Cee, SAT prep material can help a little-about 50 points. Perhaps more if a course is taken. One of my old tricks that I believe might make a much bigger bump is to train the body for the test by keeping a set schedule 7 days a week making sure to get at least 8 hours per night and getting up at whatever time necessary to be able to be at the SAT site about an hour early. (For example, it the exam starts at eight and it takes 30 minutes to get to the site, then the wake up time should be about 6. 30 minutes to get a big breakfast-very important-should probably be 1000 calories but not pancakes. Get to the site about an hour early and take a long 30 minute walk focusing on relaxing. Enter the texting room, get settled, and again focus on relaxing-prayer is not a bad choice. This may seem silly, but I have seen substantial improvements in scores when students do this. One last thing, and this is good advice for everyone, get up at the same time every day including the weekends. Those that sleep in on the weekends are almost always tired. Their body rhythms get out of phase. Jerry From: gatortalk@googlegroups.com [mailto:gatort...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cecilia Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 7:26 PM To: Gatortalk@googlegroups.com Subject: [gatortalk] A day trip to Mecca I just have to tell y'all about this. Today is my dad's 80th birthday (YAY... go, Daddy!) so my 18 year old son and I drove down to G'ville and met my parents and three of my four siblings and their kids (and my sister's grandbaby) for lunch. On the way to the restaurant, I took a quick detour through the campus of the greatest university on the planet. My son has been to UF many times for football games, basketball games, baseball games and gymnastics meets... but I had an ulterior motive for driving him through UF today. He has been muttering crazy talk lately about how he might want to go to [I can barely type this] F... $... U. <choke, cough, sputter, hurl> His SAT scores the first time around aren't high enough to get into UF, although his GPA is great. He knows he will need to take the SATs again and the ACT, and it seemed like he was setting himself up to "settle" for a college other than the one he has always always always said he wanted to attend. Well... he practically swooned as we drove across campus before lunch... so I decided a longer, more detailed guided tour was in order after lunch. :-) I think it worked. He was as wide-eyed as a little kid on Christmas Day and declared, "Man, I WANT to go here SO BAD!" by the time our hour-long tour was complete. I know it made an impression on him when I parked the car near the College of Business area so we could get out and walked around a bit. I pointed out the buildings where I spent most of my junior, senior and grad school years, and he didn't miss it when my voice caught a little and I got tears in my eyes. I am sure my enthusiasm showed when I told him about a couple of specific incidents that I remember in great detail, pointing out exactly where they occurred, even though I graduated in 1988. I am pretty sure I was able to finally convey to him how important UF is to me and how it isn't just where I went to school. UF is a PART of me! I mean... he has always known that I'm a die-hard, rabid Gator. He knows I will get riled up if anyone is overly critical of my Gators or my school. But... maybe it meant more to him now that he is facing that decision. When we came home, he said, "Mom, don't forget. I need to register to take the ACT and SATs again. I know I'll do better this time, and I really hope I do well enough to get into UF. I know F$U and USF both have beautiful campuses, and I know UNF and UCF are getting bigger and better, but there's just nowhere else like UF, is there?" ::sniffle:: He gets it. He really gets it. Now... I really hope he gets in because - having seen what he'll be missing - he'll be even more disappointed than he would have been if he doesn't. !!! Cee -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
