Obviously, your parents want you to succeed. And that's great: it means they care about you and believe in your potential and all of that good stuff. But sometimes their laser-like focus can get a little intense.

At least that seems to be the consensus from some of the comments you left after the recent post, ACT + Parents + Pressure=Arrrgh! For example:

Besides studying for the SATs and ACTs, many of you Sparklers are balancing heavy course loads of AP and honors classes. So will those advanced courses help you when it comes to the SAT? Take a look at this comment we received recently from motley_:

So I'm just wondering, how hard are the SATs? I'm a freshman right now, so they are in a couple of years but I have no idea whether or not to stress out about them. I know they are important but I have been in advanced classes all of my life and got straight A's and near perfect scores on all placement and other important tests (of course, I don't know how hard they were) my whole life. So now, I am just wondering if I should be really worried for the SATs or if I should just take them calmly, study and I'll be fine.

The following email came from a test-crazed Sparkler who is really feeling the heat:

Hi, my name is Anna. Recently, I found out that one of our family friends' son just got a 32 on the ACT. That doesn't sound too bad, does it? Well...he's in the 7th grade and was doing that for the Duke Talent Identification Program. When I was his age, I did the same thing and only scored a 20.

I am miffed and a smidge jealous, but now my parents are breathing down my neck because they want me to beat his score since I am now in the 10th grade and going to take my first ACT in April. They keep pressuring me to practice and when I did take the practice test for English and scored a 27, my father called me a failure and said I'd never amount to anything. Yes indeed, that hurt very much. We aren't on much speaking terms at the moment; so how do I tell them to stop pressuring me and let me study at my own pace?

Picture this: You’re sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with your extended family and just as you’re about to enjoy your first bite of mashed potatoes, your aunt leans over and says, “So, have you figured out your college plans, dear?” Before you can answer your mom says, “We have our hearts set on Stanford, don’t we dear?” Then, before you can clarify that your mom has her heart set on Stanford and you would be happy to get into one of the state schools where the rest of your friends are going, your dad chimes in, “Yeah, but first you need to get your SAT scores up about 500 points if you expect any school to take you.”