Benefit of NNAT Prep

[Anonymous]

My child is currently a second grader. They (used in a gender neutral way) took the NNAT in February without a moment of prep (I was snowed under juggling full time work and the demands of the pandemic). I figured that because my child is bright and a logical thinker, they should be able to excel regardless. I got my child's score back and it was a 119. A totally fine score, but also not one that seemed to reflect their abilities. I requested a one-time retake, bought a book on Amazon with three practice tests, we spent a limited amount of time practicing those problems. I got the score on the retake yesterday and it was a 151. I genuinely didn't expect a score that high. But it's also wild that a low degree of practice can make that much of a difference. I'm not sure what lesson to take away from this, but figured it may be worth sharing to others considering whether to prep. (I know, I know... no one should prep for this test; that's not what's intended to be measured. But also, it's wild that my child who is someone who would be a quintessential fit for AAP in almost every other way--and might have been selected regardless--could potentially have been missed.)

[Anonymous]

We did not prep and my kids got similar scores. I too was surprised. We also did not prep for CogAT and they both scored in the 140s. They also both got a perfect GBRS. The NNAT is pretty meaningless.

[Anonymous]

I believe the NNAT is equally weighted as the COGAT this year (though not so in past years), so I wouldn't call it worthless, but agree that the GBRS is more highly weighted than either.

[Anonymous]

So my son was similar…nnat was 122 or something and then cogat nonverbal 158. I think he needed a year to learn to concentrate bc we didn’t do prep. I think first grade is way too young for that type of test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe the NNAT is equally weighted as the COGAT this year (though not so in past years), so I wouldn't call it worthless, but agree that the GBRS is more highly weighted than either.

NNAT got extra weight last year because the second graders didn't get to take COGAT due to covid. It has gone back to hardly mattering at all this year. I'm pretty sure they are trying to get rid of it altogether.

[Anonymous]

NNAT and COGAT Comp given equal weight for pool this year, see the other thread. Who knowd what that means behind the scenes since the PhD review of AAP essentially said NNAT is a garbage test that doesn't correlate and should be discarded.

[Anonymous]

In our case, I searched some sample questions online, picked about 5 questions, make a handwritten note of the Qs, and have DC do it the morning of the NNAT test. At a glance, DC did not understand what is asked, but soon after figured out the Q style. DC spent only about 5 minutes for that, and did great on the actual test. So, in our case, a quick prep worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our case, I searched some sample questions online, picked about 5 questions, make a handwritten note of the Qs, and have DC do it the morning of the NNAT test. At a glance, DC did not understand what is asked, but soon after figured out the Q style. DC spent only about 5 minutes for that, and did great on the actual test. So, in our case, a quick prep worked.

Uh-huh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case, I searched some sample questions online, picked about 5 questions, make a handwritten note of the Qs, and have DC do it the morning of the NNAT test. At a glance, DC did not understand what is asked, but soon after figured out the Q style. DC spent only about 5 minutes for that, and did great on the actual test. So, in our case, a quick prep worked.

Uh-huh.

Humble bragging

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case, I searched some sample questions online, picked about 5 questions, make a handwritten note of the Qs, and have DC do it the morning of the NNAT test. At a glance, DC did not understand what is asked, but soon after figured out the Q style. DC spent only about 5 minutes for that, and did great on the actual test. So, in our case, a quick prep worked.

Uh-huh.

Humble bragging

Lots of kids do well on the NNAT without any prep. That is the point of the test. Of course you can prep for the NNAT, it isn't hard per se.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our case, I searched some sample questions online, picked about 5 questions, make a handwritten note of the Qs, and have DC do it the morning of the NNAT test. At a glance, DC did not understand what is asked, but soon after figured out the Q style. DC spent only about 5 minutes for that, and did great on the actual test. So, in our case, a quick prep worked.

Similar experience, we found some free example questions online and printed them out. First we did 3 questions kind of talking through each one. It was clear our child was misunderstanding a bit at first what the questions were asking and overthinking what they were looking for as a response. We then had them do 5 more themselves and after we talked through the 1 of those 5 they got incorrect and they had another a-ha moment on that one. At that point we felt like they got the concept, but didn't want to start drilling them with a bunch of practice questions. Did it the weekend before, not day of, and child did very well on the test.

I'm not sure what kind of "prep" they do in-class, is it similar to what we did with a handful of questions to familiarize with the general concept/format of the test? Or are the kids expected to take it completely cold turkey having never seen so much as a single sample question?

[Anonymous]

Every mom thinks their kid is perfect for AAP, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every mom thinks their kid is perfect for AAP, OP.

A good number of parents could care less about AAP. Honestly, most people in the County don't even give it a thought. The people on this forum, myself included, are the outliers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every mom thinks their kid is perfect for AAP, OP.

A good number of parents could care less about AAP. Honestly, most people in the County don't even give it a thought. The people on this forum, myself included, are the outliers.

I agree with this in general, but if you are zoned for a center school, you should prep. And you should understand that your child will be keenly aware as to whether they are in AAP or not in the higher elementary grades.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I used an Amazon book the weekend before for all my kids, they didn’t score as high as yours but all in 90th+ percentile. I imagine they would have gotten average scores without practicing some questions.