CogAT this year for 2nd grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, there are interesting folks lurking these forums..

FWIW, I think it's the same person responding over and over -- including responding to him/herself . . . There can't possibly be more than one person with that same bitter attitude and same writing style on this one thread. (At least, dear God, I hope not.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, there are interesting folks lurking these forums..

FWIW, I think it's the same person responding over and over -- including responding to him/herself . . . There can't possibly be more than one person with that same bitter attitude and same writing style on this one thread. (At least, dear God, I hope not.)

I think you need some mental help. Speculating about nothing.

[Anonymous]

My 10 year old son got perfect scores on the Quantitative part of the CoGAT in 3rd and 5th grade (which we just got scores on this week). He is younger by two months than the cutoff date.

He is in a limited Math G&T program that started in 4th grade. He will be in the highest Math program in 6th grade, but that is just above average and not honors because the school district have a lot of folks who think "if my kid doesn't score in 99th percentile, let's dumb down the curriculum so that they'll be in the highest class still". His brother entering 9th grade was in the honors 1-year-ahead math program that was ended for this coming school year and his brother cannot access. His brother had only "average" 99th percentile scores, no perfect scores.

Please note that my 10 year old son is mainstreamed with a full-time aide and has behavior issues. All of you going on about what a test score means in terms of future performance and success leave out the fact that your child's behavior and personality will have a huge impact on their future. Your child's future will be what they make of it, with your support.

FWIW, my son wants to be a chef. If he doesn't go to college, I don't "lose" anything. If he is happy, and his high math scores help him in his chosen career, that's great. Don't put too much pressure on your kids.

[Anonymous]

To 13:22. Nobody cares that your child had a perfect score on a CogAT subtest. Nobody thinks it's funny that you call your "99th percentile" child "average," even in jest. I have been a faithful member of DCUM for some time, and the troll has left her trademark sarcasm on many threads. I can almost, yes almost, understand what turned the troll bad. I am no troll, but when I read emails like yours (offering up nothing real except an excuse for you to go off about your kids exceptionally high scores and your heartfelt desire only that they be good, happy people, wih the implication that the rest of us would do well to adopt your "laid-back" world view of things) I want to puke.

[Anonymous]

There is a book called 4 Practice Tests for Cogat in Amazon that has both Level A and Level 2 practice tests. Different schools within Fairfax county administer different tests I think. I just bought this book and it is a big fat book with lots of prep questions for the test. My daughter enjoys doing it. The book has 250 odd pages so I space it out to a few pages a day.

[Anonymous]

And PP is why the screening committee down-weights the CogAT relative to the GBRS. The thing is the preparation will help her do better on the test (probably), but the ability to test prep has little do to with 'giftedness'.

With that said, a child that enjoys that type of test is more likely to be smarter.

[Anonymous]

Here we go again. Some poor poster is going to get bashed for openly admitting to prepping her daughter for the CogAT, even though every single parent on this board is (quietly) willing to do ANYTHING to get their own kid into the Fairfax gifted program. I think it's totally okay to prep, especially if your child is enjoying it, just don't tell anyone you're doing it unless you are ready for a string of hostile postings. By the way, I find the workbooks at ThinkTonight.com very helpful.

[Anonymous]

8:00 here: The thing is it is the people who prep that result in the de-weighting of the CogAT...then people complain because DC with great scores did not get in....

I do not care what you do...it has no impact on my like or my DD. The only thing is prepping for the test and scoring 145 does not make you a genius.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8:00 here: The thing is it is the people who prep that result in the de-weighting of the CogAT...then people complain because DC with great scores did not get in....

I do not care what you do...it has no impact on my like or my DD. The only thing is prepping for the test and scoring 145 does not make you a genius.

Yeah. What she said.

[Anonymous]

When I first saw the title to this thread I was just flabbergast that people would seriously prep their kid for the CogAT.... but having read some of the thread, I can see the value of giving your child a little practice. And for $26, I'm willing to give it a try. I wouldn't have been willing to spend $100 or pay for a prep class.... but the practice tests I found on Amazon are $26. If my kid doesn't get in... no biggie... but I want her to do her best without being confused by the newness of the test. Plus, I can use the left over practice tests for my younger child when he gets to 2nd grade.

I guess I'm absorbing the "crazy" just a little.

[Anonymous]

It happens to the best of us! The longer we read these threads, the crazier we get. And by the way, there is no way that an average child will attain a 145 on the CogAT by practicing from a $26 workbook. That is just crazy hyperbole.

[Anonymous]

It's ok if my child doesn't get 145 on the test. I just want a little insurance that she does her best and if it is 80th percentile... so be it. I'll rest easier next spring knowing she gave it her best and knowing I gave her a reasonable prep... then whatever happens happens.

[Anonymous]

8:00 here again.

The thing is, from reading the forums, I am not sure if the good CogAT scores matter. Good GBRS seems to be more important. No question, good WISC matters. I suspect (but can not confirm) that one of the issues is that there is CogAT prep courses that claim to up the score 15-30 points. I do not know if the claim is true, but I do know that it will not make the kid smarted.

With that said, anyone with scores above 130 will do fine in AAP, based on my experience with DD.

[Anonymous]

I am so tired of this debate of whether to prep or not! If you are not prepping, why are you reading these posts?

If my child can do four practice tests for $26, I think she will be that much ahead than where she would have been if she had done nothing. Plus, if nothing at all we have spent some of our time usefully instead of watching TV. I was trying to share information about a good book I found in Amazon, that's all.

[Anonymous]

17:26 here -- not sure why the hostility.... I actually followed your lead with the practice test book. I'm fine with whatever ends up happening. I'm not trying to make my child appear smarter than she is.

In fact, in my case, there would be some benefit to NOT getting into AAP. Our AAP is at a worse school than our base. The AAP is a bus ride and our base is walking distance. In addition, I am pretty certain that a neighbor boy who is Trouble with a capital T WILL be admitted to AAP. He is smart, but devious and likes to hurt others. I wouldn't mind keeping my kid away from him as much as possible.

So, I can go either way. My kid is a good student, but she may not be TOP notch. That's o.k. I'm ok with her being a top student at the regular school if that's how it works out.