Question for parents of kids who prep

[Anonymous]

My kid is in 2nd grade. The kid is pretty smart, not genius level or anything, but he gets by. He’s incredibly creative, though, so I thought he would be a good fit for AAP. So, like all the parents in my neighborhood, I bought a couple of books over the summer and had him practice for 20 minutes a day until the test. I got the results—105 NV, 119 Q, 135 V. My kid has never been good at math or special reasoning, but I figured with enough prep he would figure it out. Well, he didn’t. He told me he could study 24 hours a day and still won’t be able to flip an image in his head. How do parents prep their kids to overcome an inmate lack of aptitude in math or spatial reasoning?

[Anonymous]

OMG. Please stop this line of thinking. Your kid doesn’t need any more prepping. They’re fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 2nd grade. The kid is pretty smart, not genius level or anything, but he gets by. He’s incredibly creative, though, so I thought he would be a good fit for AAP. So, like all the parents in my neighborhood, I bought a couple of books over the summer and had him practice for 20 minutes a day until the test. I got the results—105 NV, 119 Q, 135 V. My kid has never been good at math or special reasoning, but I figured with enough prep he would figure it out. Well, he didn’t. He told me he could study 24 hours a day and still won’t be able to flip an image in his head. How do parents prep their kids to overcome an inmate lack of aptitude in math or spatial reasoning?

You can't. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

So what’s the point of the test prep industry? Someone here (jokingly?) said they prepped their kid from 105 to 155…how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what’s the point of the test prep industry? Someone here (jokingly?) said they prepped their kid from 105 to 155…how?

test prep is for kids who have innate ability but are bad at taking tests. That is the part you can prep. If the innate ability isn't there, not a lot you can do, other than wait. Sometimes the brain just develops. but I'm guessing you are on a time constraint?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 2nd grade. The kid is pretty smart, not genius level or anything, but he gets by. He’s incredibly creative, though, so I thought he would be a good fit for AAP. So, like all the parents in my neighborhood, I bought a couple of books over the summer and had him practice for 20 minutes a day until the test. I got the results—105 NV, 119 Q, 135 V. My kid has never been good at math or special reasoning, but I figured with enough prep he would figure it out. Well, he didn’t. He told me he could study 24 hours a day and still won’t be able to flip an image in his head. How do parents prep their kids to overcome an inmate lack of aptitude in math or spatial reasoning?

You can't. Sorry.

Yeah, you can only do so much for the spatial stuff. Some people’s brains just don’t work that way (like me—ha!). For the math part, better to send them to Kumon or some similar-type place than have them just do practice tests. They need supplemental math instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 2nd grade. The kid is pretty smart, not genius level or anything, but he gets by. He’s incredibly creative, though, so I thought he would be a good fit for AAP. So, like all the parents in my neighborhood, I bought a couple of books over the summer and had him practice for 20 minutes a day until the test. I got the results—105 NV, 119 Q, 135 V. My kid has never been good at math or special reasoning, but I figured with enough prep he would figure it out. Well, he didn’t. He told me he could study 24 hours a day and still won’t be able to flip an image in his head. How do parents prep their kids to overcome an inmate lack of aptitude in math or spatial reasoning?

You can't. Sorry.

Yeah, you can only do so much for the spatial stuff. Some people’s brains just don’t work that way (like me—ha!). For the math part, better to send them to Kumon or some similar-type place than have them just do practice tests. They need supplemental math instruction.

No they don’t. Go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what’s the point of the test prep industry? Someone here (jokingly?) said they prepped their kid from 105 to 155…how?

test prep is for kids who have innate ability but are bad at taking tests. That is the part you can prep. If the innate ability isn't there, not a lot you can do, other than wait. Sometimes the brain just develops. but I'm guessing you are on a time constraint?

It's also for compliant bright kids who can bump from 120 to 150. On paper, it's hard to distinguish between kid A who got 150 composite and kid b who only got 136 composite. Both are 99th percentile. But did one of them prep? Or both? Or neither?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what’s the point of the test prep industry? Someone here (jokingly?) said they prepped their kid from 105 to 155…how?

test prep is for kids who have innate ability but are bad at taking tests. That is the part you can prep. If the innate ability isn't there, not a lot you can do, other than wait. Sometimes the brain just develops. but I'm guessing you are on a time constraint?

It's also for compliant bright kids who can bump from 120 to 150. On paper, it's hard to distinguish between kid A who got 150 composite and kid b who only got 136 composite. Both are 99th percentile. But did one of them prep? Or both? Or neither?

But how? Just doing the test over and over led to a very minimal benefit for my kid. Maybe 5-10 in V, but math & NV…just…no

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 2nd grade. The kid is pretty smart, not genius level or anything, but he gets by. He’s incredibly creative, though, so I thought he would be a good fit for AAP. So, like all the parents in my neighborhood, I bought a couple of books over the summer and had him practice for 20 minutes a day until the test. I got the results—105 NV, 119 Q, 135 V. My kid has never been good at math or special reasoning, but I figured with enough prep he would figure it out. Well, he didn’t. He told me he could study 24 hours a day and still won’t be able to flip an image in his head. How do parents prep their kids to overcome an inmate lack of aptitude in math or spatial reasoning?

You can't. Sorry.

Yeah, you can only do so much for the spatial stuff. Some people’s brains just don’t work that way (like me—ha!). For the math part, better to send them to Kumon or some similar-type place than have them just do practice tests. They need supplemental math instruction.

No they don’t. Go away.

The premise is that you want to significantly increase the Q score for a kid who isn’t naturally good at math. The only way to do that is with supplemental math instruction. Whether or not it’s right to prep or to push young kids this way is a different issue entirely.

[Anonymous]

We did similar prep as OP for COGAT after being shocked by conflicting 118 NNAT and 136 WISC (both unprepped).

I really don't think prep gets you much more than 5 or 10 pts. DC got 136 COGAT, literally the exact same score as a completely unprepped WISC. His nonverbal COGAT section though, was 94th percentile after prepping, had been 88th or so unprepped on both NNAT and WISC sections for spatial puzzles etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 2nd grade. The kid is pretty smart, not genius level or anything, but he gets by. He’s incredibly creative, though, so I thought he would be a good fit for AAP. So, like all the parents in my neighborhood, I bought a couple of books over the summer and had him practice for 20 minutes a day until the test. I got the results—105 NV, 119 Q, 135 V. My kid has never been good at math or special reasoning, but I figured with enough prep he would figure it out. Well, he didn’t. He told me he could study 24 hours a day and still won’t be able to flip an image in his head. How do parents prep their kids to overcome an inmate lack of aptitude in math or spatial reasoning?

You can't. Sorry.

Yeah, you can only do so much for the spatial stuff. Some people’s brains just don’t work that way (like me—ha!). For the math part, better to send them to Kumon or some similar-type place than have them just do practice tests. They need supplemental math instruction.

No they don’t. Go away.

OP here—why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did similar prep as OP for COGAT after being shocked by conflicting 118 NNAT and 136 WISC (both unprepped).

I really don't think prep gets you much more than 5 or 10 pts. DC got 136 COGAT, literally the exact same score as a completely unprepped WISC. His nonverbal COGAT section though, was 94th percentile after prepping, had been 88th or so unprepped on both NNAT and WISC sections for spatial puzzles etc.

My son’s verbal went up 6 points. Maybe 1 point each on the other two. Some people say these tests are made to be taken cold, but wouldn’t a lower score due to kid’s unfamiliarity with the exam not be reflective of their true abilities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 2nd grade. The kid is pretty smart, not genius level or anything, but he gets by. He’s incredibly creative, though, so I thought he would be a good fit for AAP. So, like all the parents in my neighborhood, I bought a couple of books over the summer and had him practice for 20 minutes a day until the test. I got the results—105 NV, 119 Q, 135 V. My kid has never been good at math or special reasoning, but I figured with enough prep he would figure it out. Well, he didn’t. He told me he could study 24 hours a day and still won’t be able to flip an image in his head. How do parents prep their kids to overcome an inmate lack of aptitude in math or spatial reasoning?

For whatever reason, the NV part seems hard for the largest group of kids. Hell, I'm 50 and not dumb, and some of these puzzles I can't do. So, I don't think you can do much here, I'm so sorry.

I prepped both kids heavily. One got 124 on COGAT WITH prep, not really anything to celebrate, but got in on the strength of the GBRS that brought tears to my eyes.

The second one got 142 on COGAT and 149 on NNAT with prep, but she's generally a faster thinker and likes making stuff out of paper like origamis etc...and NV was the weakest part even for her.

So your kid is completely right..as a comfort, I do think NV is the least meaningful part of the score. Your verbal is excellent.

[Anonymous]

And this is why our AAP is not impressive.