Why should I feel guilty that I prepped my kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my kid for CogAT. But I didn't teach her any new material - I don't see how I even could. What we prepped her for was the types of questions. When you see a question like this, it means they are looking for this. Once we explain to her what the question was getting at, she knew most of the answers already.

99 composite score. No guilt.

The school claimed they were going to give the kids sample questions/practice tests in class but due to snow never got around to it. Not my problem.

Don't you ever wonder how she would have done if she'd had to figure out what the questions were looking for herself? That's what my kids all did. The CogAt is designed to measure a kids ability to solve problems of a type they've never seen before. Too bad you denied that opportunity to your daughter, all for the sake of a higher score. So silly.

I am sure you are lying. If you are not concerned about your scores, why are you on this forum?

Not only that, why isn't she working to prevent teachers from showing the question formats to kids before hand. FCPS is denying students the opportunity to take the test cold, like PP's kids. So silly, indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my kid for CogAT. But I didn't teach her any new material - I don't see how I even could. What we prepped her for was the types of questions. When you see a question like this, it means they are looking for this. Once we explain to her what the question was getting at, she knew most of the answers already.

99 composite score. No guilt.

The school claimed they were going to give the kids sample questions/practice tests in class but due to snow never got around to it. Not my problem.

But that's just the thing- the CogAT is all about whether or not your kid can solve types of problems he has never seen before. It's an APTITUDE test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my kid for CogAT. But I didn't teach her any new material - I don't see how I even could. What we prepped her for was the types of questions. When you see a question like this, it means they are looking for this. Once we explain to her what the question was getting at, she knew most of the answers already.

99 composite score. No guilt.

The school claimed they were going to give the kids sample questions/practice tests in class but due to snow never got around to it. Not my problem.

But that's just the thing- the CogAT is all about whether or not your kid can solve types of problems he has never seen before. It's an APTITUDE test.

It is not stated anywhere (at least in LCPS where we are) that you cannot/should not practice with the kids. It just says it isn't neccessary. Big difference.

But all you non-preppers keep non prepping. It only helps the preppers more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my kid for CogAT. But I didn't teach her any new material - I don't see how I even could. What we prepped her for was the types of questions. When you see a question like this, it means they are looking for this. Once we explain to her what the question was getting at, she knew most of the answers already.

99 composite score. No guilt.

The school claimed they were going to give the kids sample questions/practice tests in class but due to snow never got around to it. Not my problem.

But that's just the thing- the CogAT is all about whether or not your kid can solve types of problems he has never seen before. It's an APTITUDE test.

It is not stated anywhere (at least in LCPS where we are) that you cannot/should not practice with the kids. It just says it isn't neccessary. Big difference.

But all you non-preppers keep non prepping. It only helps the preppers more.

Same in FCPS. They have never said not to prepare. They say get a good nights sleep and a good breakfast. Hard for me to see how people think they are mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous]

You know this focus on "natural ability" is so weird. How can you really even define it? We know that we are such a complex combination of our genetics and our envioronment.

Say you have a kid that scores a 135 on the cogat without any prepping. He is born into a stable family that emphasizes school success and has provided an enriched environment during his infancy, toddlerhood, preschool and early grade school years.

Let us now take the same kid but change the circumstances. Let us keep his genetics and upbringing constant but say that his dad gave him a workbook with sample cogat questions a week or two before the test to familiarize him with the type of questions, and the kid gets a 140.

Now take the same kid but change his life history. Suppose his family fell on hard times after his birth and he grew up in a higher stress environment. Family was too stressed to do "enrichment" stuff and school and learning are pretty low on his list of priorities. He takes the cogat and scores a 120.

What is this child's "natural ability" score? Should the first kid be defined as "gifted" but the second have an asterisk next to his gifted designation? Should the third child automatically be disqualified from the program even if the classroom teacher can see his potental?

I really do like Ffx county 's whole child evaluation methodology because intelligence is not a simple number and assessing it isn't easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my kid for CogAT. But I didn't teach her any new material - I don't see how I even could. What we prepped her for was the types of questions. When you see a question like this, it means they are looking for this. Once we explain to her what the question was getting at, she knew most of the answers already.

99 composite score. No guilt.

The school claimed they were going to give the kids sample questions/practice tests in class but due to snow never got around to it. Not my problem.

But that's just the thing- the CogAT is all about whether or not your kid can solve types of problems he has never seen before. It's an APTITUDE test.

It is not stated anywhere (at least in LCPS where we are) that you cannot/should not practice with the kids. It just says it isn't neccessary. Big difference.

But all you non-preppers keep non prepping. It only helps the preppers more.

Same in FCPS. They have never said not to prepare. They say get a good nights sleep and a good breakfast. Hard for me to see how people think they are mutually exclusive.

But a few years ago, they did change the test because some kids had seen the exact test. If you ask the AART or Carol Horn, they will tell you not to cheat. I think prepping is stupid -- a waste of money. Possibly of questionable ethics. But, the kids (short of those that prep with the exact test) that do well on the test you will be fine for AAP; anyone that will do fine should get the chance. Your prepped kid is not excluding my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my kid for CogAT. But I didn't teach her any new material - I don't see how I even could. What we prepped her for was the types of questions. When you see a question like this, it means they are looking for this. Once we explain to her what the question was getting at, she knew most of the answers already.

99 composite score. No guilt.

The school claimed they were going to give the kids sample questions/practice tests in class but due to snow never got around to it. Not my problem.

But that's just the thing- the CogAT is all about whether or not your kid can solve types of problems he has never seen before. It's an APTITUDE test.

It is not stated anywhere (at least in LCPS where we are) that you cannot/should not practice with the kids. It just says it isn't neccessary. Big difference.

But all you non-preppers keep non prepping. It only helps the preppers more.

Same in FCPS. They have never said not to prepare. They say get a good nights sleep and a good breakfast. Hard for me to see how people think they are mutually exclusive.

But a few years ago, they did change the test because some kids had seen the exact test. If you ask the AART or Carol Horn, they will tell you not to cheat. I think prepping is stupid -- a waste of money. Possibly of questionable ethics. But, the kids (short of those that prep with the exact test) that do well on the test you will be fine for AAP; anyone that will do fine should get the chance. Your prepped kid is not excluding my kid.

It was $80. Hardly breaking the bank.

[Anonymous]

I'm white and all about preparing my kids for tests and sports. Just walk down the hallway of McLean HS and you will see test preparation for TJ, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm white and all about preparing my kids for tests and sports. Just walk down the hallway of McLean HS and you will see test preparation for TJ, etc.

Isn't it a bit late to prep for TJ when they're already in high school?

Also, what do you mean by "walk down the hallway"? Are you saying there are advertisements in the halls for test prep?

[Anonymous]

I wonder what prepping is assumed? Having a tutor or some sort of class takjen? We did not prepare for nnat , I just did not know. We did prep for cogat. Preparstion- bought one book on Amazon with one test sample.Actually bought chgeapest available from a year or two ago. Went through it couple times so that child gets an idea what to expect. Nnat was 142, cogat with prep 135, Gbrs 16. I wonder if preparation really makes so much difference for some kids. However for a child with nnat 121, cogat 129 gbrs 13 prepping probably did add just a few points where they made it in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know this focus on "natural ability" is so weird. How can you really even define it? We know that we are such a complex combination of our genetics and our envioronment.

Say you have a kid that scores a 135 on the cogat without any prepping. He is born into a stable family that emphasizes school success and has provided an enriched environment during his infancy, toddlerhood, preschool and early grade school years.

Let us now take the same kid but change the circumstances. Let us keep his genetics and upbringing constant but say that his dad gave him a workbook with sample cogat questions a week or two before the test to familiarize him with the type of questions, and the kid gets a 140.

Now take the same kid but change his life history. Suppose his family fell on hard times after his birth and he grew up in a higher stress environment. Family was too stressed to do "enrichment" stuff and school and learning are pretty low on his list of priorities. He takes the cogat and scores a 120.

What is this child's "natural ability" score? Should the first kid be defined as "gifted" but the second have an asterisk next to his gifted designation? Should the third child automatically be disqualified from the program even if the classroom teacher can see his potental?

I really do like Ffx county 's whole child evaluation methodology because intelligence is not a simple number and assessing it isn't easy.

very intelligent post - there are very few controlled studies on twins who have same genetics and are matched or crossed-over to tease out upbringing or environmental factors - the idea that environment doesnt affect MEASURED aptitude is a mirage --> hence effectiveness of prep

BUT then the you are choosing "prep" as the main environmental driver od success - so you and your children have to be happy/comfortable with this strategy throughout assuming aap doesnt provide all the needed environmental backup itself once you are in the program - so that's where the "culture" issue plays a factor - you need to feel it is natural to "keep doing prep" as a strategy - many cultures are totally fine with approachwhile other families would feel this is "faking it" throughout their education ' there is no right/wrong here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my kid for CogAT. But I didn't teach her any new material - I don't see how I even could. What we prepped her for was the types of questions. When you see a question like this, it means they are looking for this. Once we explain to her what the question was getting at, she knew most of the answers already.

99 composite score. No guilt.

The school claimed they were going to give the kids sample questions/practice tests in class but due to snow never got around to it. Not my problem.

Don't you ever wonder how she would have done if she'd had to figure out what the questions were looking for herself? That's what my kids all did. The CogAt is designed to measure a kids ability to solve problems of a type they've never seen before. Too bad you denied that opportunity to your daughter, all for the sake of a higher score. So silly.

I am sure you are lying. If you are not concerned about your scores, why are you on this forum?

Not only that, why isn't she working to prevent teachers from showing the question formats to kids before hand. FCPS is denying students the opportunity to take the test cold, like PP's kids. So silly, indeed.

I am the PP who said the teacher was planning to give the kids sample questions. I am not lying. We are in LCPS, not FCPS. Anyway it doesn't matter because it never happened. The day(s) they were going to do the sample questions were during the blizzard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my kid for CogAT. But I didn't teach her any new material - I don't see how I even could. What we prepped her for was the types of questions. When you see a question like this, it means they are looking for this. Once we explain to her what the question was getting at, she knew most of the answers already.

99 composite score. No guilt.

The school claimed they were going to give the kids sample questions/practice tests in class but due to snow never got around to it. Not my problem.

Don't you ever wonder how she would have done if she'd had to figure out what the questions were looking for herself? That's what my kids all did. The CogAt is designed to measure a kids ability to solve problems of a type they've never seen before. Too bad you denied that opportunity to your daughter, all for the sake of a higher score. So silly.

I am sure you are lying. If you are not concerned about your scores, why are you on this forum?

Not only that, why isn't she working to prevent teachers from showing the question formats to kids before hand. FCPS is denying students the opportunity to take the test cold, like PP's kids. So silly, indeed.

I am the PP who said the teacher was planning to give the kids sample questions. I am not lying. We are in LCPS, not FCPS. Anyway it doesn't matter because it never happened. The day(s) they were going to do the sample questions were during the blizzard.

We are in Fairfax and our teacher dfid give a sample test few days before to familiarize with types and sections and explained what to expect.

[Anonymous]

Here is why I'm going to prep my kid - when I volunteer in the class, I see my child needs more differentiation than is given. So to me, it doesn't matter what the aptitude tests say I know this child belongs in aap. If I had to put money down i would think this child would qualify without prep and without me filling out the parent packet, I'm doing both to ensure things go smoothly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is why I'm going to prep my kid - when I volunteer in the class, I see my child needs more differentiation than is given. So to me, it doesn't matter what the aptitude tests say I know this child belongs in aap. If I had to put money down i would think this child would qualify without prep and without me filling out the parent packet, I'm doing both to ensure things go smoothly.

^ Seems very sensible. You know what's best for your child. Others seem to have different educational philosophies. That's fine for them too.