Prepping for aptitude/iq tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a word of caution, if you're preparing a child for the WISC, and they mention to the evaluator that they've seen similar questions before, some (possibly all) providers may consider the results invalid.

In my experience, aside from helping the child become familiar with the format of tests like the CogAT or NNAT, scores generally don’t shift dramatically with prep. You might get more value by focusing on general test-taking strategies, things like staying calm and following directions carefully.

I do t understand the connection between “providers will invalidate the score if they find that you’re familiar with the type of questions” and “you can’t really increase your score by prepping”.

We also wouldn't see 10% of the FCPS kids scoring in the national top 2% if prep had little effect.

Sure we could - plenty of high IQ people here which means high IQ kids. FCPS is known for its schools so that's another strong selection affect for high achieving families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

For real! Our kids are just getting extra practice. All the prep can do is give them new information they didn’t know before, or strengthen their skills. Learning is good. No matter what it’s for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

Yes, most people train and practice for sports. Most students study for subject tests on academics, and many hire tutors to achieve mastery of curriculum. That’s not cheating, that’s called learning. Aptitude/IQ tests, however, are something different, as they are intended to accurately measure innate strengths and weaknesses to identify giftedness, intellectual or learning disability, etc. Prepping for such tests invalidates accuracy, which is clearly the intent of pepper parents like yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a word of caution, if you're preparing a child for the WISC, and they mention to the evaluator that they've seen similar questions before, some (possibly all) providers may consider the results invalid.

In my experience, aside from helping the child become familiar with the format of tests like the CogAT or NNAT, scores generally don’t shift dramatically with prep. You might get more value by focusing on general test-taking strategies, things like staying calm and following directions carefully.

I do t understand the connection between “providers will invalidate the score if they find that you’re familiar with the type of questions” and “you can’t really increase your score by prepping”.

We also wouldn't see 10% of the FCPS kids scoring in the national top 2% if prep had little effect.

Sure we could - plenty of high IQ people here which means high IQ kids. FCPS is known for its schools so that's another strong selection affect for high achieving families.

Sorry, but Fairfax really isn't that special. If you lived in any other decent sized city, you'd realize that Fairfax is about the same as anywhere else.

Also, if you look into the dedicated gifted programs elsewhere, like Seattle, LA, etc, you'll see that they also have an absurdly high percent of kids scoring in the top 2% gifted. If you give people a strong reason to prep, a lot of people will prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

Yes, most people train and practice for sports. Most students study for subject tests on academics, and many hire tutors to achieve mastery of curriculum. That’s not cheating, that’s called learning. Aptitude/IQ tests, however, are something different, as they are intended to accurately measure innate strengths and weaknesses to identify giftedness, intellectual or learning disability, etc. Prepping for such tests invalidates accuracy, which is clearly the intent of pepper parents like yourself.

Very few parents care about accurately measuring the kid's innate strengths and weaknesses. They think their kids are bright and want to optimize their chances of being picked for AAP. Lecturing parents about integrity isn't going to change anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

Yes, most people train and practice for sports. Most students study for subject tests on academics, and many hire tutors to achieve mastery of curriculum. That’s not cheating, that’s called learning. Aptitude/IQ tests, however, are something different, as they are intended to accurately measure innate strengths and weaknesses to identify giftedness, intellectual or learning disability, etc. Prepping for such tests invalidates accuracy, which is clearly the intent of pepper parents like yourself.

Do you have a source or just your understanding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

Yes, most people train and practice for sports. Most students study for subject tests on academics, and many hire tutors to achieve mastery of curriculum. That’s not cheating, that’s called learning. Aptitude/IQ tests, however, are something different, as they are intended to accurately measure innate strengths and weaknesses to identify giftedness, intellectual or learning disability, etc. Prepping for such tests invalidates accuracy, which is clearly the intent of pepper parents like yourself.

Do you have a source or just your understanding?

The wisc-v administration and scoring manual, the testing parameters delineated by clinicians administering the tests, and basic knowledge of protocols for IQ testing. You can also google it yourself to find the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

Yes, most people train and practice for sports. Most students study for subject tests on academics, and many hire tutors to achieve mastery of curriculum. That’s not cheating, that’s called learning. Aptitude/IQ tests, however, are something different, as they are intended to accurately measure innate strengths and weaknesses to identify giftedness, intellectual or learning disability, etc. Prepping for such tests invalidates accuracy, which is clearly the intent of pepper parents like yourself.

Do you have a source or just your understanding?

The wisc-v administration and scoring manual, the testing parameters delineated by clinicians administering the tests, and basic knowledge of protocols for IQ testing. You can also google it yourself to find the answer.

It’s nowhere in google.

If you cite your sources you’ll positively contribute to the discussion, and actually put an end to it.

Now knowing the actual test questions beforehand is certainly cheating, but I think it’s clear no one here is talking about the actual test questions.

Again, please help by providing the citations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

Yes, most people train and practice for sports. Most students study for subject tests on academics, and many hire tutors to achieve mastery of curriculum. That’s not cheating, that’s called learning. Aptitude/IQ tests, however, are something different, as they are intended to accurately measure innate strengths and weaknesses to identify giftedness, intellectual or learning disability, etc. Prepping for such tests invalidates accuracy, which is clearly the intent of pepper parents like yourself.

+1 well explained

[Anonymous]

Did not prep my kid but did not tell school we did the COGAT at GMU in the summer before transferring, then the school administered COGAT because they didn't have one on file.

Within a few months, math COGAT score changed from eighty something percentile to 98th percentile. Also this is how his i-readys are, percentiles range from the 80s to the high 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister paid for her son to a prep class but stopped it because they just go over questions from commercially available practice books. She and her husband prepped my nephew for a few month and he got 160 NNAT and 140+ cogat.

Under their advice, I prepped my son (one grade behind his cousin) with practice book. The only prep was scoring his practice and going over the wrong answers with him. The questions are straight forward, the only thing I "taught" him was process of elimination. My son got the similar result as his cousin.

I think it's mainly up to the kids to perform.

Why did you and your sister think your kids needed prepping to get a high score?

Because we are responsible parents.

+1. Prepping is NOT a crime. It just makes kids smarter than before… and so what? If you think it gives others an “advantage” then prep your kid yourself… Prepping does nothing other than give more knowledge. And that’s what you’re in school for right? To learn. Why can’t we learn at home too? Again. Prepping is allowed, makes kids knowledgeable, and NOT a crime!

Nobody said it was a crime, but you are cheating to try to game the system. Aptitude/IQ tests are not designed to be prepped for, and doing so invalidates the results. You know this, or you wouldn’t have prepped your kids to try to inflate their score to get them into a program they likely don’t belong in. You’re the reason this whole “holistic” process now weighs the HOPE score so heavily. The testing can’t be trusted anymore.

Where does it say that it is cheating?

Some people just think IT IS OKAY TO do private lessons for swimming or baseball or basketball but prep for AAP is CHEATING!

Yes, most people train and practice for sports. Most students study for subject tests on academics, and many hire tutors to achieve mastery of curriculum. That’s not cheating, that’s called learning. Aptitude/IQ tests, however, are something different, as they are intended to accurately measure innate strengths and weaknesses to identify giftedness, intellectual or learning disability, etc. Prepping for such tests invalidates accuracy, which is clearly the intent of pepper parents like yourself.

Do you have a source or just your understanding?

The wisc-v administration and scoring manual, the testing parameters delineated by clinicians administering the tests, and basic knowledge of protocols for IQ testing. You can also google it yourself to find the answer.

It’s nowhere in google.

If you cite your sources you’ll positively contribute to the discussion, and actually put an end to it.

Now knowing the actual test questions beforehand is certainly cheating, but I think it’s clear no one here is talking about the actual test questions.

Again, please help by providing the citations.

DP here, "nowhere in google" my a$$

Googled "does prepping a child for the cogat affect the accuracy of the results" and it summarizes the results as:

"Yes, prepping a child for the CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) can affect the accuracy of the results, though the extent varies. While some practice can familiarize children with the test format and reduce anxiety, excessive preparation may artificially inflate scores and potentially mask a child's true cognitive abilities."

and concludes with:

"In essence, while some level of preparation can be helpful, it's crucial to avoid excessive practice that could compromise the accuracy of the CogAT results. The goal is to provide a comfortable and familiar environment for the child to showcase their natural cognitive abilities"

That's obviously just Google's AI summary of the various linked docs, and I didn't see any links to specific studies or peer-reviewed research, but perhaps they exist within the linked pages or deeper in the search results. But it's also just kind of a "yeah no kidding" obvious point, and to say it's "nowhere in google" is quite disingenuous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a word of caution, if you're preparing a child for the WISC, and they mention to the evaluator that they've seen similar questions before, some (possibly all) providers may consider the results invalid.

In my experience, aside from helping the child become familiar with the format of tests like the CogAT or NNAT, scores generally don’t shift dramatically with prep. You might get more value by focusing on general test-taking strategies, things like staying calm and following directions carefully.

I do t understand the connection between “providers will invalidate the score if they find that you’re familiar with the type of questions” and “you can’t really increase your score by prepping”.

Neither the WISC nor the CogAT were normed using kids who were already familiar with the types of questions asked, and no one really knows the extent to which prepping will increase a score. There wouldn't be a huge $$$ prep industry if it had no effect. We also wouldn't see 10% of the FCPS kids scoring in the national top 2% if prep had little effect. But it's also likely that you can't prep a completely average kid into having gifted level scores. I would guess that a 5-15 point increase would be expected or possible with prep.

One of the reasons you can't take the CogAT multiple times in a year or the WISC within a 2 year timeframe is that they use the same questions. So, it's not a case of being familiar with the types of questions being asked so much as it is remembering the exact same questions that were previously asked. I doubt evaluators are invalidating results if it seems like the kid has worked on similar tasks before. Every kid who has previously taken the CogAT and NNAT would have some familiarity with some of the types of questions asked on the WISC. It's more an issue if the kid seems like they perhaps took the WISC 3 months ago from a different provider, but didn't disclose that. Or if the kid seems like they've been heavily drilled in WISC type problems.

This seems like it would be pretty easy to determine. Just have a sufficiently large sample of students take the test unprepped as intended. Then a few months or year or whatever later (however long you have to wait to ensure it's a clean version without exact-repeat questions, either for next age level or whatever) have them take it again, but this time with extensive prepping. Measure the change in scores.