should you prep for iq tests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mensa sends you a practice test, so you can take that before you take the real thing.

Should your kids prep for their IQ test?

What if the kids like the puzzle like games that are similar to the IQ test, and they play with them without you prompting?

Absolutely not. As a psychologist if I found out the child prepped the test would be invalid!

I don't understands why? The kid won't have access to THE TEST, but just some maybe similar questions. Also, for example, the SB has lessons from fables on it. I've been reading/teaching my kids fables since they were little. I'm not prepping them. If they took the SB, provided it still had this section, the kid has to come up with his/her own lesson. No matter how many fables I told them, if the didn't have it in them, they wouldn't answer correctly.

Because the test is designed to measure a child’s response to novel stimuli and questions. You can't compare a child who practices to their peers (test norms). Practice effects significantly reduces the validity of IQ tests as the scores are not reflective of their true intellectual ability thus, not valid.

You're still not making sense. Different people have different amounts of knowledge. There are endless indirect activities that increase a child's iq, and some parents have knowledge and access to those activities, whereas others don't.

Yes, but there’s a clear difference between indirect and direct prepping. It’s one thing to provide an enriched environment, by reading to your child, doing puzzles/games, etc over the course of their life. That is completely acceptable and encouraged. All parents ideally should be doing this. It is a completely other thing to get a copy of the test your child will take and practice the answers to those questions that they will inevitably see.

Where do you get a copy of the test? I'd like to find that out! I didn't know that prepping meant knowing the actual questions of the real test in advance.

[Anonymous]

i have to say prepping for iq test sounds oddly odd to me... how do you prep for being smart?

[Anonymous]

You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

DP. Yes, practice tests and practice questions, outside of any that might be given by the school or proctor beforehand, are similar in structure to those on the test and are considered invalidating. Obviously getting a copy of the exact (or previous year's) test is cheating. So is doing practice tests. This is for tests such as the Cogat or formal IQ tests.

Feel free to cheat. If you don't get caught, then I suppose it's not unethical to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

A few years ago -- either 2010 or 2011, at least one of the test prep companies got a copy of the CogAT. That year the CogAT scores where much higher than expects -- the head of the AAP for FCPS (Horn or something like that) commented that many students had seen the exact test form. That is why the kids in this year's 8th grade have many more AAP kids than typical.

Because of that, FCPS 1) made there own version of the test, and 2) applied local norms. That cost the county money.

I have also heard of someone basically hiring someone to coach the child for a WISC. The psychologist figured out something was not right, and basically flagged the report saying there was coaching. (The exact words, from memory were something like "Larlo was extremely well prepared for the test")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

Methinks you actually want a copy of the test. I only posted one response in this thread so you may be confusing me with someone else. By getting a copy, I did not mean that literally - I meant getting practice questions that are similar. That kind of prepping would invalidate an IQ test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

.

I do not know where you would even get a copy or how to get prepped for an IQ test. My DC went into his cold at GMU and rocked it! I do believe specifically prepping for an IQ test is wrong and would give you a false positive of what your child can do. I wanted to know what my child could do without prepping so as to make a good decision if AAP is the right fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

You are f*cking nuts. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

You are f*cking nuts. Seriously.

You clearly have limited cognitive ability. You and your foul shouts belong in the cave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

You are f*cking nuts. Seriously.

You clearly have limited cognitive ability. You and your foul shouts belong in the cave. [/quote

Actually, I kind of agree. PP is f****ng nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

You are f*cking nuts. Seriously.

You clearly have limited cognitive ability. You and your foul shouts belong in the cave.

Thinking it’s nuts to prep for an IQ test equates to limited cognitive ability?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

It is illegal. These tests are copyrighted and tightly controlled and only sold to those with certain qualifications. You have to sign all sorts of user agreements etc. and there are penalties for violating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can take actions to broaden ones experience and improve critical thinking by doing puzzles, talking, exploring and reading. That may improve tests over many years.

That differs from learning the test which may or may not be possible and is definitely not ethical. Of course, if you had a copy of the CogAT, WISC etc, you could coach the answers. This will have the effect of invalidating the test (if you are caught), or meaningless if you are not caught

You keep saying "get a copy of the test". Where do you get such copy? The prep materials that you buy do not have a copy of the test. They have questions similar in structure to those on the test. How are these puzzles different from the ones you do at home? I'm asking a very clear and direct question, but you're not giving an answer. Instead, you're providing a lecture.

Not being ethical is certainly not illegal. We live in a time where feelings have become the ethical standard.

It is illegal. These tests are copyrighted and tightly controlled and only sold to those with certain qualifications. You have to sign all sorts of user agreements etc. and there are penalties for violating.

+1

"Printing or reproducing copyright-protected materials or content, whether the reproductions are sold or furnished free for use, including reproduction of test items, scales, scoring algorithms, scored directions, or other content, is strictly prohibited by law"

[Anonymous]

You can't get an actual copy of the test unless you have the appropriate license. The publishing companies go to great lengths to keep the tests secure so they are valid.

There are some disreputable companies who try their hardest to duplicate the test in order to prep kids and allegedly boost their performance. There is no actual evidence this works. Also, the second your child starts saying things like "Oh, yeah, these puzzles again!" and "I practiced questions like this with my tutor Miss Judy." the psychologist will know your child was prepped. They will either stop testing, or put language in the report indicating that the scores may be invalid or artificially inflated.

As for playing and doing puzzles with your child, knock yourself out. These activities are unlikely to affect your child's performance, though.