2017 AAP Admission Thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.

It is supposedly amongst Asians. Our family is Asian-American. DS scored 138, was 99th percentile and was admitted to AAP. 2 weeks prior to the exam, we bought a Cogat book and DS did a practice exam. We went over the wrong answers. I think the school was going over the test as well. We did not test prep him to death. We just wanted DS to be familiar with the questions. I don't think I would have been able to raise his score all that much with going over the one test. Perhaps a few careless mistakes on questions. I think some people on this forum may consider this cheating, which I think is ridiculous. He also has all 4s on his report card. I am sure DS would have gotten into AAP whether we went over the one practice test or not.

It's cheating. The tests are designed to be taken cold, as a pp noted. Familiarity with the types of questions artificially inflates the scores.
Did you mention on the parent form that he had reviewed testing material prior to the test?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: We did not test prep him to death. We just wanted DS to be familiar with the questions. I don't think I would have been able to raise his score all that much with going over the one test. Perhaps a few careless mistakes on questions. I think some people on this forum may consider this cheating, which I think is ridiculous. He also has all 4s on his report card. I am sure DS would have gotten into AAP whether we went over the one practice test or not.

Don't delude yourself. A few careless mistakes on a few questions IS the difference between a 138 and a mid 120's score. The scoring is very harsh at the top, and a single extra problem wrong can be the difference between a 140 and a 130 on any section.

Well my kid is in and I am sure he will do great in AAP. DS is highly motivated. You can make yourself feel better by calling us cheats. AAP takes like 15% of the student population. DS would have made that cut off.

[Anonymous]

Not necessarily. If your test prep with him helped him make less "careless mistakes" (your phrase), then his score easily would have been beneath the cutoff and there's no guarantee he would have been accepted.

4s on FCPS report cards are meaningless.

I respect that you own up to the cheating at least. I think most lie about it. I am surprised that those parents let that test prep school use their children's full names on their list of "Successfully Prepped."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.

It is supposedly amongst Asians. Our family is Asian-American. DS scored 138, was 99th percentile and was admitted to AAP. 2 weeks prior to the exam, we bought a Cogat book and DS did a practice exam. We went over the wrong answers. I think the school was going over the test as well. We did not test prep him to death. We just wanted DS to be familiar with the questions. I don't think I would have been able to raise his score all that much with going over the one test. Perhaps a few careless mistakes on questions. I think some people on this forum may consider this cheating, which I think is ridiculous. He also has all 4s on his report card. I am sure DS would have gotten into AAP whether we went over the one practice test or not.

Don't delude yourself, hon. The school shows them how to fill in the test bubbles, they don't "go over the test as well."

I doubt a child who only scored 138 as an inflated score would be a sure thing. Even one or two questions wrong can be ten points off on the score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.

It is supposedly amongst Asians. Our family is Asian-American. DS scored 138, was 99th percentile and was admitted to AAP. 2 weeks prior to the exam, we bought a Cogat book and DS did a practice exam. We went over the wrong answers. I think the school was going over the test as well. We did not test prep him to death. We just wanted DS to be familiar with the questions. I don't think I would have been able to raise his score all that much with going over the one test. Perhaps a few careless mistakes on questions. I think some people on this forum may consider this cheating, which I think is ridiculous. He also has all 4s on his report card. I am sure DS would have gotten into AAP whether we went over the one practice test or not.

It's cheating. The tests are designed to be taken cold, as a pp noted. Familiarity with the types of questions artificially inflates the scores.
Did you mention on the parent form that he had reviewed testing material prior to the test?

Tests are not designed to be taken cold. They even recommend books. Sorry you're idiot

[Anonymous]

Ability tests (like the WISC, the NNAT and the CogAt) absolutely are designed to be taken cold. That's why you can only give them to a student once every 12 months. Familiarity skews the results.

[Anonymous]

"They" even recommend books? Who are they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"They" even recommend books? Who are they?

AAP handouts from fcps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"They" even recommend books? Who are they?

AAP handouts from fcps

Your school gave you handouts that suggested test prep books?
After Fairfax spent a fortune developing its own special test due to cheating at test prep places?
This seems....odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ability tests (like the WISC, the NNAT and the CogAt) absolutely are designed to be taken cold. That's why you can only give them to a student once every 12 months. Familiarity skews the results.

At our school and some other schools that I know of, teachers went over the cogat during the school day. I know our 2nd grade teacher dreaded doing it but had to. The kids at my child's school did not take the cogat cold.

[Anonymous]

Neither of my FCPS students brought home a handout suggesting we prep them for any aptitude test or buy any books for them. We get the standard letter asking us to make sure that they eat a good breakfast and get enough rest the night before (hilariously, often with a range of dates rather than the actual day the test will be administered).

Maybe a particular school is preparing something like that, but I've never seen such a thing nor are there mentions of test prep on the FCPS AAP info websites. (The testing company, of course, recommends that you spend $75-$150 purchasing their materials to prep.)

[Anonymous]

We got the letter on Monday that our DD is IN! (22102)
I honestly don't know what GBRS us?? Never heard of it....please fill me in. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We live in McLean & rumors rage about underground Asian test prep going on. That's the word on the street. But I think that relates more to the bigger picture--the TJ goal!!!! Some keep their eyes on the TJ prize--AAP is just the stepping stone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in McLean & rumors rage about underground Asian test prep going on. That's the word on the street. But I think that relates more to the bigger picture--the TJ goal!!!! Some keep their eyes on the TJ prize--AAP is just the stepping stone.

Name your school.

If you want to make serious accusations, then you should provide specifics.

Because I live in McLean but I've never heard about this underground prepping raging through our community.

[Anonymous]

^^ Churchill? Chesterbrook?