Prepping/Scamming the Cogat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, your goal is to force your round peg into a square hole no metter what it takes. Step back and think about what message that,sends to your child, and what it does to her when she can't fulfill your dreams.

Nice try on the guilt trip. Got our kid into a great program for six years of her early academic development that will build a strong base of knowledge and study skills for high school. If she were failing the program, or were struggling and unhappy and it was clear they did not belong, then you point would be valid. That is far from the case here. The program is geared for a wide range of talent and if one stays on top of the homework, which my kids do, then they will succeed. How they got in is completely irrelevant to me, as my dd not me, will see the long term academic benefit.

Funny you make the case of forcing a round peg in a square hole. How do you think FF County is "increasing the number of certain demographic groups that are under represented in the program". They cannot magically increase the standardized scores of these groups relative to the whole, but rather slide the closest ones in under their subjective process. Are they also square pegs that have no business being there?

Finally, there is too much assumption here that those that prep their kids are doing it for their own egos. In our case, that could not be farther from the truth. We want the best academic program for the benefit of our child. Had she not made AAP, we would have moved her to private school. Now, if she does not do well (not the case) we could still move her back to general ed or to private school. It is nice having all those options having made the cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The CogAT is an ability test, meant to measure ability, not knowledge. It has nothing to do with the SAT and the ACT, which are subject matter tests.

"Prepping/Scamming the Cogat" = the practice of showing children ability test question types that the children are not supposed to see until the day of the test.

CoGAT test prep consists of courses or books that involve practicing over and over again the types of questions that a child can expect to see on the CoGAT.

"Hard work, study and preparation" have nothing to do with this test. The company even says that the scores are not reliable if a child takes it twice within a certain length of time: that is because a child will get a higher score simply because of familiarity with the test format. Just think how unreliable the score is if the child has been doing the questions over and over again for months.

It comes down to, do I want to sacrifice my DC for the sake of the test's reliability over 13,000 takers, 95 percent of whom will fall below the cutoff. Not interested, looking out for number one. Sorry to the purists. Seen too many episodes of Breaking Bad I guess.

Prepping affects the reliability of the results of the individual prepped test taker, no one else. The score reflects a false result because it is no longer measuring what it is meant to gauge. It is giving an impression of the test taker that is not true.

I don't know what Breaking Bad is, I assume a television show, but we don't watch that much TV at my house.

Not really. If prepped test takers get a higher score, this will bring them higher in the percentiles, which means that non-prepped test takers will go lower, which really means that the reliability of all scores is affected. Simple statistics.

[Anonymous]

Prepping affects the reliability of the results of the individual prepped test taker, no one else. The score reflects a false result because it is no longer measuring what it is meant to gauge. It is giving an impression of the test taker that is not true.

I don't know what Breaking Bad is, I assume a television show, but we don't watch that much TV at my house.

Then in an educational setting where students study and learn and prepare this exam is worthless and unless. No one can ultimately stop young minds from grow just as you can't stop young bodies from growing during the growth phase of our life cycle.

Educators relying on bogus unreliable exams do not know education.

How can you freeze the learning process in young minds. A reliable exam should be reliable during the learning process. If not, it is pure crap.

[Anonymous]

Prepping affects the reliability of the results of the individual prepped test taker, no one else. The score reflects a false result because it is no longer measuring what it is meant to gauge. It is giving an impression of the test taker that is not true.

I don't know what Breaking Bad is, I assume a television show, but we don't watch that much TV at my house.

If you want your exam to be reliable at the same point in time then children should be appropriately sacrificed, their brains excised and put on ice to stop or arrest all activity, in order to have a fair postmortem assessment of intelligence. That's what posters are essentially calling for with all this nonsensical talk. You will never be able to control what neuronal exercises and activities were occurring before the sacrifice though. And that state will affect any postmortem assay results.

You cannot artificially expect growing and active youthful minds to stop functioning in order for you to administer some bogus test. While some will play lacrosse the day before the test others will read, practise test "form", and do puzzles the night before.

Face it get a valid and reliable test instead of telling kids in school not to study or not to prepare or not to work hard. How on earth will you define each of these concepts? How will you know what intellectual activities help or don't help (at home, at school or with your highly paid tutors)?

Find a test not susceptible to students who read, write, and are excellent in math because students in the 21st century should be practicing these activities not halting their practise or prep.

No such test exists to date.

[Anonymous]

Not really. If prepped test takers get a higher score, this will bring them higher in the percentiles, which means that non-prepped test takers will go lower, which really means that the reliability of all scores is affected. Simple statistics.

Sounds like an unreliable and invalid test. The brainwash theory states one cannot increase materially one's score or percentile by prepping? Who do we believe? Who do you believe? The theory seems to change with the winds.

[Anonymous]

Will students who read widely, write frequently and practise problem solving and mathematics frequently improve their scores and percentiles on the CogAT? Do these prepping activities improve scores in a material way?

[Anonymous]

Not really. If prepped test takers get a higher score, this will bring them higher in the percentiles, which means that non-prepped test takers will go lower, which really means that the reliability of all scores is affected. Simple statistics.

Will students who read widely, write frequently and practise problem solving and mathematics frequently improve their scores and percentiles on the CogAT? Do these prepping activities improve scores in a material way?

Will students prepped by parents and tutors to read, write and problem solve get higher scores and percentiles and therefore affect the reliability of all scores?

[Anonymous]

Prepping affects the reliability of the results of the individual prepped test taker, no one else. The score reflects a false result because it is no longer measuring what it is meant to gauge. It is giving an impression of the test taker that is not true.

I don't know what Breaking Bad is, I assume a television show, but we don't watch that much TV at my house.

Not true. We do not even own a TV in our house. This is a hazard for small children.

[Anonymous]

Are you just quoting yourself and commenting on your own questions and remarks over and over again?

[Anonymous]

You cannot prepare for an ability test. The Gods have spoken. Kids go ahead and prep if you want to get good grades and progress in our public education system. No one wants to pay taxes for the system to have their children excluded from a challenging education.

[Anonymous]

Do children with private tutors in writing, reading, and rithmetic year round have an advantage on admission entrance tests?

Yes or no.

[Anonymous]

To pp: sounds like prep to me.

[Anonymous]

10:56, 11:00, 11:01- three different posters, or all the same one?

[Anonymous]

Hmm, could be three different posters or could all be the same one. It is so hard to tell.

[Anonymous]

The notion that preparation for a test is limited and restricted to only looking at similar questions is as archaic as the simple minds who hold this view.