WPPSI - Caught Cheating?

[Anonymous]

You are honest to admit that. I too had the same moral dilemma and stayed on what I thought was the right side of the ethical boundary line, finding out everything I could ONLINE about what would be on the test (mostly generalizations), finding ways to play the kinds of games that would be played in the testing center without in any way exposing my child to the real material, and NOT buying anything that was clearly not supposed to be purchased by me.

In the end, I still have regrets. I made my child feel like getting into this great school was really important (it wasn't), and perhaps sent subtle messages to her that she wouldn't be able to get in without this extra help from me (she would have).

If I had to do it again I would not send her in with anything other than a good night's sleep.
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Another laugher!!! "I would not send her in with anything other than a good night's sleep".

What great advice!! Your child got in to this "great school" with you tiptoeing on the ethical line by your account. Now, once in, if you had to do it again you would just give her a sound night's sleep.

Do you actually think that a parent with a child applying to your "great school" will believe that hogwash?

[Anonymous]

I'm just telling the OP what I did. I'm not trying to whitewash it. I regret it. It IS possible to regret your errors. It is possible to wish that you hadn't done something. I wish I hadn't prepped my daughter for a test for which she wasn't supposed to be prepped. Now at the school, she is doing well, and so in my justifying mind I tell myself that none of it was necessary. But I'll never know. I could yank her out of the school just to prove a point. But I'm not going to. I'm going to see it all the way through and tell someone else who is facing the moral dilemma not to do it. It is not worth it. I am sure there are loads of moms and dads who prepped their kids and haven't given it a second thought. I have. Sorry that that admission is laughable.

[Anonymous]

The version I've heard most often in re WPPSI "cheating" is taking the kid to another tester within less than a year in an attempt to get a better result. This is verboten. I don't see how testers could open themselves to liability if the parents break the rules on a one-year gap between tests.

[Anonymous]

The test has been compromised. It's ridiculous to have the same test (exactly) for 10 years. It's stupid. If it is THAT important, write a new one every year, for Christ's sake. The SAT is secure. It's used once, at the SAME EXACT TIME (7 am to 10 am, EST, for example) and then NEVER used again. And past tests are readily available.

Stop using these SECURE tests which are not secure. It makes a level playing field impossible.

[Anonymous]

"I'm just telling the OP what I did. I'm not trying to whitewash it. I regret it. It IS possible to regret your errors. It is possible to wish that you hadn't done something. I wish I hadn't prepped my daughter for a test for which she wasn't supposed to be prepped. Now at the school, she is doing well, and so in my justifying mind I tell myself that none of it was necessary. But I'll never know. I could yank her out of the school just to prove a point. But I'm not going to. I'm going to see it all the way through and tell someone else who is facing the moral dilemma not to do it. It is not worth it. I am sure there are loads of moms and dads who prepped their kids and haven't given it a second thought. I have. Sorry that that admission is laughable."



Sounds like false morality. Do the right thing. Be accountable and pull her since you believe you cheated. That's the moral thing to do. Spare future applicants your imaginary ordeal now that both you and your child are happy in this "great school".

[Anonymous]

I can bet the poster would have re-prepped her child for the exam if she had not gotten in the first time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are honest to admit that. I too had the same moral dilemma and stayed on what I thought was the right side of the ethical boundary line, finding out everything I could ONLINE about what would be on the test (mostly generalizations), finding ways to play the kinds of games that would be played in the testing center without in any way exposing my child to the real material, and NOT buying anything that was clearly not supposed to be purchased by me.

In the end, I still have regrets. I made my child feel like getting into this great school was really important (it wasn't), and perhaps sent subtle messages to her that she wouldn't be able to get in without this extra help from me (she would have).

If I had to do it again I would not send her in with anything other than a good night's sleep.

Thank you for the understanding.. its so hard to know what to do. If this process were more clearly defined, if the materials werent so readily available, if people didn't harp on 99.9's all the time, if public was a real option for us.... there'd be nothing to think about.

I have to admit that this chafes me a little: "If public were a real option for us." Honestly, public is an option for me (my DC is in public) because I made school choice a priority. Do I want to live in the burbs? No. Would I rather be in DC with more fun activities around, better restaurants, shorter commute, etc., etc.? Of course. We chose the burbs for the schools. You made a different choice that prioritized other things over public schools. Sorry about that, but as my mother would say, " you made your bed, now lie in it." The post about giving DC kids priority at privates gave me the same reaction. I don't mean to be bitchy (I know, I am-- flame aaway, it won't change my opinion) but when you all brag about how great it is to live in the city, don't forget the downside. Those of us in the burbs are not all uncultured slobs -- we have just made different choices. Sorry if your kid doesn't get into private unless you cheat . . err, I mean prep for the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:....The second year we did have those workbooks for pre-k/kindergarten for fun in the house (not as prepping).

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....wink, wink, yeah sure. Therefore, we must all conclude that you are not cheating since the material somehow was just lying around the house. Yeah right. The God fairy must have dropped them off you plead with the judge.

Hey, my kid does those exercises for fun, too...not for prepping!

What disingenuity typical of a dcummie.

Okay I think you are a bit crazy - do you even know what books I am talking about? They are the same books that many precshools use for their curriculum! They had nothing to do with the test or prepping! They are just activities and exercises that most kids that age are doing at preschool. They are sold at all bookstores. Many people use them in the summer to keep kids brains from turning into mush, which is what we used them for because they were "fun" to do together. Sorry that is so difficult for you to grasp. Maybe you don't have fun with your child teaching them things? By the way - if you read my entire post you would see that my child took the test two years in a row. The first year he had NEVER ever done a maze or looked at one of those books and he got a 99%. Second year he got the exact same score 99% after having the books so they obviously didn't do anything! That was my point!

[Anonymous]

"The test has been compromised. It's ridiculous to have the same test (exactly) for 10 years. It's stupid. If it is THAT important, write a new one every year, for Christ's sake. The SAT is secure. It's used once, at the SAME EXACT TIME (7 am to 10 am, EST, for example) and then NEVER used again. And past tests are readily available.

Stop using these SECURE tests which are not secure. It makes a level playing field impossible."

or simply put in perspective...ignore the results as some wise admission directors and parents do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I'm just telling the OP what I did. I'm not trying to whitewash it. I regret it. It IS possible to regret your errors. It is possible to wish that you hadn't done something. I wish I hadn't prepped my daughter for a test for which she wasn't supposed to be prepped. Now at the school, she is doing well, and so in my justifying mind I tell myself that none of it was necessary. But I'll never know. I could yank her out of the school just to prove a point. But I'm not going to. I'm going to see it all the way through and tell someone else who is facing the moral dilemma not to do it. It is not worth it. I am sure there are loads of moms and dads who prepped their kids and haven't given it a second thought. I have. Sorry that that admission is laughable."



Sounds like false morality. Do the right thing. Be accountable and pull her since you believe you cheated. That's the moral thing to do. Spare future applicants your imaginary ordeal now that both you and your child are happy in this "great school".

It does sound like false morality. Like the prisoner who found God. I know. But I don't have any reason to lie. I could go on my merry way with my child on the Harvard track, great grades, and a super duper IQ which she would have had anyway, because after all it's not like I purchased material or anything, I did what everyone else was doing.

I am just telling you how I feel. Maybe I am not allowed to tell anyone anything now that I'm a cheater cheater cheater. Fine. But if the OP gets something from my false morality and it gives her cause to think it over, maybe I have done something good.

Now that my daughter is in the school, I can tell you that I surely was NOT the only one (not justifying at all...just saying). I look at every project that comes down the pike and I say, "there is simply no way that child did that on their own". I get texts from parents asking, "What are you doing to prepare for this or that?" It is pervasive at her school. As for me, I totally backed off. I said, "never again." I am not going to hold this kid up in any way. I already did it, and I regret it. I regret that my faith in my daughter was so low that I didn't think she merited acceptance on her own and worse yet that any of it even mattered.

I know it's annoying that I'm repentent.

[Anonymous]

"Okay I think you are a bit crazy - do you even know what books I am talking about? They are the same books that many precshools use for their curriculum! They had nothing to do with the test or prepping! They are just activities and exercises that most kids that age are doing at preschool. They are sold at all bookstores. Many people use them in the summer to keep kids brains from turning into mush, which is what we used them for because they were "fun" to do together. Sorry that is so difficult for you to grasp. Maybe you don't have fun with your child teaching them things? By the way - if you read my entire post you would see that my child took the test two years in a row. The first year he had NEVER ever done a maze or looked at one of those books and he got a 99%. Second year he got the exact same score 99% after having the books so they obviously didn't do anything! That was my point!"

The exercises on WPPSI exams are not similar to exercises that kids do in pre-K and K or around the kitchen table with parents and families with computers, fancy soft ware and books so that their brains don't turn to mush?

You draw the conclusion that since your child got a 99 percentile in two successive years that this prepping did not influence his result? To boot, his annual sitting for the exam sounds like prepping to me.
If he got 99 percentile the first time why repeat the exam in 12 months? Am I missing something here. Who really is crazy here?

[Anonymous]

I await follow-up and next year's scores?

[Anonymous]

How do you no you were not the only one? Did others formally confess to you their sins and cheating ways?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Okay I think you are a bit crazy - do you even know what books I am talking about? They are the same books that many precshools use for their curriculum! They had nothing to do with the test or prepping! They are just activities and exercises that most kids that age are doing at preschool. They are sold at all bookstores. Many people use them in the summer to keep kids brains from turning into mush, which is what we used them for because they were "fun" to do together. Sorry that is so difficult for you to grasp. Maybe you don't have fun with your child teaching them things? By the way - if you read my entire post you would see that my child took the test two years in a row. The first year he had NEVER ever done a maze or looked at one of those books and he got a 99%. Second year he got the exact same score 99% after having the books so they obviously didn't do anything! That was my point!"

The exercises on WPPSI exams are not similar to exercises that kids do in pre-K and K or around the kitchen table with parents and families with computers, fancy soft ware and books so that their brains don't turn to mush?

You draw the conclusion that since your child got a 99 percentile in two successive years that this prepping did not influence his result? To boot, his annual sitting for the exam sounds like prepping to me.
If he got 99 percentile the first time why repeat the exam in 12 months? Am I missing something here. Who really is crazy here?

Okay you seriously are not very bright are you? He never ever looked at a book or did any exercises before he took the test for the first time and he still scored a 99%!! That is the point! He scored 99% without ever having looked at a book or maze of any kind!! We decided to not apply and wait a year if you must know so we went through the process again the next year to see if anything had changed (more importantly for the worse). The books are the same - because I bought the same one his teacher was using for the class activities! You sound jealous. Sorry your child obviously didn't do so well and you are out to blame others. Maybe blame yourself. My child is a straight A student at a top school and there is no way to practice for that - he doesn't have a tutor, no special study group, nothing extra. He is just brilliant and sorry that bothers you! As I have now stated THREE times - my child scored a 99% without ever looking at a book or anything of the sort - so they don't necessarily make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you no you were not the only one? Did others formally confess to you their sins and cheating ways?

Yes. But not in the come to Jesus kind of way. In the wink wink you know what we mean kind of way. Those conversations over soccer where someone else's child is applying and is worried about the test and another mom who is already past that stage mumbles to me jokingly, "Or you can just buy the damn blocks on Ebay!"

I think that qualifies as confessing.