Question for parents of kids who prep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the real secret here is that the families that prep are likely the families that are just...very very smart and invested in educational achievement and have been this way since Day 1 and have seen dividends pay off already so they know it's a fair and safe bet that prepping will take what would have been an amazing score and turn it into an amaaaaaazing score.

So...I guess the answer is you don't. Your kid sounds self-aware which is great.

He spends every waking hour writing, producing, directing, and filming little movies. He is obsessed with film and wants to be a director. But he’s just okay at math, and ask him to recognize a mirror image or turn a pentagon ninety degrees in his head…fuggetaboutit. I mostly want him in advanced LA but it seems they only offer accelerated math to kids who aren’t in LLV. My wife thinks he’ll fine either way. I agree. Still. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Your child will be miserable in AAP if he’s just ok in math and it will impact his confidence in school. There are other enrichments you can do to feed his creativity.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t prep my kids for CogAT with books or courses bc I’m firmly anti-prep, but now that everyone does it and the scores have ballooned at our school w/ the new local norms, I regret not doing so. Seems this is SOP now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t prep my kids for CogAT with books or courses bc I’m firmly anti-prep, but now that everyone does it and the scores have ballooned at our school w/ the new local norms, I regret not doing so. Seems this is SOP now.

It depends on the school. (Shrugs) Looking at the scores, there are clearly schools were people are not prepping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the real secret here is that the families that prep are likely the families that are just...very very smart and invested in educational achievement and have been this way since Day 1 and have seen dividends pay off already so they know it's a fair and safe bet that prepping will take what would have been an amazing score and turn it into an amaaaaaazing score.

So...I guess the answer is you don't. Your kid sounds self-aware which is great.

He spends every waking hour writing, producing, directing, and filming little movies. He is obsessed with film and wants to be a director. But he’s just okay at math, and ask him to recognize a mirror image or turn a pentagon ninety degrees in his head…fuggetaboutit. I mostly want him in advanced LA but it seems they only offer accelerated math to kids who aren’t in LLV. My wife thinks he’ll fine either way. I agree. Still. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Seems like spatial reasoning would be very important for a filmmaker. Check out how it was either Fincher or Kubrick used to make his movies with little models on his desk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the real secret here is that the families that prep are likely the families that are just...very very smart and invested in educational achievement and have been this way since Day 1 and have seen dividends pay off already so they know it's a fair and safe bet that prepping will take what would have been an amazing score and turn it into an amaaaaaazing score.

So...I guess the answer is you don't. Your kid sounds self-aware which is great.

He spends every waking hour writing, producing, directing, and filming little movies. He is obsessed with film and wants to be a director. But he’s just okay at math, and ask him to recognize a mirror image or turn a pentagon ninety degrees in his head…fuggetaboutit. I mostly want him in advanced LA but it seems they only offer accelerated math to kids who aren’t in LLV. My wife thinks he’ll fine either way. I agree. Still. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Your child will be miserable in AAP if he’s just ok in math and it will impact his confidence in school. There are other enrichments you can do to feed his creativity.

Many posters will try to discourage you. It is their goal to thin the herd. Truth is there's a long line at the prep center and many start early to ensure their spot in these programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the real secret here is that the families that prep are likely the families that are just...very very smart and invested in educational achievement and have been this way since Day 1 and have seen dividends pay off already so they know it's a fair and safe bet that prepping will take what would have been an amazing score and turn it into an amaaaaaazing score.

So...I guess the answer is you don't. Your kid sounds self-aware which is great.

He spends every waking hour writing, producing, directing, and filming little movies. He is obsessed with film and wants to be a director. But he’s just okay at math, and ask him to recognize a mirror image or turn a pentagon ninety degrees in his head…fuggetaboutit. I mostly want him in advanced LA but it seems they only offer accelerated math to kids who aren’t in LLV. My wife thinks he’ll fine either way. I agree. Still. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Seems like spatial reasoning would be very important for a filmmaker. Check out how it was either Fincher or Kubrick used to make his movies with little models on his desk.

You sound like a peach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the real secret here is that the families that prep are likely the families that are just...very very smart and invested in educational achievement and have been this way since Day 1 and have seen dividends pay off already so they know it's a fair and safe bet that prepping will take what would have been an amazing score and turn it into an amaaaaaazing score.

So...I guess the answer is you don't. Your kid sounds self-aware which is great.

He spends every waking hour writing, producing, directing, and filming little movies. He is obsessed with film and wants to be a director. But he’s just okay at math, and ask him to recognize a mirror image or turn a pentagon ninety degrees in his head…fuggetaboutit. I mostly want him in advanced LA but it seems they only offer accelerated math to kids who aren’t in LLV. My wife thinks he’ll fine either way. I agree. Still. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Your child will be miserable in AAP if he’s just ok in math and it will impact his confidence in school. There are other enrichments you can do to feed his creativity.

Or, he will rise to the challenge and surprise you op.

My child got 113 on CoGat and 122 on that other one (NNAT?). Unprepared because at the time I didn’t even know AAP existed (I’m an immigrant). I i found out about AAP here on DCUM, soon AFTER the CoGAT test and, thankfully, decided to parent referrer her even though I did not know the CoGat results at the time (2017).

She was average in math - never had a problem, but never did anything that prompted us to say “wow, that is amazing!” Matter of a fact, even though the school had a no homework policy at the time, we made her do at least 10 min of math daily (grade level). However, she was an amazing writer! Lots of creativity on her little stories… her stories, her short books, her vocabulary, reasoning, questions, etc. Those were the things that made me apply.

I was accepted (later on I saw the package sent by the school and the teacher had given her a full GBRS score). The school person who coordinates this AAP process contacted me at the end of 2nd grade to suggest I put my child in general ed for math and keep her on AAP for the rest because “she notice X woukd still use her fingers to count when doing math, and that she would have trouble in AAP since she didn’t know math facts by heart.”

I declined - I said she would be tutored during summer in math facts and give it a try to AAP math and, if by the end of the 1st semester in 3rd grade she was struggling or messing up the classroom dynamic (by slowing it down), THEN I would pull her to GE for math.

Looking back, I think the coordinator meant addition and subtraction by math facts that needed to be known by heart in 3rd grade; but I was still not familiar with the American system or how AAP worked, so I assumed she meant addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

That is what she studied during summer and cane to school knowing the tables by heart.

She never had any problem in AAP at all - she actually flourished in math. Now she is in 7th grade, all honors and all A’s so far - including Algebra I.

My point is: take a chance on your child. Trust your gut, support him and help a bit if needed. Those math facts prep sessions I paid for my child between 2nd and 3rd grade really paid off! Of course my child would eventually learn math facts by herself within the regular school environment, but maybe she would have struggled at the beginning of AAP and felt less confident… who knows?