Prep classes for HGC and MS magnet tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the website for A plus? I would like to compare.

http://en1.endiva.net/AplusLearningINC/portal/PortalHome.asp

There you go. Google is your friend.

[Anonymous]

So is A Plus just for high school prep? Dr. Li offers HGC and MS Magnet prep too. Is it geared more to these ages? Anyone have experience with both?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is A Plus just for high school prep? Dr. Li offers HGC and MS Magnet prep too. Is it geared more to these ages? Anyone have experience with both?

Both offer everything. It is a business not a charity they are running. If there is an opportunity, they will go for it. I have experienced both. I still supplement because they coach mainly (for the prep classes) - they do not teach.

You need to be familiar with the content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not prepping in summer but will start with Li or A plus in August = when school starts. In the summer, my DC needs to redo 4th and 5th grade Math (pre- 2.0 curriculum) because this year the 4th grade HGC Math was a complete and utter waste. Having an older kid who went through accelerated Math in pre 2.0, I know what was being taught then.

So are you teaching him yourself this summer?

Yup. There are Math concepts that were not taught well in school this year. So I am working with my kiddo every day with that (and trust me that I have to battle huge inertia for this).

Regardless of what A -Plus and Li tells you - the kids who do well are the kids who would have done well without the coaching (now I will be flamed - whatever!), so the acceptance rate is roughly 30% - 40%. Now, the kids who are going for these classes are mainly HGC kids or accelerated kids at school, they are also well-off enough to afford the 1 K fee.

So - you have a bunch of self selected, high performing, well-off kids (Mostly Asians (including Indians), with very involved parents.

So, what is the benefit of these classes for my kids?
1) it is the discipline to sit down for a few hours and practice taking the test.
2) The endurance to go through each section and not lose focus.
3) To revise, revisit, refresh material, to be familiar with the content area of what is being asked, so they do not draw a blank when they are asked something that was taught to them many months ago...(what the hell is GCF and LCM again?)
4) To take this whole thing seriously because his peer group is also taking the classes.
5) To actually learn to be a good test taker, ie - watch out for common mistakes when marking answers, to understand how the question may be worded to trick them etc., use process of elimination, evaluate all the answers...etc.

Can you do a better job at home? Probably - if you have the patience and discipline to do that. Or maybe you can pay your kid that 1 K for agreeing to sit down with you for a few hours every saturday for months and months and months.

Another thing - I will be sending my kid to one or the other - no question about it, and I do recommend it to my friends as well - but understand that they will not be able to help a weak student in this particular format. For that - you may try getting your kid TUTORED by an MCPS teacher etc. These guys are COACHING.

And by the way, when a particularly smart (or hardworking) student gets accepted in multiple programs (like for HS in MCPS - student X gets accepted to RMIB, Poolsville SMACS, Poolsville Humaninties, Poolsville Global ecology) they count it as multiple acceptances. So, you will see that there are some kids who will get into multiple programs, and many others who don't get into any - but these Coaching centers will count a single student's multiple acceptance as multiple acceptances from the program. Just a wee bit deceptive.

Still - I will send my kid because there is no way we as a family have the discipline of making him study on his own.

My humble honest review!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is A Plus just for high school prep? Dr. Li offers HGC and MS Magnet prep too. Is it geared more to these ages? Anyone have experience with both?

Both offer everything. It is a business not a charity they are running. If there is an opportunity, they will go for it. I have experienced both. I still supplement because they coach mainly (for the prep classes) - they do not teach.

You need to be familiar with the content.

Ok. I didn't see the earlier grades on the website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not prepping in summer but will start with Li or A plus in August = when school starts. In the summer, my DC needs to redo 4th and 5th grade Math (pre- 2.0 curriculum) because this year the 4th grade HGC Math was a complete and utter waste. Having an older kid who went through accelerated Math in pre 2.0, I know what was being taught then.

So are you teaching him yourself this summer?

Yup. There are Math concepts that were not taught well in school this year. So I am working with my kiddo every day with that (and trust me that I have to battle huge inertia for this).

Regardless of what A -Plus and Li tells you - the kids who do well are the kids who would have done well without the coaching (now I will be flamed - whatever!), so the acceptance rate is roughly 30% - 40%. Now, the kids who are going for these classes are mainly HGC kids or accelerated kids at school, they are also well-off enough to afford the 1 K fee.

So - you have a bunch of self selected, high performing, well-off kids (Mostly Asians (including Indians), with very involved parents.

So, what is the benefit of these classes for my kids?
1) it is the discipline to sit down for a few hours and practice taking the test.
2) The endurance to go through each section and not lose focus.
3) To revise, revisit, refresh material, to be familiar with the content area of what is being asked, so they do not draw a blank when they are asked something that was taught to them many months ago...(what the hell is GCF and LCM again?)
4) To take this whole thing seriously because his peer group is also taking the classes.
5) To actually learn to be a good test taker, ie - watch out for common mistakes when marking answers, to understand how the question may be worded to trick them etc., use process of elimination, evaluate all the answers...etc.

Can you do a better job at home? Probably - if you have the patience and discipline to do that. Or maybe you can pay your kid that 1 K for agreeing to sit down with you for a few hours every saturday for months and months and months.

Another thing - I will be sending my kid to one or the other - no question about it, and I do recommend it to my friends as well - but understand that they will not be able to help a weak student in this particular format. For that - you may try getting your kid TUTORED by an MCPS teacher etc. These guys are COACHING.

And by the way, when a particularly smart (or hardworking) student gets accepted in multiple programs (like for HS in MCPS - student X gets accepted to RMIB, Poolsville SMACS, Poolsville Humaninties, Poolsville Global ecology) they count it as multiple acceptances. So, you will see that there are some kids who will get into multiple programs, and many others who don't get into any - but these Coaching centers will count a single student's multiple acceptance as multiple acceptances from the program. Just a wee bit deceptive.

Still - I will send my kid because there is no way we as a family have the discipline of making him study on his own.

My humble honest review!

Do any non-Asian/Indian kids take prep classes?

[Anonymous]

Not with Dr. Li but with Dr. Tchevenkov or Dr. Bluestein (same deal, same drill)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Do any non-Asian/Indian kids take prep classes?

I have seen some Jewish and East European kids too. A handful. I have also seen a lone AA kid there.

I think they are as good as any American, Russian, Polish run coaching classes - except because they are Asians, they are getting more Asians registering with them. If you want your kid to go there, by all means register, you will not be out of place in any way - even if you are not Asian.

They also hand out homework packets every week and then the next week they go over it in the class. Remember that you do have to help your child at home with the coaching center homework if they do not understand the topic that was taught.

[Anonymous]

For HGC test I bought my kid a CoGAT workbook off amazon for $10 and explained process of elimination for multiple choice tests. Our prep took a few hours and my child was accepted. I knew these prep classes were going on but getting into the HGC was not important enough to us to spend that kind of money.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I am not looking to convince anyone of the merits of either program and my kids have had exposure to both programs. The program only works because of the type of kid/parent that the program attracts so the last thing I want is for these programs to be seen as the "in" thing to do.

The program has a ~95% Asian population. Our kids are part of the "minority" group and are readily accepted because our values are similar to those who attend in the sense that my kids do the homework required and take it seriously. If your child is a special snowflake/ needs special accommodations/ can't pay attend, you aren't wanted in the program.

Also, there are many ways of raising responsible kids without participating in these types of programs. Some parents are able to supplement at home and are successful with $10 Amazon books. Some people are able to build learning into their everyday structure without the kids even realizing it.





For us, we find these programs useful.

[Anonymous]

^^^ Above, we've had exposure to A+ and Dr. Li.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For HGC test I bought my kid a CoGAT workbook off amazon for $10 and explained process of elimination for multiple choice tests. Our prep took a few hours and my child was accepted. I knew these prep classes were going on but getting into the HGC was not important enough to us to spend that kind of money.

Is the HGC test CoGat?

[Anonymous]

No MCPS doesn't tell you what the test it or what is on it. It is a lot longer than the cogat but has some similar section groupings. You could practice any cognitive abilities test to help for prep

[Anonymous]

any such test prep that is not in rockville. we live between bethesda and silver spring and would be interested

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not with Dr. Li but with Dr. Tchevenkov or Dr. Bluestein (same deal, same drill)

Any idea how I can find the mentioned above people?
I tried to Google, no success.
Thanks.