Best way to prep for the IAAT?
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Anonymous
| Does anywhere offer coaching for this test? |
Anonymous
| It’s June 30 and this test isn’t until January. For the love of Pete, let your kid have a nice summer and free from test prep. |
Anonymous
| It's an aptitude test, not a skills test. I teach middle school algebra. PLEASE don't prep for this test. If your child has to prep to score high enough, algebra is probably going to be a rough road. |
Anonymous
| Not asking if he "should" prep. Asking the best way to do so. TIA for a useful answer. |
Anonymous
PP have you the best advice there is to give. Take it. |
Anonymous
| ^^gave^^ |
Anonymous
| We bought the prep book off Amazon and our son did a few tests over the Winter Break prior to the test. He said the practice tests were way harder than the actual test. |
Anonymous
That advice does not apply to my DS, and I didn't ask for a discussion of whether or not he "should" prep. Give me what I ask for, not what you think I should have. |
Anonymous
No |
Anonymous
Good luck to your kid. |
Anonymous
|
No prep is necessary. Just go to class and do the regular homework for 6th grade adv. math. The IAAT is not a hard test. I think it is sad that parents push their kids to think that they must score high on IAAT and get into Alg.
One of my son's classmates answered a survey for the Dec. newsletter (what are you going to do over Xmas break? --- study for the IAAT.) There is no reason your child NEEDS to take Alg in 7th grade. If they qualify, it still might not be a good idea. The only reason for pushing IAAT is to try to position your child to apply for TJ. And, in my mind, that is a terrible thing to do to a kid. If they need to prep for IAAT (which, as I mentioned, is not hard), then they are NOT going to breeze into TJ and not going to be the kind of kid who can thrive at TJ. |
Anonymous
Best advice? Go hang out at the pool and catch fireflies. |
Anonymous
| I'm glad I gave everyone the opportunity to pontificate and moralize about what I should be doing. You should thank me for giving you such great satisfaction! |
Anonymous
|
OP. We bought a book off Amazon and did the practice tests a couple of weeks prior to the test (there aren't many books).
The content is typically covered by what is taught in school but sometimes not.. For instance, my DC's school had teacher issues (teacher quit and replacement took a while to be found). So the prep was more to cover our bases. I've known others that start TJ prep classes in 6th grade (My advice would be to not do that though). If you are going to do that, that should cover the IOWA test. |
Anonymous
Look. You need to get a grip. You sound hysterical. About a screener. That is months away. On the second week of summer. I live in the land of TJ crazy. Put two kids through AAP and a big TJ feeder. Have one at TJ now. And forget the fact a kid who can’t pass an aptitude test at a 91%, nationally normed, will never survive Math 4/5 at TJ. That kid is going to flounder in Algebra I honors in 7th in a strong middle school. Math teachers and parents who have BTDT aren’t telling you not to prep because there is some conspiracy to keep your kid out of Algebra. They are telling you because they have seen what happens again and again and again. Everyone thinks their kid is the special exception. They are not. And BTW—getting into TJ is not enough. They end up losing about 40-50 kids per class who can’t hack it or who or so miserable they leave. You do not want to send a kid there who can’t succeed. It will crush them and you. Case in point. My kids. Kid 1. Very strong in science, with a deep passion for building rockets from age 7. Loves math. Super driven and hard working. TJ dream candidate. Hit 99% on the IIAT. Missed the SOL cut off by a question. Was a finalist to TJ without geometry. Was not admitted. Was crushed— because they have a planetarium mom! And Cubesat! Went to her base school, did very, very well well. Now at a top engineering school studying aerospace engineering. Doing very well. Kid2. Hit 99% on the IIAT 2. SOL just above the cutoff. Algebra I in 7th. Well rounded, good in everything. Liked STEM fine. No particular STEM passion. Didn’t pretend he had one. But brilliant/ quirky. Admitted to TJ. Which has managed to absolutely kill any love of math he had, because the math department is terrible. Loves the school. Loves the kids. Loves some areas of science and tech. Thrive among all the other nerds. Applying to liberal arts colleges and says he is heading towards a PhD in an environmental science field. I will not be shocked if he changes his mind and ends up in the humanities though. Which, BTW, TJ does a great job teaching. Point is, you can’t change who your kid is. You can help them be the best version of themselves. But trying to fake aptitude doesn’t work. If your kids aptitude and passion is STEM, they will get there and if it isn’t, you can only force it for so long. Maybe you can force a kid into algebra without the aptitude. Getting them to succeed once they get there is a problem. And the more you push them to accelerate, the worse it gets. No one is forcing my TJ kid to be there. I have at various points told him we might all be happier if he wan’t. But he thrives. Right school for him. But he stays for the peers and the science and tech in his area and despite the math. I am saying this because there was a suicide at TJ this year in the freshman class. And several suicidal kids dropped out. Mental health is a huge problem. You need to take a beat. Because you sound crazy. And that hurts your kid. You do not want your kid to be the suicidal kid on TJ Vents talking about how much he hates his parents for ruining his childhood. In fact, read the TJ Vents FB page. It’s public. And enlightening. And if you don’t want editorializing, don’t start threads on DCUM. We editorialize here. |