Prepping/Scamming the Cogat

[Anonymous]

GoCAT: Follow the money $$$

It is a multibillion dollar industry in the US (WPPSI,GoCAT, SSAT,ERB, ISEE, ACT, SAT, AP, GRE, MCAT, LSAT, Toeffl,WISC, MSA, Pearson, Washington Post, Princeton review, Aristotle, Kaplan, State tests, Explore, Raven...feel free to add to the list

Do I have to show you how to read stock market reports, too?

[Anonymous]

CogAT, not GoCAT.

So what. It sounds like no one cares what you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the issue is not prepping per se. It is prepping using a copy of the test, presumably with the right answers. It is like taking an IQ test when someone gave you the answers the day before. It does not make you smarter, but it will raise your measured score.

So, you can raise your score on the CogAT (maybe), but the raised score does not make you smarter, and does not make you more capable of doing AAP work. That is the issue.

The think is, in some countries, test prep is the standard operating positions....where there is one chance to excel, and if you "blow" the test you can not succeed. In the USA, one test never defines you. There are multiple second chances, whether it be taking a WISC for AAP appeal to multiple SAT's to open enrollment community colleges.

It does not matter where you start your education. It matters where you finish. In the USA, prepping for the CogAT will have minimal impact on your overall life.

the same "form" of the test apparently was being used for prep - not a test with the exact same questions. Nobody had the correct answers ahead of time. Practicing the materials would presumably raise a kid's measured score - that's the whole point of prepping.

Yes, the point of "prepping" is to raise the measured score, but the "score" is not useful if it has been artificially inflated.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the point of "prepping" is to raise the measured score, but the "score" is not useful if it has been artificially inflated.

Can you make the same ridiculous point for artificially inflating performance on any tasks our children do from prepping for school, homework, exams, piano. violin, math olympiaid? If you prep well you will inflate performance. It appear NOVA children artificially inflate their performances in music, athletics and academics because they prep.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the performance of any studious and focused NOVA child appears uesless if these kids are highly diciplined and prepare.

[Anonymous]

A reminder from one poster's remarks to another poster concerned about "Americans from other countries on this issue":

In every zip code in America the children of recent immigrants are outperforming children of the entitled culture. This has created an ever expanding performance and achievement gap in education as the entitled culture witnesses in every zip code these children taking their self anointed spots in every AAP, gifted program, IB, AP and Honors program in the land.

This is the root cause of this furor. And the entitled culture will go to any unethical length to disrupt this trend -- including voter fraud and suppression"

[Anonymous]

Why prep or prepare at all if the gains are artificial?

...asked the homemaker.

These gains can never be permanent.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, no one buys the whole "entitled culture" thing. There were numerous posts discounting that idea and showing why it does not pertain here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Why prep or prepare at all if the gains are artificial?

...asked the homemaker.

And the lawyer,
and the policy wonk.

These gains can never be permanent.

[Anonymous]

If sensible folk legalized marijuana it would make it easier for our children and adults to smoke and lay back rather than prep for anything?

[Anonymous]

Sorry, no one buys the whole "entitled culture" thing. There were numerous posts discounting that idea and showing why it does not pertain here.

Wrong. I do. Your posts confirm its' application here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, no one buys the whole "entitled culture" thing. There were numerous posts discounting that idea and showing why it does not pertain here.

Wrong. I do. Your posts confirm its' application here.

Many others do not. And there are a number of different posters here, so it's hard to tell which posts are being referred to.

[Anonymous]

There are people from other countries who assume that every country is just like their old country. It is difficult for them to understand that things are different here, because the idea of one test deciding the rest of a young person's life is so ingrained in their thinking. They hear about this AAP program and think that it must be the golden ticket to a good life here. They think that AAP must be a "better" program and don't realize that it is just a different program for those who learn in a different way. Prepping to do well on the second grade test will not change the way a child learns, it will simply cause a false result on the test.

And then they get their kids into AAP and complain that it is not so great after all!

Elitists on this thread? That is just plain silly.

It is just that those people from other countries don't understand how things work over here, with their damn test prep culture as another PP so elegantly said. If those recent test-prep immigrants would just understand that their are sanctions and penalties (like going to jail if you cheat on an RFP for example) if you unethically prep your 7 year old for any of the 40 question AAP tests. The scammers and preppers just need to get right in the head.

It would really help if someone (anyone?) can find a link or official statement where FCPS says that AAP test prep is unethical (or even better is considered cheating). Please help if you can.

[Anonymous]

GoCAT: Follow the money $$$

It is a multibillion dollar industry in the US (WPPSI,GoCAT, SSAT,ERB, ISEE, ACT, SAT, AP, GRE, MCAT, LSAT, Toeffl,WISC, MSA, Pearson, Washington Post, Princeton review, Aristotle, Kaplan, State tests, Explore, Raven...feel free to add to the list

Do I have to show you how to read stock market reports, too?

GoCat test prep alone is worth a couple of hundred million easy.

[Anonymous]

Now that is funny. And if sensible folk legalized marijuana, this whole thread would be funny.