Pure numbers game.

My DC apparently did not attempt many questions (around 10 out of 52) in the CoGAT non-verbal, also left out a few unanswered in Quant. She just managed to make the pool with a 132 composite.

Not that it matters much at this point but purely out of curiosity, do things like these have any bearing (+ve or -ve) on the eligibility decision or is that decision just a numbers game, without consideration of how the score was arrived at?

Anonymous wrote:I opted to just send in the parent questionairre. Dc's scores are both in the 140's. Now I'm wondering if I should have done more. It's going to be a long wait until May.

I think you're fine. That's what we did for my older child with similar scores and she was in without problem. I think the other stuff is really taken with a grain of salt by the screening committee and probably more necessary with lower scores. Put it out of your mind!

I opted to just send in the parent questionairre. Dc's scores are both in the 140's. Now I'm wondering if I should have done more. It's going to be a long wait until May.

Our daughter was in the pool two years ago, and we hadn't even HEARD of the pool or how the the whole GT system worked. I couldn't have told you what AAP was before we got that letter. Anyway, I asked our school AART (I think that is right?) what sort of things we should submit for work, because her daughter was in my daughter's class, and she said that she wasn't bothering to submit anything other than the parent form, because the teachers would submit work samples. We decided to do the same thing.

Well, the blizzard of 2010 hit, and that was right around the deadline for Parent submissions. It was such a crazy time that we actually FORGOT to send in our parent form. They got nothing from us at all. April rolled around and she was accepted with no issues. So basically, our daughter got in with exactly zero help from us.

Now, I am not sure that I recommend our absentmindedness as a good plan. As it got closer to when the letters would be mailed, I started thinking that if she didn't get in, it could be OUR fault for not submitting that form, and I think I might have felt pretty guilty if she hadn't.

Either way, I wouldn't put too much effort into work samples, because I just can't imagine that the committee puts that much trust in them. If they come from the school, they know the work is completely that of the student. When they come from a parent, who knows what other involvement there has been. Just my opinion, though.

BTW.....My daughter is doing just fine in the program two years later. She can hang with the rest of her peers academically, and she loves her class. We also happened to attend a school with an AAP program, so she didn't even have to switch schools.

Anonymous wrote:that's hilarious

you seem to think you are too

that's hilarious

I'm including a drawing that is very detailed and shows a lot of my ds's personality and a letter from the piano teacher he's had since he was 4.

Anonymous wrote:I was told the school provides one work sample, and parents can supply four more. What gives?

For students currently in FCPS:
http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/packet/ParentInformationPacketFCPS.pdf

on page 7:

Documents Needed for Screening File
Student Work Samples – limit 5 total (1 required from school/4 optional from parents/guardians)*

Source
School – (minimum one, required)
Parents or guardians (maximum 4, optional - see guidelines below)

Guidelines
A maximum of four additional pages of student work samples, single-sided 8½” x 11” pages of student work (5
total with the required “Produced at School” page included)

Original stories, artwork, and other student work may be submitted in black and white or in color, reduced or enlarged from
the original, but must be on standard 8½“ x 11” writing, copying, photographic, or bond paper. Large/oversize pages, small
pages, cardboard, tag board, or construction paper may not be submitted. Larger/smaller pages, projects, and
photographs may be photocopied onto standard paper. Videos, DVDs, three-dimensional art, spiral paper, notebooks,
pocket folders, and two-sided pages may not be submitted. Work will not be returned.

I was told that work submitted from home is taken with a grain of salt. Work submitted from the school is known to be valid.

I was told the school provides one work sample, and parents can supply four more. What gives?

Our AART said that the school provides written work samples, so no need to add additional writing material.

We are adding the psychologist's report with the WISC scores. Work samples are already provided by the school. We are adding nothing else.

I would roll my eyes at a letter of recommendation written by anyone related to the child, unless that person had extensive experience with gifted children. So no letters from Grandma

What sorts of things are you all including in your dc's AAP screening file?

I'm trying to figure out what matters and what the committee would just roll their eyes at.