I am so glad to see all the "didn't prep" replies because the whole idea of prepping is crazy. I'd never consider doing that. If our child doesn't score high enough with his natural ability and others do - then he shouldn't be at the school.

Anonymous wrote:HCG/MS magnet kid here. No test prep.

Same here. I don't even know how you could prep for this test. Basically it is an IQ test.

HCG/MS magnet kid here. No test prep.

Same here..no .prep..lost only 2 points over the three (?) parts.

We never prepped our DS. He's at an HGC this year, scored a perfect score on the test and didn't know beforehand that the test would be happening (or what would be on it).
That's the kind of kid that will get in. A kid that has to prep probably isn't a strong enough student.

Anonymous wrote:Prep your kid for the test way beforehand. I guaranty you that's what most of the kids' parents have them do who get in.

We certainly didn't. For the MS magnet test I think they give you a few sample questions, but for ES we barely mentioned it ahead of time.

We didnt even tell our kid about the application or the test.

Prep your kid for the test way beforehand. I guaranty you that's what most of the kids' parents have them do who get in.

Anonymous wrote:Don't think you need to be above the cut off on all three. Had one child who was below on one of the three, was wait listed and then offered a spot.

Your child was below the median of kids admitted; by definition, half the accepted kids had scores below the median. This does nor mean that there wasn't another score used as a cutoff that wasn't supplied in the letter. Of course, it doesn't mean there is a hard cutoff either; I don't know.

Don't think you need to be above the cut off on all three. Had one child who was below on one of the three, was wait listed and then offered a spot.

I have been told that you have to be above the cut off for the three sections on the admissions test. Cut off is moving target (varies from HGC to HGC). After you have cleared that hurdle - then you are evaluated on the other things.

Test serves as the objective weeding. After that it is subjective evaluation. I have seen excellent students not make it because of being below the grade for one section of the test.

Oh, and the results were by mail, and will be part of your acceptance/decline letter

I was cleaning and found our letter from a few years ago yesterday - it's not the average, but the median score they give you.

There are three sections. The letter states that the score is considered along with other factors, so no one factor has too much weight. implies equal weight on all, who knows how it's actually applied.

We got ours just before spring break that year, which was early that year - in the last few days of March.

I don't know much about the structure. DD talked about puzzles..

We got the results with the acceptance letter around Spring break. They only give you your child's score and the average scores the were accepted to your center (some centers have higher scores then others), Many people comment it would be nice to know the range of scores.

Rumor is that the scores are foremost in the decision but other factors can play a role when deciding between kids with similar scores or from particular schools or ??

I think you just can;t take it that seriously..one classroom teacher might write a better recommendation than another and the decision has nothing to do with the intelligence of the child.

Good luck!

DC is taking the third grade test tomorrow for potential placement in our local ES magnet. Does anyone have insight into:

1. How the test is structured (e.g. anything we should warn DC about?)
2. How results are disseminated to parents and when
3. Any info on how decisions are made and what goes into them at the school vs. county level

Thanks!