For those who prepped their kids, did your kids know what they were being prepped for? Did they know that they were even "applying" for the program?

Would hate for my 8yr old to internalize rejection to a program that seems so elusive.

I have a kid who qualified as "GT" in 2nd grade and we will apply, but not prep, for HGC. It is not that I don't think that kids who prep "don't deserve" to be accepted, but I just don't want to risk pushing an pressuring my daughter into a program that isn't right for her. We'll apply, trust the process, and let the chips fall where they may. I'd prefer her to excel in her home school than to struggle in a HGC.

Anonymous wrote:BTW - if your kid is doing anything extra than what the teacher at school has taught him or her - it is prepping. You may call it what you want if it makes you feel better.

Without parent involvement at home and enrichment - these kids will be at best average students. MCPS is not in the business to let kids excel, they want the achievement gap to close by bringing standards down. A solid C student is good enough!

People on DCUM keep saying that. I'm still waiting for the evidence.

Many, many kids can do well at a HGC. They are not (contrary to what many on DCUM say) meant only for the ones "whose needs cannot be served in the home school." In fact some in that group will struggle at a HGC whereas some just "above average" kids will excel. It is bullsh** that if you prep your kid for the test and they get in, they don't deserve to be there. My kids all went and they had some home prep - we know people who did classes and varying amounts of home prep, but very few who did absolutely nothing. On the whole, most of the kids did very well.

BTW - if your kid is doing anything extra than what the teacher at school has taught him or her - it is prepping. You may call it what you want if it makes you feel better.

Without parent involvement at home and enrichment - these kids will be at best average students. MCPS is not in the business to let kids excel, they want the achievement gap to close by bringing standards down. A solid C student is good enough!

My kid got prepped for the exam and he got in. I am not sure how much prepping helps because the success rate at the prep classes is around 30%.

I think a case could be made that he would have got in without even prepping because his scores on standardized tests (TN2, InView, Raven) - etc was off the charts. He was also on the 98 percentile on the CTY-JHU tests. His teachers (both 2nd and 3rd) advocated very strongly for him.

Still, I felt better that he went through some prepping, My rationale was that any thing he will learn will never go to waste and will be useful in some way or the other.

We did not prep and child got in. Now younger sibling is applying and we will have her do some test questions from a prep book, mainly bc she has ego involved in getting in bc of older sibling. Her scores on other tests are similar to older sibs but I don't think it will hurt to do something extra.

I prepped my child with test taking strategies, in general, but no tutors.

My child got in with no test prep. I didn't even give DC a heads up the morning of the exam.

Teacher felt my child was a good candidate for program and I was very specific with examples of child's abilities and characteristics on the HGC application questions.

Anonymous wrote:My child got in and we did not do any kind of tutoring.

My opinion is that if you need a tutor to get in you should not be going.

+1 No tutors, no prepping. But many people on this forum have disagreed about this. Their argument is .. "if a kid works hard, why shouldn't they be rewarded."

DC has told me that there is a kid in the HGC class that struggles to keep up and has cried a few times. I wonder to myself if that kid was tutored/prepped and is now revealing itself. When kids are at school there is no tutor or parent there to help them along. Kid has to do it on his own.

My child got in and we did not do any kind of tutoring.

My opinion is that if you need a tutor to get in you should not be going.

Both our kids got in (and attended), and we didn't prep. It's not a prestige program to reward high scorers, it's a program to meet the needs of kids who need more than the home school can provide.

My daughter got in (but didn't go) and we have never used a tutor. Her other friend that got in didn't either.

The kid has got it or they don't. Tutors won't help. Teachers can pick out the ones who will do well in HCG and it isn't based just on testing.

Only from reading it here, it seems that people do prep. From my real life, I don't know anyone who prepped and my child attended. Do a search this topic has been debated here at length. The county does not give out info on the test so I don't think there is an actual book. People have just said any test taking strategy helps.

Do parents get tutors for their child to prepare them for the HGC test for elementary school? Or are they books that can be bought to prep your child? TIA!