This thread is complete bull. You want to make it so prepping for the CogAT is the same as practicing sports. The same as music.

It is different. Prepping for the CogAT by using osample questions is akin to forging a birth certificate so an older kid can play on a younger travel team. It is like the elite athlete trying to be the best by taking Human Growth Hormones. It is like the mucisian using a recorded peice instead of a live peice at a concert.

In all fields, there are ways to cheat. And at all levels.

I have seen, in house sports leagues, teams breaking rules on recruiting at the 8 yo level.

It happens. And it is wrong.

I don't think it's fair there are so many parents who are obviously prepping their kids to play sports, so that they perform well during games and possibly make a travel team. I mean, my kid could make the travel team too if I prepped, but I don't think that's fair. All the kids should be competing on a level playing field. speaking of fields, the playing fields themselves in fairfax aren't level, they need lots of work to be leveled out.

Actually, the preppers/scammers don't always score the highest, especially when the point is to raise the score to a higher point than it would be normally. Parents are sometimes surprised when the results don't meet their expectations after so much time and effort.

Isn't this point seen with many young parents when it comes to their children? (e.g., lacrosse games, swim meets, gymnastics competition, history exam etc) The observed versus expected outcomes of parents are not always aligned or in synch.
Your point does nothing to support your false thesis.

I was a poor child in a different county with no GT/AAP. I worked hard in school, scored highly enough on the PSAT to be a National Merit Finalist, and went to a highly selective college and then grad school on a combination of scholarships, financial aid, and work study. Never did any “test prep.”

Poverty did not stop me or many people I have known from getting an education. Education is in no way restricted to the rich or so-called “entitled” in this country.

Actually, the preppers/scammers don't always score the highest, especially when the point is to raise the score to a higher point than it would be normally. Parents are sometimes surprised when the results don't meet their expectations after so much time and effort.

Michael Phelps' parent didn't worry often when Michael failed to reached prior or previous high standards he had eclipsed. The same happens in academics and music. This is an absolutely normal pattern in any life endeavor. It is never ever an inexorable upwards smooth sailing along the athletic or academic seas. However, hard work and prep is the best approach to ensure an upward trend. No parent should ever , ever worry about temporary bumps and use these natural observations to simply lie down and roll over. Keep preppin....

Chance does indeed favor the prepped mind.

There is nothing wrong about parents and/or their children having a goal to attend an Ivy league school. This is not a bad goal. Neither is the goal of wanting to drive a BMW over a Suburu. Different strokes for different folk.

Actually, the preppers/scammers don't always score the highest, especially when the point is to raise the score to a higher point than it would be normally. Parents are sometimes surprised when the results don't meet their expectations after so much time and effort.

But this thread isn't about Afghanistan and worldwide poverty.

This thread is only discussing people who prep/scam the second grade CogAT test given in FCPS, otherwise known as gaming the test.

How about the poor in Fairfax County who would like to drive the car you like and attend Virginia Tech. Some of these kids will even want an AAP track education even if you don't care for this track.

The only scammers of GoCAT are those with higher scores than mine.

Then...must all second graders in Fairfax County of Allegheny County use the same blue print to ready for the CoGAT?

So it sounds like we all have goals and our prizes. Must our prizes all be the same?

Of course, and if not we must revert to the communist and socialist nirvana--the biggest prize of all.

But this thread isn't about Afghanistan and worldwide poverty.

This thread is only discussing people who prep/scam the second grade CogAT test given in FCPS, otherwise known as gaming the test.

Yeah, going to school and landing at Virginia Tech would be some big prize for well over 5 billion people living on our globe who will never see a college.

Your condescending smugness is nauseating.

There is no prize in the end. Well, depending on your faith, there may be a prize in the after life. But, in the philosophies I am familiar with, that does not involve clawing your way to the top.

I am quite happy living within my means, driving Subaru's and such, living in a modest house in the right zip code (I like 22180). For me, it does not matter what grade my child gets, but what she learns.

We did not prep for the CogAT. DD scored about 120. We parental refereed. She is doing fine in AAP. She would be doing just as well in general ed. She has a great core group of friends, and has a decent quality of life.

Unless she pushes herself, she will not be going to TJ. She will go to what ever college she wants, providing she is accepted. What she wants to do is follow in her father's foot steps at an unwashed puclic school called Virginia Tech.

I am sure the poor in Afghanistan would love dearly your prize!

There is no prize in the end. Well, depending on your faith, there may be a prize in the after life. But, in the philosophies I am familiar with, that does not involve clawing your way to the top.

I am quite happy living within my means, driving Subaru's and such, living in a modest house in the right zip code (I like 22180). For me, it does not matter what grade my child gets, but what she learns.

We did not prep for the CogAT. DD scored about 120. We parental refereed. She is doing fine in AAP. She would be doing just as well in general ed. She has a great core group of friends, and has a decent quality of life.

Unless she pushes herself, she will not be going to TJ. She will go to what ever college she wants, providing she is accepted. What she wants to do is follow in her father's foot steps at an unwashed puclic school called Virginia Tech.