Anonymous wrote:Has anyone received acceptance/rejection letters for 2014_2015 school year? How smart are the accepted kids? 1 year ahead-2 years ahead? What Special skills other than academics do these or your kids exhibit?

My child was, at the time of acceptance 5 -6 years ahead. DC seems to be right where the other kids are. Now after one year there DC is even further than that. Special skills, not sure, but DC is worldly, just understands things like an adult would. Not socially awkward despite what people like to say.

I think a child only 1-2 would struggle.

Anonymous wrote:My son has an IQ of 140 but I will be surprised if he gets in. He excels ant math/logic and from the way he described the test I am not sure he did well on the verbal sections.

This describes my child and he got in. have hope!

Anonymous wrote:You have to know that, there are 6 HGCs in mcps. Each one covers a specific region. Not all HGCs has the same median acceptance scores. If you want to make sure your kid can get into HGC, ask for the median acceptance score for each category and move to the HGC area your kid can comfortably score above the median accepted score. Years ago, my daughter had two above median accepted scores and one on it, she did make to the wait list. Too many smart kids in her school.

They provide the median scores for your HGC. So your daughter was above the median in your HGC. It's not there were too many kids. Must have been a reason why they thought the other kids were a better fit. It want the test scores.

You have to know that, there are 6 HGCs in mcps. Each one covers a specific region. Not all HGCs has the same median acceptance scores. If you want to make sure your kid can get into HGC, ask for the median acceptance score for each category and move to the HGC area your kid can comfortably score above the median accepted score. Years ago, my daughter had two above median accepted scores and one on it, she did make to the wait list. Too many smart kids in her school.

Why is the data discussed in pp necessary? We know that the hgcs have the top 4% or so of 4th and 5th graders. And each parent knows how their child did in relationship to the median of accepted students.

OP asked about range of IQ scores in admitted students to the HGC. There is no way to know this except anecdotally when other parents reveal their child's privately administered IQ testing results.

Other OPs have pointed out that admission to HGC depends on a specially-administered test that MCPS gives every January to all students who have applied to the HGC. Unfortunately, MCPS never publicly provides full data about the results of this test (how many took it what the results were on a populational basis, what the cut scores or range of scores for admitted students were, etc. MCPS traditionally writes an admissions decision letter to the parents of student who applied to the HGC. This letter usually states the applicant's scores on the test and the median score of admitted students.

There has never been any information about how the raw scores provided translate to nationally normed percentiles nor what the range of admitted students scores were. These two key pieces of data would tell a LOT about what percentile of the MCPS population is being served by these centers (top 1%? top 2-3%?). It would also allow outsiders to judge how accurate the testing is in identifying the gifted who are appropriately served by this program, because outsiders could then compare test results on this HGC test to other tests like IQ tests. It is likely that this testing under identifies poor, minority and special ed students. But, without the data, that is hard to prove.

Anonymous wrote:I recently read that social skills are a much better predictor of future success and happiness than IQ (maybe there is hope for DS - chuckle)

Well, for my child's sake I hope that's not right

I recently read that social skills are a much better predictor of future success and happiness than IQ (maybe there is hope for DS - chuckle)

I stand corrected!
Number of kids with IQS 146 and higher: About 163
147 and higher: 130
148 and higher: 104
149 and higher: 82
150 and higher: 65
151 and higher 51:
152 and higher: 40

Anonymous wrote:Numbers seem quite a bit off from what I've heard previously. Which test did you use for your son?

On Wechsler tests (i.e. WISC, WPSSI) an IQ of 146 is found in approximately 1 out of every 924 people. On Stanford-Binet, 1 out of 495.

http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/iqtable.aspx

So if we take MCPS enrollment of 151,289 and we assume the number of kids with that IQ is similar to the national population (yes I know it's probably higher but stick with me for argument's sake!) you would get about 163, according to the Wechsler tests.

Now if you add in all the kids who, statistically speaking, are likely to have IQs that are 147 (130), 148 (104), 149 (82), 150 (65), 151 (51), 152 (40) etc. that's a lot of kids.

Can someone who knows something about IQ scores tell me whether this sounds reasonable or whether I've completely confused myself and am something in PP's post?

Anonymous wrote:Our educational consultant told us that my DC's IQ, at 146, was one in every 40,000 kids, based on the U.S. population in general. So that's 4 or 5 in a population the size of MCPS.


So even if MoCo skews a good deal higher, there are still only a handful of kids with an IQ like that. Let's say it's much much higher than the U.S. and there are 20 kids with IQs around that level. There are about 200 kids in HCGs, if I recall correctly. So even in a class of 25, there won't be more than a couple who have an IQ like that. So the PP's child, at 140, isn't right in the middle of the class.

I just think this is interesting from a statistical standpoint. i do think drive and hard work play a huge role and, from what I can see, a really high IQ is not a predictor of academic success or happiness.

There is no direct correlation between a standard IQ test and the HGC test.

It is not a knowledge test, unlike the SAT, that you can easily prepare for.

The HGC test is an aptitude test, like an IQ test, in that it measures some of your cognitive abilities and compares it to your peers'. Supposedly, you cannot prepare for that type of test. In practice, it is always better to be familiar with the type of questions they ask.

Entrance to the HGC is by several criteria, including the test scores, 3rd grade 1st quarter report card, 3rd grade teacher questionnaire, perhaps even 2nd grade report cards or Terra Nova results (but more than a third of the children are identified as "gifted" on the Terra Nova so its usefulness is limited).
Consensus is that test scores carry more weight than the rest - which is as it should be, since they are the only objective measure.

thanks pp! i just realized that when i did the percentile calculation. i didn't read the fine print on the rarity index.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Numbers seem quite a bit off from what I've heard previously. Which test did you use for your son?

On Wechsler tests (i.e. WISC, WPSSI) an IQ of 146 is found in approximately 1 out of every 924 people. On Stanford-Binet, 1 out of 495.

http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/iqtable.aspx

So if we take MCPS enrollment of 151,289 and we assume the number of kids with that IQ is similar to the national population (yes I know it's probably higher but stick with me for argument's sake!) you would get about 163, according to the Wechsler tests.

Now if you add in all the kids who, statistically speaking, are likely to have IQs that are 147 (130), 148 (104), 149 (82), 150 (65), 151 (51), 152 (40) etc. that's a lot of kids.

Can someone who knows something about IQ scores tell me whether this sounds reasonable or whether I've completely confused myself and am something in PP's post?

Anonymous wrote:Our educational consultant told us that my DC's IQ, at 146, was one in every 40,000 kids, based on the U.S. population in general. So that's 4 or 5 in a population the size of MCPS.


So even if MoCo skews a good deal higher, there are still only a handful of kids with an IQ like that. Let's say it's much much higher than the U.S. and there are 20 kids with IQs around that level. There are about 200 kids in HCGs, if I recall correctly. So even in a class of 25, there won't be more than a couple who have an IQ like that. So the PP's child, at 140, isn't right in the middle of the class.

I just think this is interesting from a statistical standpoint. i do think drive and hard work play a huge role and, from what I can see, a really high IQ is not a predictor of academic success or happiness.

1 out of 924 have a 146 or higher IQ.

Another way to think about IQs of 146+. An IQ of 146 is 99.89 percentile.
If you have a school district population of 150,000 then 0.11 percent = 165.
So 165 kids have an IQ of 146 or better in MCPS if it is has a population similar to the rest of the U.S.

Anonymous wrote:Numbers seem quite a bit off from what I've heard previously. Which test did you use for your son?

On Wechsler tests (i.e. WISC, WPSSI) an IQ of 146 is found in approximately 1 out of every 924 people. On Stanford-Binet, 1 out of 495.

http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/iqtable.aspx

So if we take MCPS enrollment of 151,289 and we assume the number of kids with that IQ is similar to the national population (yes I know it's probably higher but stick with me for argument's sake!) you would get about 163, according to the Wechsler tests.

Now if you add in all the kids who, statistically speaking, are likely to have IQs that are 147 (130), 148 (104), 149 (82), 150 (65), 151 (51), 152 (40) etc. that's a lot of kids.

Can someone who knows something about IQ scores tell me whether this sounds reasonable or whether I've completely confused myself and am something in PP's post?

Anonymous wrote:Our educational consultant told us that my DC's IQ, at 146, was one in every 40,000 kids, based on the U.S. population in general. So that's 4 or 5 in a population the size of MCPS.


So even if MoCo skews a good deal higher, there are still only a handful of kids with an IQ like that. Let's say it's much much higher than the U.S. and there are 20 kids with IQs around that level. There are about 200 kids in HCGs, if I recall correctly. So even in a class of 25, there won't be more than a couple who have an IQ like that. So the PP's child, at 140, isn't right in the middle of the class.

I just think this is interesting from a statistical standpoint. i do think drive and hard work play a huge role and, from what I can see, a really high IQ is not a predictor of academic success or happiness.

1 out of 924 have a 146 or higher IQ.

OK..if my kid missed 3 points total on the GT test..what does that make her IQ?

Numbers seem quite a bit off from what I've heard previously. Which test did you use for your son?

On Wechsler tests (i.e. WISC, WPSSI) an IQ of 146 is found in approximately 1 out of every 924 people. On Stanford-Binet, 1 out of 495.

http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/iqtable.aspx

So if we take MCPS enrollment of 151,289 and we assume the number of kids with that IQ is similar to the national population (yes I know it's probably higher but stick with me for argument's sake!) you would get about 163, according to the Wechsler tests.

Now if you add in all the kids who, statistically speaking, are likely to have IQs that are 147 (130), 148 (104), 149 (82), 150 (65), 151 (51), 152 (40) etc. that's a lot of kids.

Can someone who knows something about IQ scores tell me whether this sounds reasonable or whether I've completely confused myself and am something in PP's post?

Anonymous wrote:Our educational consultant told us that my DC's IQ, at 146, was one in every 40,000 kids, based on the U.S. population in general. So that's 4 or 5 in a population the size of MCPS.


So even if MoCo skews a good deal higher, there are still only a handful of kids with an IQ like that. Let's say it's much much higher than the U.S. and there are 20 kids with IQs around that level. There are about 200 kids in HCGs, if I recall correctly. So even in a class of 25, there won't be more than a couple who have an IQ like that. So the PP's child, at 140, isn't right in the middle of the class.

I just think this is interesting from a statistical standpoint. i do think drive and hard work play a huge role and, from what I can see, a really high IQ is not a predictor of academic success or happiness.