Anonymous wrote: We did not test prep him to death. We just wanted DS to be familiar with the questions. I don't think I would have been able to raise his score all that much with going over the one test. Perhaps a few careless mistakes on questions. I think some people on this forum may consider this cheating, which I think is ridiculous. He also has all 4s on his report card. I am sure DS would have gotten into AAP whether we went over the one practice test or not.

Don't delude yourself. A few careless mistakes on a few questions IS the difference between a 138 and a mid 120's score. The scoring is very harsh at the top, and a single extra problem wrong can be the difference between a 140 and a 130 on any section.

NNAT 120
CogAt 133
GBRS 14

Accepted

Anonymous wrote:Why is SAT prep universally accepted but prepping for these tests is not?

Probably because all kids in the county are given these tests, with few exceptions, whereas the SAT/ ACT are voluntary. You can also get free or reduced cost prep classes for those tests based on income and I'm guessing that's not the case with the prep centers for these tests. Also, on the info sheet that was sent home, it said just to make sure your kid got enough sleep the night before and a good breakfast. I had no idea there were all these classes available before I read these threads. It doesn't surprise me in hindsight so I guess I can enroll my kid if I want to try again for next year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.

It is supposedly amongst Asians. Our family is Asian-American. DS scored 138, was 99th percentile and was admitted to AAP. 2 weeks prior to the exam, we bought a Cogat book and DS did a practice exam. We went over the wrong answers. I think the school was going over the test as well. We did not test prep him to death. We just wanted DS to be familiar with the questions. I don't think I would have been able to raise his score all that much with going over the one test. Perhaps a few careless mistakes on questions. I think some people on this forum may consider this cheating, which I think is ridiculous. He also has all 4s on his report card. I am sure DS would have gotten into AAP whether we went over the one practice test or not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.

I disagree with PP's assertion about "certain ethnic groups". Look, if your kid is dumber than a box of rocks, no prepping will get him/her into AAP.

I think we can agree that we're not talking about Steven Hawking smart. We're just talking about your-average-geniuses. For the later, it a mixture of talent, hard work and dedicated parents. Making time everyday to do homework with your child has more impact than any test prep. Just stop griping about what you perceive in "certain ethnic groups". There is NO limit on the AAP class sizes. There is room for everyone. Just worry about your own kid.

Doing homework everyday with your kid does more for overall academic success, but being prepped on how to do the problems on the NNAT and CogAT has a bigger impact on the test results. That's why when kids are preparing for the SATs they don't just rely on homework, they actually take practice SATs. You are right about no limits on number of admits, so I don't care if any eithnic groups prep, but prepping for tests using tests will similar materials can make a bigger difference than homework.

So... why is prepping for the SATs okay but not for AAP? Because one is accepted by the main stream but the other is not.

Because SAT prep is for high-school kids preparing for college admissions and these are 6- to 8-year-olds.

Why is SAT prep universally accepted but prepping for these tests is not?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.

I disagree with PP's assertion about "certain ethnic groups". Look, if your kid is dumber than a box of rocks, no prepping will get him/her into AAP.

I think we can agree that we're not talking about Steven Hawking smart. We're just talking about your-average-geniuses. For the later, it a mixture of talent, hard work and dedicated parents. Making time everyday to do homework with your child has more impact than any test prep. Just stop griping about what you perceive in "certain ethnic groups". There is NO limit on the AAP class sizes. There is room for everyone. Just worry about your own kid.

Looking at the list of names/pictures form the Academy for Enrichment, it is hard to deny that certain ethnic groups are pursuing prep (including NNAT/CogAT prepping) for admission to G/T programs. You don't see names like "Brianna" or "Dylan" in those lists.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.

I disagree with PP's assertion about "certain ethnic groups". Look, if your kid is dumber than a box of rocks, no prepping will get him/her into AAP.

I think we can agree that we're not talking about Steven Hawking smart. We're just talking about your-average-geniuses. For the later, it a mixture of talent, hard work and dedicated parents. Making time everyday to do homework with your child has more impact than any test prep. Just stop griping about what you perceive in "certain ethnic groups". There is NO limit on the AAP class sizes. There is room for everyone. Just worry about your own kid.

Doing homework everyday with your kid does more for overall academic success, but being prepped on how to do the problems on the NNAT and CogAT has a bigger impact on the test results. That's why when kids are preparing for the SATs they don't just rely on homework, they actually take practice SATs. You are right about no limits on number of admits, so I don't care if any eithnic groups prep, but prepping for tests using tests will similar materials can make a bigger difference than homework.

The test prep workbooks are sold at Lotte Plaza, not Wegmans. Could be a coincidence I guess.

And if you scroll down, you will see the diverse students whose parents paid monthly tuition for Fairfax test prep at one school that promises

http://academy4enrichment.com/

This place actually has a page listing how the third graders they "prepped" scored on the Cogat tests, with their names and schools. I'm surprised they publish that online and I'm not going to link to it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.

I disagree with PP's assertion about "certain ethnic groups". Look, if your kid is dumber than a box of rocks, no prepping will get him/her into AAP.

I think we can agree that we're not talking about Steven Hawking smart. We're just talking about your-average-geniuses. For the later, it a mixture of talent, hard work and dedicated parents. Making time everyday to do homework with your child has more impact than any test prep. Just stop griping about what you perceive in "certain ethnic groups". There is NO limit on the AAP class sizes. There is room for everyone. Just worry about your own kid.

Anonymous wrote:But with scores of 140 and 135, even *if* a child was prepped (and I am not implying the child referenced above was), doing so wouldn't move the scores so much that the child wasn't still within a plausible range to be admitted. These aren't exactly borderline scores where an extra boost would tip the scale.

I've seen scores on here of kids below 130 who got in.

Who knows how much prep classes can increase the score? People wouldn't pay for it if it didn't boost scores. No way to know how much is average.

But with scores of 140 and 135, even *if* a child was prepped (and I am not implying the child referenced above was), doing so wouldn't move the scores so much that the child wasn't still within a plausible range to be admitted. These aren't exactly borderline scores where an extra boost would tip the scale.

I've seen scores on here of kids below 130 who got in.

Do most schools have a popcicle play date or anything before school starts to start to build community? We love our base school and while DD will go to the center, I am sad to leave that sense of closeness.

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize people prepped 1st and 2nd graders for these tests until after my kid had taken both of them. We didn't even know that they were administering the NNAT until we got the score report.

How do you even get a 6-8 year old to test prep? Practice tests? Games? I can't see either of mine being at all interested in that.

When I see kids with consistently high scores and a low GBRS, I assume that they are either shy about sharing their talents in class or have a personality conflict with their teacher, but I'm also not on the selection committee so my opinion probably doesn't matter.

It's big among certain ethnic groups. People sign their kids up for classes that teach them how to take the tests.