Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 16:41     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the ones who think prepping is cheating are the same ones who think their kids are genius. If their kids could not get in, it's because other lesser kids' prepping/cheating. If their kids got in, it's proven that the kids are genius due to non-prepping.


Honestly, that’s not it. The school specifically says not to cheat — I mean, prep— bc it compromises the integrity of the test. So we don’t cheat bc we have a moral compass and follow the recommendations from the school.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 16:35     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Honestly, the ones who think prepping is cheating are the same ones who think their kids are genius. If their kids could not get in, it's because other lesser kids' prepping/cheating. If their kids got in, it's proven that the kids are genius due to non-prepping.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 16:18     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:It won’t matter eventually - once every school has level 4 they will slowly move to clustering and no more centers. Then no more aap at middle school. I say 10 years.


I say we go retro and revert to "tracking" where all the LIV qualified kids are in the same class (or multiple classes if there are more than 20 per school). That would retain the neighborhood school concept but allow teachers to enhance and accelerate for the more advanced group. The current process is inefficient and unfair and gives too much weight to race components when that isn't necessarily a deterrent to high test scores.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 15:14     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
It won’t matter eventually - once every school has level 4 they will slowly move to clustering and no more centers. Then no more aap at middle school. I say 10 years.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 15:08     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Cheatiig children by educating them less and judging them by feral "natural" ability, is far worse than "cheating" a test by studying math, logic, and vocabulary.

Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 15:02     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In the 1970s and 80s, kids were told that they couldn't/shouldn't study for the SAT. That it was a measure of their innate ability.

Look how far we've come.


No one I know has ever been told this. This is a knowledge test. OF COURSE you should prep.


It was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test because it was designed to measure your aptitude, not knowledge


College Board conceded defeat and changed the name (but not the content in a relevant way) 20 years ago
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 15:00     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone preps. I wish I had known that when my older child was taking these tests. I was completely clueless about AAP and the difference between AAP and General Ed. I thought it was a truly gifted program and if my child was gifted, she'd be chosen. Little did I know it's just a smart kid+prepped kid class.


+1 This


I am firmly anti-prep and older kid had no issues getting in first round w/o it. Younger kid also did not prep and had scores well above the old county-wide standards, but not high enough by the new prepped local standards. Moving forward, I’d prep my kids, despite knowing it IS cheating the test and does not accurately reflect ability. FCPS is only encouraging more prepping and rendering these tests worthless.


Great! You're one of the few, but there's nothing wrong with prep. At least 99% of the population feels this way or does it anyway.


The schools with a high percentage of parents who prep are the ones with in-pool test scores in the 140’s. The schools with middle class or high SES but are not focused in AAP are in the 130’s. The Title 1 schools are probably in the 120’s.

The AAP or bust mentality is found at a few schools, Centers and the TJ obsessed sections of FCPS but a decent percentage of folks don’t prep.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 14:36     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone preps. I wish I had known that when my older child was taking these tests. I was completely clueless about AAP and the difference between AAP and General Ed. I thought it was a truly gifted program and if my child was gifted, she'd be chosen. Little did I know it's just a smart kid+prepped kid class.


+100
+1 This


I am firmly anti-prep and older kid had no issues getting in first round w/o it. Younger kid also did not prep and had scores well above the old county-wide standards, but not high enough by the new prepped local standards. Moving forward, I’d prep my kids, despite knowing it IS cheating the test and does not accurately reflect ability. FCPS is only encouraging more prepping and rendering these tests worthless.


Great! You're one of the few, but there's nothing wrong with prep. At least 99% of the population feels this way or does it anyway.


Your kids compete against others who prep. This is our reality. The prep war is on whether you accept it or not.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 14:02     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Only you will know of its cheating OP. Perhaps you have an anxious kid who would benefit from having familiarity with the test format and question structure. In this case you would be helping your child accurately demonstrate their capabilities.

Conversely, perhaps prepping your kid will allow them to perform better than they would have otherwise. If they are good at the test but not actually good at the underlying skill or quality measured, you may be setting your child up to be placed higher than they deserve. Not only will they be taking a spot from a kid who deserves it more, you may be setting them up for failure.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 14:00     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone preps. I wish I had known that when my older child was taking these tests. I was completely clueless about AAP and the difference between AAP and General Ed. I thought it was a truly gifted program and if my child was gifted, she'd be chosen. Little did I know it's just a smart kid+prepped kid class.


+1 This




I am firmly anti-prep and older kid had no issues getting in first round w/o it. Younger kid also did not prep and had scores well above the old county-wide standards, but not high enough by the new prepped local standards. Moving forward, I’d prep my kids, despite knowing it IS cheating the test and does not accurately reflect ability. FCPS is only encouraging more prepping and rendering these tests worthless.


Great! You're one of the few, but there's nothing wrong with prep. At least 99% of the population feels this way or does it anyway.


Your kids compete against others who prep. This is our reality. The prep war is on whether you accept it or not.


That’s why there is an fcps norm. A norm amongst preppers, therefore a valid one.


But it's not FCPS wide, it's "local building" and no one knows the magical number and then they pull out the "holistic" card and it's a real crap shoot as to who gets in. Some families are seeing the younger, more advanced sibling rejected while the less advanced older kid got in before the new black box approach.


Nah. The change is only for the pool. Same committee is looking at applications as before. And same appeals process for the handful of should-have-been-admitteds.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 13:56     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone preps. I wish I had known that when my older child was taking these tests. I was completely clueless about AAP and the difference between AAP and General Ed. I thought it was a truly gifted program and if my child was gifted, she'd be chosen. Little did I know it's just a smart kid+prepped kid class.


+1 This




I am firmly anti-prep and older kid had no issues getting in first round w/o it. Younger kid also did not prep and had scores well above the old county-wide standards, but not high enough by the new prepped local standards. Moving forward, I’d prep my kids, despite knowing it IS cheating the test and does not accurately reflect ability. FCPS is only encouraging more prepping and rendering these tests worthless.


Great! You're one of the few, but there's nothing wrong with prep. At least 99% of the population feels this way or does it anyway.


Your kids compete against others who prep. This is our reality. The prep war is on whether you accept it or not.


That’s why there is an fcps norm. A norm amongst preppers, therefore a valid one.


But it's not FCPS wide, it's "local building" and no one knows the magical number and then they pull out the "holistic" card and it's a real crap shoot as to who gets in. Some families are seeing the younger, more advanced sibling rejected while the less advanced older kid got in before the new black box approach.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 12:58     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone preps. I wish I had known that when my older child was taking these tests. I was completely clueless about AAP and the difference between AAP and General Ed. I thought it was a truly gifted program and if my child was gifted, she'd be chosen. Little did I know it's just a smart kid+prepped kid class.


+1 This




I am firmly anti-prep and older kid had no issues getting in first round w/o it. Younger kid also did not prep and had scores well above the old county-wide standards, but not high enough by the new prepped local standards. Moving forward, I’d prep my kids, despite knowing it IS cheating the test and does not accurately reflect ability. FCPS is only encouraging more prepping and rendering these tests worthless.


Great! You're one of the few, but there's nothing wrong with prep. At least 99% of the population feels this way or does it anyway.


Your kids compete against others who prep. This is our reality. The prep war is on whether you accept it or not.


That’s why there is an fcps norm. A norm amongst preppers, therefore a valid one.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 12:52     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone preps. I wish I had known that when my older child was taking these tests. I was completely clueless about AAP and the difference between AAP and General Ed. I thought it was a truly gifted program and if my child was gifted, she'd be chosen. Little did I know it's just a smart kid+prepped kid class.


+1 This


I am firmly anti-prep and older kid had no issues getting in first round w/o it. Younger kid also did not prep and had scores well above the old county-wide standards, but not high enough by the new prepped local standards. Moving forward, I’d prep my kids, despite knowing it IS cheating the test and does not accurately reflect ability. FCPS is only encouraging more prepping and rendering these tests worthless.


Great! You're one of the few, but there's nothing wrong with prep. At least 99% of the population feels this way or does it anyway.


Your kids compete against others who prep. This is our reality. The prep war is on whether you accept it or not.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 12:51     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone preps. I wish I had known that when my older child was taking these tests. I was completely clueless about AAP and the difference between AAP and General Ed. I thought it was a truly gifted program and if my child was gifted, she'd be chosen. Little did I know it's just a smart kid+prepped kid class.


+1 This


I am firmly anti-prep and older kid had no issues getting in first round w/o it. Younger kid also did not prep and had scores well above the old county-wide standards, but not high enough by the new prepped local standards. Moving forward, I’d prep my kids, despite knowing it IS cheating the test and does not accurately reflect ability. FCPS is only encouraging more prepping and rendering these tests worthless.


Great! You're one of the few, but there's nothing wrong with prep. At least 99% of the population feels this way or does it anyway.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2023 12:42     Subject: prepping for cogat test .. is it cheating?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone preps. I wish I had known that when my older child was taking these tests. I was completely clueless about AAP and the difference between AAP and General Ed. I thought it was a truly gifted program and if my child was gifted, she'd be chosen. Little did I know it's just a smart kid+prepped kid class.


+1 This


I am firmly anti-prep and older kid had no issues getting in first round w/o it. Younger kid also did not prep and had scores well above the old county-wide standards, but not high enough by the new prepped local standards. Moving forward, I’d prep my kids, despite knowing it IS cheating the test and does not accurately reflect ability. FCPS is only encouraging more prepping and rendering these tests worthless.