Anonymous wrote:It amazes me that parents will pour so much time, effort, money and angst into test prep., but then let their kids spend hours sitting in front of the TV, video games, the internet, etc. If you want to raise you child's FxAT, Cogat, and/ or WISC scores (and ultimately their SATs) turn off the TV/ computer and encourage your kids to engage in creative play, arts and crafts, music, building w/ legos, Thinkfun games and sports. But most importantly, make reading a priority for your entire family-- it's a great habit to have your child pick up as early as possible.

Take your kids to the library and bookstore, work with your school's reading specialist to find out your child's DRA or Lexile level so that you can help your child find appropriate fiction or nonfiction in areas that interest them (e.g. instead of letting your child watch a TV show about fairies, magic, dragons, princesses, or sharks, find books on the subject.) Ask the school librarian/ public library children's librarian/ children's teacher for help and suggestions. Get a couple of subscriptions to kids magazines in areas of interest, so your child gets mail addressed to him/her every month. Create a family book club, where the entire family reads the same book and talks about it, or start a parent-child book club with your kids' friends. Read to younger children, a chapter a night at bedtime, and take the time to have your children read to you. It's also great to have an older sibiling practice by reading to a younger one. And make importantly, make sure your children see you reading for pleasure-- parents have an enormous impact on their kids values.

I strongly suspect that kids who are great readers can even improve GBRS scores, because they can explore interests and share what they read with the class. And demonstrated reading above grade level is one criterion on the GBRS form.

At back to school night for DS and DD, their AAP teachers said that the kids in the AAP center were not required to keep reading logs-- the problem was not getting the kids in AAP to read. Instead, they had a hard time getting kids to put the books down during lesson time.

Anonymous wrote:Are all schools supposed to practice the cogat? My child hasn't said anything about practicing at school yet, and they're supposed to take it next week.

Anonymous wrote:I think the teachers know who the bright ones are starting in K. It starts really young for the truly gifted.

Anonymous wrote:SO? Did anyone order it? What does the test look like?

Anonymous wrote:Here it is:

How can I prepare my child to take the tests? Can I see sample questions or practice sheets?

Sample questions are practiced by students as part of the test preparation. Sample tests are not commercially available. The best test preparation is a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast.

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad I'm not alone!
Both of my kids tested into AAP with 99th percentile scores on both NNAT and Cogat and they spend way too much time on their iPods and watching TV. We didn't prep at all, and we probably didn't even get to bed on time.

It seems like ignoring the kids may be the best strategy yet.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure this is the all or nothing system you make it out to be. There are enough hours in a week for kids to both read regularly and spend time watching tv and play video games. I agree that the test prep probably won't help scores all that much, but I'm not sure excessive reading would either. At the end of the day, some kids are just born bright and they score well on ability tests. Out DC scored well on the ability tests and he plays video games every day. We didn't prep, he just tested what he tested.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:of course some parents who test prep also put a high value on reading. Sadly enough, I know of parents in our LLIV school (where AAP is considered by some to be a status symbol or some type of parental accomplishment) who test prep for Cogat, hire private psychologists, volunteer as PTA Board members and room parents to get an inside track on principal placement and GBRS scores, but make snarky comments about pressuring kids, not letting them have fun, and stunting their social-emotional development because we're raising kids with very minimal TV and no video games, and providing books, or art supplies, or family outings instead. And there are plenty of kids in our school who have a TV with playstation on their bedroom, but not a bookshelf. so yes, I disagree with the way some parents approach AAP admission, and I believe that if you take two kids who are in allother respects equal, a child brought up in a household of readers will out score a child who gets extensive test prep.

Here's an idea. MYOB.