Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Misc. helpful info RE early SAT testing

Now that we are on the other side of that early testing hurdle, I thought it may be helpful to list some miscellaneous tidbits that I wished I had known:

If you want to take the SAT before 7th grade, NUMATS/CTD is the only major talent search that routinely tests 6th graders. Everything is done electronically so you do not need to register separately with College Board.

JHU/CTY will now test students below 7th grade if you register for their talent search by mail and include a specific request for them to mail you the SAT registration materials. You still cannot register for CTY online unless you are at least a 7th grader. In the past, the CTY website specifically state that students taking the SAT below 7th grade or outside their talent search are not eligible for the awards ceremonies. However, students below 7th grade who qualify for SET (700+) are now invited to the Grand Ceremony. In addition, CTY now invites students who already tested to register for their talent search and have College Board send the score report. This has the benefits of making SET automatic (scores automatically/immediately transmitted to SET), receiving an invitation to the Grand Ceremony, and eligibility for the Intensive Studies courses early.

If you take the SAT through a talent search, you can fill out their talent search ID form instead of using a photo ID. However, I would recommend that your student bring a photo ID anyhow to avoid unnecessary explanation/hold-up on test day.

Prepare your child to locate the correct information board, get in the correct lines, and go to his testing room all by himself as parents are not allowed in the building in most normal administrations. I have heard that sometimes the proctors are more lax in special administrations.

Prepare your child to either write in cursive or fake it as he will be asked to copy a statement in cursive.

Prepare your child for questions from other testers as he may be the only obvious young kid there.

You also do not need to test through a talent search. Anybody can sign up to test with the paper forms.

I'm a little fuzzy on how it all worked at our school for the 7th grade ACT, but our school did let parents in the building to wait before the test started (but not in the classrooms or during test, just in the lobby/commons area). Most of the HS kids were alone, of course, but they weren't made to be, which was nice. YMMV depending on school. (Then again, knowing the school, maybe they weren't supposed to allow that...)

I think we got a form from the talent search for identification that had to be signed once at home and once again in the test room. There was something to copy but cursive wasn't required for the ACT verification statement.

The other thing you might want to do is make sure they know where the bathrooms are.

Yes, during the break it may be important to use the restroom... although it may be a tempting topic for innocent small talk, test takers are not allowed to discuss anything about the test. It may be good for your child to bring a snack and water bottle, to refuel a bit during the break.

Nice job bringing this up Quantum, DS 6th took the ACT a couple weeks ago and we had some issues we were not prepared for (but should have been).

On our drive to the test center a local prep high school my son was reading the test day information. He was really concerned about the ID statements, I told him don't sweat it (it did not have the calming effect I thought it might). When we got there the line was a mile long and still growing. He got in line and I backed off and went in and sat in the lobby since he was surrounded by older kids and no parents. I later went up to the head of the line to talk to the lady checking people in and checking IDs. I told her that there was a 6th grader in line and he did not have any ID and he was from NUMATS. All she told me was I could not be in the building, and then glared at me. I backed off and went to the school office and talked to the main admin/curriculum lady. I told her the situation and told her I was going to get my ds out of line and she could check him in and then he would go to his room if he wanted. She said that was awesome she was very nice and did just that.

My ds took the EXPLORE in 3rd and we made up some chase the stress away pre test rituals if he needed them. Small drinks if you feel thirsty and he had a bag of M&Ms. If he felt the need have an M&M the teacher there was very respectful of this. But when taking the ACT or SAT it is a big NO NO. My ds while waiting for the start popped an M&M in his mouth and the proctor told him No food or drinks in the room and if he had to tell him again he would be dismissed. So he loaded up his backpack and put it in the hall. DS likes to wear his running watch during testing. When he has 5 minutes left he can go back to questions he was pondering or look ahead and hit the easy questions and then fill in the rest of the bubbles if needed. Then during the first test his watched chimed (it is very very low chime). He was told to not let it happen again or he would be dismissed. He didn't know how to reset it so he gave it to the proctor and told him to hold it for him.

Find the bathrooms a big YES, and use them. It took about an hour before they started the first test. So at the end of the first test my ds thought since it took so long to get started they would give them a 5 minute break to go to the restroom, he really had to go. No, they were all handed the 60 minute math section. He was miserable.

The last 2 sections went better. On his break he hit the rest room popped some M&Ms and took a drink of water.

He finished like a Champ and ended up doing just about the same as his practice test. He apologized and said he was sure he didn’t do very good on the English and Math. He said he had to use the bathroom soo bad he could not even think. I told him I was so sorry and felt like a total idiot for putting him through this. He said its ok. it wasn’t so bad but what was the point of taking this test. I said good question.

One thing he commented on the most was all the checks and “Prohibited Behavior” things they went over at the start of the test. He couldn’t believe they actually have to threaten them not to cheat. He said they stand there and watch you take the whole test.

One good thing, an 8th grade kid he knew was in his room and asked him afterward how he got in so fast when he was way behind him.
He said "I got connections".

Sorry so long.



I did find a test day prep guide that has a lot of good ideas in it.

https://greentestprep.com/resources/sat-prep/test-day-preparation/day-of-your-test/

I am glad that it worked our for your DS. It's fortunate that there was someone in the main office and that she was permitted to sign him in. Maybe because we were at a large public high school with a couple of dozen different testing rooms with 20-25 kids (except for the special accommodations rooms), each set of proctors control the sign in process for their own testing room. This is after the first general (very long) line which gives you access to the bulletin boards, which then direct you to the correct 2nd line into your assigned room.

It's also amazing that despite the discomfort, your DS was able to do as well as he did in practice. I think that most test takers do not do as well on the actual exam for a host of reasons. I have to laugh about the long list of prohibited behaviors and just the fact that it took more than half an hour for the instructions and filling in of general information before the kids could get to the essay (first of 10 sections).

The copying of the cursive statement was a complete surprise. The proctor was sympathetic and told him to fake it but the rules are designed to help detect fraud. I assume most normal kids probably would not have a problem with cursive but DS just never picked it up on his own like DD did after one lesson provided by the school in 3rd grade.