This was another deciding factor in signing up DD12...who am I to underestimate her, and only test the other 2?

One thing people often overlook in SAT/ACT testing is that they are very LONG tests. If a child does not have good stamina or has ADD, it may be very difficult for them physically and mentally, even if they are in the right intellectual ballpark to do well. My son, for instance, found the process exhausting at age 11, and for that reason, I am not planning to have my younger children take these until they are about 11.

OTOH, if a child has endurance and is ready earlier, I see no reason not to let them dive in!

Lorel, I was just wondering about this. I signed my DS up for the Explore test in Feb. He turns 9 next week so he is an older 3rd grader in a FT Gifted program. He does have ADHD. After seeing the first several posts it sounds like the explore test takes a good bit of time without a ton of breaks.

I wonder if I'm setting him up for failure and should wait a few years. Maybe the SCAT would be a better intro to these types of test situations.

R

Samson, the Explore is two 30 minute sections back-to-back...followed by a pretty nicely pumped up break (test center dependent, but ours was nice), and then another two 30 minute sections back-to-back. It is "long" for young kids. Throw in directions and possible surveys at the beginning, and you are talking over 3 hours. Hope that helps with the decision making.

DS is just very "whatever", in every aspect of life. I think the fact that he casually entered the SAT testing (amidst all those "big kids"), and survived the marathon impressed the schools as much as his actual scores did. I know it helped with the decision to allow him physically into the high school for classes.

My girls are tall, and can probably pass for pretty darn close to high school at age 12 (on casual glance). There was no ignoring the "little guy" in the halls though.

(My DD12 is WAY more theatrical....her experience will be quite different I'm sure!)

The nice part about signing up for the Explore through a talent search is having all younger kids at the test. There were some pretty big 6th graders, but some small 3rd graders, and the vast majority seemed to be 4th & 5th graders when GS10 took it last Feb.
FWIW, GS10 came out with that 'exhausted, but exhiliarated' feeling. He was 9 yrs, 7 months.

SCAT is very fast- maybe an hour? It is done at a testing center (we used Prometric) and is far less of an ordeal than the SAT or ACT.

Should I be concerned about such a long test for my DS9, in 3rd with the Explore?

Last week, school gave him an IQ test and he came home upset. I thought they would call before they started testing, because that what happened last time. He was not prepared. The tester did not explain the test to him. He was upset he did not know some information and said they asked strange questions. When he took the WJIII Achievement(May,2009) I explained to him ahead of time and he was fine.

Usually he does not have test anxiety. He says he likes tests. The teacher gives the option to be timed or not for Math facts and he chooses timed test.

Most schools pull kids at their convenience for this type of testing. If you are lucky, you might get a call saying it could happen "this week". I tried to pinpoint the date for one of my kiddos, and got an email back that read something like "I would hope your DD is healthy and well fed every day", ROFL! It is nice to get some level of heads up though.

Did you get any tentative results yet? As for the Explore...you know how long it is, and you know your son best. Have you asked for his input?

I did not get any IQ results yet. They will call a meeting with us and give us the results then. I really wonder what they hope to get out of it.

AS for the Explore, I will wait a bit to talk to him becuase of his IQ test experience. He did say he was willing to do more testing to have more opportunities to be challenged with a talent search class or school. I told him I could not make any promises other than to keep trying for him. I think he is very hungry for more challenging work. He would love his own Apropriate Level Math Class at school instead of all the review. I'm glad he has the ambition in him. He has a wonderful attention span so I guess Explore will be ok for him. I just asked becuase I was wondering if there was more to consider.

Thanks for your help.

I am testing my older son in third grade with the Explore. I figure even if he does not test well this year, the format of the Explore is similar to many long tests he will be subjected to as he grows and we try to get him into gifted summer programs. My idea is that if he takes the test yearly, even if he doesn't do well this year, it will become just another thing he has to do.:)