Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Quick question about SCAT score

My DS10 took the SCAT test on Friday and his scores were up already. He qualified for CTY for Verbal but just missed for Math (he's more upset that he missed high honor's in verbal by 1 point!) His scores were:

Verbal raw: 38
Verbal scaled: 459
Verbal percent: 79

Quantative raw: 31
Quantative scaled: 459
Quantative percent: 58

Overall, I was really pleased - he's never taken anything like this, and he's anxious to begin with - so knowing they were watching him and the whole way the testing center operated had him a little freaked out. But, it was still a good experience and I'm glad we did it!

But, here's my question - it says the test he took was IX1 and then for "Test Norm" it says 8S - I don't understand what that means...? Can anyone give me any insight to that?

Thanks,
Jen

Thanks so much Dottie! I figured that's what it meant, but I don't know why I was under the assumption it would be a 7th grade norm, thinking the test would be 2 grade levels above, not 3.

So, his percentiles are then against 8th graders, not 5th graders, correct?

I'm glad this prompted you to find out your son's scores were online!

I thought that we couldn't get SAT scores online for kids under 13. Has that changed? Dd12 hasn't taken it yet this year, but she will.

Thanks again Dottie! And sorry - I see you had answered my question about the norms in your previous post, but somehow it didn't sink in! Last question - he received the invite from School, so I had to put his school code on the application, etc. Would anyone know if they are automatically sent a copy of the scores, or would I need to inform them?

Thanks again for the help with this!

Jen

I'm a newbee here to the forum...

Recently my DD 9 recently SCAT test also and her result is very good, so proud of her.
Here her score:
Verbal raw: 43/50 Math raw: 34/50
Verbal percentile: 92% Math percentile: 68%
Scaled Score: 470 Scaled Score: 465

I think her version also 8S.

She's qualify to take online course verbal and math but i think she'll get an high honor achievement award for Verbal only eventually.
This is her 1st test and she never take test like this before.

Does anybody when we actually receive the invitation for award ceremony? Is it worth attending?

Thanks.

menlomom,

Was your DD testing as 5th grader?

FYI: They now hold the awards ceremonies once a year in the fall, so you have a LONG wait. Invitations are sent out in late summer. This year's ceremony (at least where we live) was in early October.

Yes, my DD in 5th grade.

Wow.. yes,that is a LONG wait..

How does it work?
Do you mind tell me about your experience attending the award ceremony? Was it worth attending? Will they appoint where to go based on state we are live in for the ceremony?

Based on her score above, do you think I should apply DYS program? I never apply but with this accomplishment is it consider profoundly gifted category?

Thanks in advance

Another SCAT question so I thought I'd throw it in here-

My DS is taking SCAT in two weeks. I just realized that I may have made a mistake! He is 7 1/2 and grade accelerated to 3rd. I registered him as a 3rd grader because it didn't dawn on me to do otherwise.

Should I have registered him as a 2nd grader since that his is age? Should I call CTY and ask them to change it?

What are the benefits of taking the SCAT? Maybe this has been asked before, but just curious. Is it just for children to take online courses? and if so, are kids taking these online courses in addition to schooling? With school DS6 already barely has time to do the EPGY program...don't think he has done it at all since school started.

Thanks Dottie! I put 3rd because I wanted him to be eligible for 3rd grade stuff- but it didn't even dawn on me until later that I may have disadvantaged him for awards.

Shellymos- We are doing it because there are some really fun family programs coming up and for summer activities. My DS wants to dive in the tank in Monterey Bay Aquarium!

Thanks Dottie!

Yes, my DD is a young 5th grader, she always the youngest in the class until this year when we moved her to a new school there are kids who just turned 9 in 5th grade!!
My DD started Kindergarten early when she was 4,5yrs.

I know DYS program it's a different ball game I would say and I checked the application earlier, wow it seems like a lot of work.

My DD IQ is 145 and she did achievement test, I have details somewhere..

But the thing is she has not yet have a spectacular accomplishment or win a competition, I think SCAT result is one of her big accomplishment so far.
So I'm not sure if we want to go there....

We are looking foward to participate Johns Hopkins Youth Talented Program has to offer...:)

I'm sure someone will have a better answer to this, but for us, honestly, it was just curiosity. We always knew our son was very bright and way ahead of other kids in his classes - but I still remember being told by his Kindergarten teacher that "while he is extremely advanced, and reading at a 4th/5th grade level, he will level off and the other kids will catch up to him." So, that kind of threw us. But, then in 3rd grade they all had to take a test of cognitive skills (TCS/2) for possible entrance into an after school advanced learning program and we then realized just how bright he might be, as he scored the highest score possible, a 141+ (though, we weren't told this until 4th grade). So, while he's had that program and a TLC program once a week at school, and he was accepted to a Gifted Child Society by us, we've just been exploring other options for him - and when the invite for the CTY program came along, we just decided to see how he would do. He qualified for verbal and we may consider doing a course, but not until summer as he has so much on his plate right now between school, violin, scouts, etc...

DD took the SCAT for the first time last year. The official score report that we received in the mail came with a bulletin that included bar graphs with data for the talent search participants in each grade (using the data from the previous year).

I'm assuming that we'll get the same thing this year.

DS took SCAT (2nd grade) in March this year. The test day was on Saturday and I got online scores on Monday. I received official scores and graphs by mail about one month after. The invitation of award was received in late August and award ceremony was held in October.

Thanks for posting the link, LittleCherub.

The data is actually better than what was contained in the mailings. Now, they give you the actual percentile for each scaled score. Still annoying and misleading that they break the data down by gender, but at least it's more information.

Thank you for posting this! My son received the hard copy scores from CTY today and I was surprised that there was no information in there regarding how he did against his 5th grade peers who also took the test. Just as an fyi for anyone waiting, our experience with the score process was surprisingly quick - he took the test 11/5, online scores were available 11/8 and the paper scores arrived 11/16.

Just thought I'd drag out my old post and update it - my son, who just turned 11, wanted to take a Computer class with John Hopkins but missed qualifying in Math by a few points. So, he asked if he could retake it - and boy, am I glad we did!

November 2010 Scores
Verbal raw: 38
Verbal scaled: 459
Verbal percent: 79

Quantative raw: 31
Quantative scaled: 459
Quantative percent: 58


April 2011 Scores
Verbal raw: 41
Verbal scaled: 460
Verbal percent: 80

Quantative raw: 40
Quantative scaled: 482
Quantative percent: 90

He brought his Math up from 58th percentile to 90th! (I'm sure 4 more months of Math in school helped too)

I could tell he was slightly thrown off by the experience at Prometric, which had him a little unsettled - so, it was much better this time around as he knew what to expect. So, sometime during the summer (as he has to be 6th grade), he'll be taking the Scratch programming class...

Jen

Congrats to your son on his SCAT improvement. Regarding Scratch, since it is free, I suggest just installing it and letting him play with it. My son has picked it up with zero help from me.
Of course, a class may help him learn faster and in a more organized way.

Thanks for that info - I honestly don't know much about it, but now I think I'll look into it so he can play around with it and go from there!