Hello, first time post but have been reading for some time.

Question,
Is 3rd grade to early to take this NUMATS explore test.

I know they give it to 3rd graders but I am concerned it is getting to be too much so early for my Son. Or to much for me. LOL

This is his 3rd year scoring 99% on math and 97% on reading on NWEA.
His ISLOT scores have him right up there in the same percentages.
Stanford Binet he took when he was just turning 5 and he scored 133.
He is also in 5th grade math and reading and is in the top group in those classes. Needs to work on organization but who doesn't.
Extremely bright student, self starter, voracious reader
He is very well rounded. Big for his age.
Made the All-Star Team in Baseball this year.
Just some background there.

I guess it is kind of moot since he has been signed up already, just curious what others think....

I bet you will all say, Go for it.

thanks for reading

Hi mecreature. Welcome. From what you've said, I would indeed probably say go for it. What does your son say? Is he interested in taking it? Does he like taking tests?

My DS is also in 3rd grade, and we are also wondering whether to sign him up. I asked our DS if he wanted to, and he thinks that he does. He's not very happy that the test is on a Saturday though! This will be the first really hard test my son has seen, so I'm a bit worried about that.

We're leaning toward signing up our son. When I asked him if he wanted to do the November test or the February one (which are offered in our area), he said he wanted to do the February one because he will have learned more by then.

Sounds like you have a great, well-rounded kiddo!

thanks for responding

I just signed my DD 3rd grader up for the Explore in January. I'm partly excited but also scared for her. Her brother did really well, so should she. Right? She doesn't have much test anxiety so that's a good start. My biggest problem will probably getting her up so early. I better get her a treat for breakfast. She said she wanted to do this. I just felt like sharing. Good luck to the others.

I didn't sign my DD up as a 3rd grader, but she was only 7, and I didn't think she'd be up for it. She's going to test this year as an 8yo 4th grader, but I'm mostly interested in getting a baseline for comparing future scores. (She did the SCAT a month or so ago, and did respectably but not outstandingly compared to other 4th graders. I anticipate she'll do respectably but not outstandingly compared to grademates on EXPLORE, too.)

I don't anticipate any issue with the getting up - the test location is relatively close to us, so we can leave the house just a bit earlier than we'd normally leave for school. But 4 hours is a long time - the SCAT was only an hour, and that totally wiped her. OTOH, most of the EXPLORE works with reading passages, and reading-related things are a strength for her, whereas analogies are not. On the gripping hand, that's a lot of manual bubbling in, and a lot of "I'm an anonymous tiny person in a room full of big people."

We do a breakfast treat and a burst of physical activity to get your brain going and your body settled down.

My big worry is that we'll have an ice storm or other weather making it hard to get there. The sites within reasonable driving distance for us are all February-only sites, so we can't reschedule if something comes up.

My DD9 strenght is reading too. Thanks for mentioning it, that's bit more comfort for me. It's funny as a parent many of us want the challenge for our kids, yet it makes us nervous.

Best of luck with weather and testing.

Not funny at all! My DD is a swimmer, and watching her swim when she's pushing her limits makes me nervous. It's hard to watch your kid do something difficult!

I'm pretty good at looking cheerful and confident (plenty of swim-related practice). But I have a hard time with the setting-expectations part. I can honestly tell DD that the reading-related stuff is likely to be challenging but not impossible or overly frustrating. Much of the math will be material she's never seen, though, and she's not the intutitively mathy kid who can logic it out. So she's likely to be frustrated if she expects to do well, but I don't want to set the self-fulfilling expectation that she won't do well, either. "Some of the math will be material you've never seen before, so just take your best guess and move on, and don't worry about it or get frustrated," I guess.

Sorry, "funny" was a poor choice of words. I hope I didn't offend you.

Oh, no, not at all! (The perils of online communication.) I think I understood what you meant, and was trying to convey that it's not just academic challenge that creates that cognitive dissonance.

Good luck to your DD, too!

We got our package mail yesterday. We didn't open it yet.
My son just kind of shrugs.

Our testing location is pretty close. We are early to bed early to rise people by nature. Good breakfast and some activity is a good idea.

I reminded him again this test is really designed for older kids. Don't sweat it. Move on with your best guess if you are not understanding it. Each question is a clean slate.

I am getting the most resistance trying to get him to use the calculator.
He don't want to. I am trying to get him used to it by checking over his daily homework now.

Math is his strong subject followed real close in reading.

I sure understand the importance of keeping the frustration to a minimum.

AlexsMom - ok, good.

Tomorrow is test day for NUMATS. We completed the pre-test song and dance and developed a small routine/format so to speak.

We did the sample test, I taped piece of paper over the answers. After the test ds said he didn't need to see the answers, I respected that. I did check myself without telling him.

My main goal is to make this as positive an experience as possible. Everything should fall in place.

fingers crossed

I am curious why people want to test for EXPLORE or SCAT. My son qualified for CTY through SCAT but when I emailed people here, almost no one had taken their online courses. We are taking an online course through NUMATs- it's fun but quite expensive.

It is available to us and it just seems like a logical next step based on his NWEA scores the last 3 years. combined with everything else.

I guess it is just another angle to a big picture.

Speaking only for myself:
- It keeps our options open for camp / classes. Being able to say, "you already qualify for this" rather than, "you could take a test to see if you'd qualify for this" makes a big difference for an 8yo.

- It's a cheap way of doing achievement testing beyond the low-ceiling stuff the school does.

- It's a cheap way of exposing her to material she may never have seen before. (I was a psych major in college, and had never heard of I/O psych before it came up on the GRE - if I had, that probably would have been the direction I'd have gone.)

- My kid is agreeable enough, so I assume that she likes it at least somewhat. If she'd come out of the SCAT (a very short test) as a frazzled ball of tears, I wouldn't have signed her up for EXPLORE (a very long test).

The length of the test is my only concern. We have a little plan to help him feel like he has some control.

I agree - the point is that there are some kids who score very high on their NWEA who are 'nicely challenged' in school to get those high scores, while there are other kids who have the same score and aren't at all challenged. Out of level tests are helpful to know what is going on, and some kids enjoy the challenge. Very helful and motivating to know that there is more to learn.

smiles and welcome,
Grinity

I agree with all of this and that is why my son took the SCAT test. My son can't take EXPLORE since it's not offered in our state.
However, I think very few kids who qualify for NUMATS or CTY actually take the courses since they are so expensive, etc. My son is enjoying his NUMATS course but frankly, doing an online course is a pain. It's not as stimulating as being around other kids and people.

where can I find NUMATS sample test?

My DD took explore in 3rd grade. It was very good for her. Just be sure to stress that this test is for fun, and there will be lots of things that he doesn't know how to do.

It was the first time she took a test that was difficult for her. She didn't really like the way that felt, but it did help her have some empathy for her classmates during test situations.

When you register they send you a few sample questions. I wouldn't recommend "studying" for the test, beyond what they send you. After all, you want to know what you child can do right now, rather than what they can do with test prep.

NUMATS will send you an educational plan along with the scores. We found that to be useful in helping to advocate. An IQ score is one thing, showing specifically what you are ready to learn is even more convincing.

We haven't done any of the online courses. They seemed too expensive, and I'm not sure my dd would enjoy them. We've chosen to enrich with camps, art classes, etc., that are taught in person. I guess that just depends on whether you think your child would enjoy an online experience.

The test went fine. DS is one cool cucumber (JMO). It didn't phase him.
He said some Science he didn't quite understand. He also said there were
a few questions on things he had just read about earlier that week,
"guess you keep learning new things"...shrug.

He also said he doubts he will want to take it again. LOL

My kiddo said he didn't mind the test. He said it wasn't bad, but that he didn't finish it. It will be interesting to see how he did, but I'm still a little unsure about the value of this test for us at this age (DS is 8), especially when he is in a good school situation right now. I am glad he didn't mind it though! I was feeling a little bit guilty, like I was torturing my child a bit on a Saturday morning.

ETA - it was really great to meet and chat with some of the parents who have kids like mine.

My kid is in a good situation also. Time flies and things can change quick.
I understand the value of the test vs age. A leg up is a good thing.
Thanks for responding.

We tested ds9 at the end of 3rd grade last year and he is taking it again in February. For us, it's a way to see growth, and a tool with which we can advocate for school differentiation. Ds11 took the EXPLORE in 4th and it resulted in the school really taking a different look at him. He took the SAT last Saturday, and the AMC8 in the fall. Again, I think it will just give us a better look at where he's at and what work would be appropriate. Our school district always responds more to achievement testing than ability testing. We were asked to have ds9 take the EXPLORE if possible, but he and his brother both wanted to take the EXPLORE/SAT this year.

When ds11 took the EXPLORE in 4th, we had to buy him a calculator the week before (we really didn't realize how advanced he was in math and hadn't ever done any enrichment). His results not only made the school take notice, it was a wake-up call for us too, and for him. The end result was that he had a 5th grade teacher who made a huge effort to challenge him, he easily placed into gifted math in middle school, he joined the math club, has done a few competitions, etc.. It's made him realize that he is good at math, which for me, is a great outcome even if he does nothing with it!

Thank you for that reminder!

MY DD8 did fine at the Explore test. Whew, I feel better it's over. I'm proud she agreed to do this without conviencing. It amazes me a 3rd grader is not scared of a 8th grader test, even though I told her it was mostly for challenge experience. I am excited to get the results.

We too found that our son's Explore results made the school district take notice. He took them at age 9 in 3rd grade, and actually liked it. Showing the district how he compared to kids 5 years older made a huge difference in our advocacy efforts (and it seems like the district was more familiar with Explore compared to SCAT).

How much do these tests cost?

http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/numats/program/fees/?tag=Parents
This is a link to the fees through Northwestern. Other schools offer it, and sometimes smaller schools that aren't part of the big testing program (like CTD or CTY). The downside is that you're not connected in to their programs or awards ceremonies, but we wanted it more for our own personal info and for school advocacy. Last year, we took it through a local university and it was $50. If you look around, there are other sites.
http://www.act.org/explore/ests/centers.html - this link will tell you the talent search sites.

EXPLORE was this morning for us. DD8 did fine, and it turns out the site we tested at is purely a talent search test site, so the oldest kids there were 6th graders. DD totally didn't understand what we meant when we said to use the time after the 5-minute warning to answer all the questions left, so she only finished one section.

DS9 took it today too. He forgot he had a calculator with him, did all the math longhand or in his head, but still finished. He said it was "mind-bending" but made him happy. I think it was a good experience, no matter what the score is.

DeeDee

I will keep my fingers crossed for both of you.
I am patiently waiting for my sons scores from Jan.

Did anyone get results on time, from early testers?

MY DD had testing on 1/21 and I'm so ready for results. We don't need this for help, as school is good. It's just hard to wait.

My DD took the test on 1/21 also, no results here either. I keep checking the NUMATS Toolbox and our mail box.

I emailed today asking when on results.
4 to 6 weeks was promptly emailed back.
We want the info for planning next year.

My DS (12 yrs, 6th grade) also took EXPLORE on 1/21 for Duke TIP. Our mail delivery is very unreliable, so I called TIP early last week to check on results status. TIP gave me the phone number for EXPLORE. I then called EXPLORE & the lady said that results would be mailed by Fri 2/24 at latest. But no results came. So I called today & spoke with someone different. She told me that results are being mailed this week and that all results will be in the mail by this Fri 3/2. So the check's in the mail, I guess. Don't recall it took this long to get older DS's ACT or SAT scores!!

The numats guide says about 5 weeks to get result, but that was
the 25th. I thought that would have results on the tool box by now for sure. Don't like the waiting... 3yrs ago when my son took this test, they were behind schedule too. It should be soon.

Good Luck to everyone.

We had to wait almost 8 weeks last year for my son's EXPLORE results. It you have a NUMATS Toolbox set up they come online faster.
ACT & SAT results are different. We received ACT Results on 2/27 in the mail from a 2/11 test date.

Good Luck!

Thanks for this information AtHomeMum, hopefully the info will be here soon!

DD's results were in the NUMATS toolbox this morning

Thanks for letting us know!

Off to crunch numbers....

We checked the toolbox first thing Saturday.

Now we have Istep+ starting this week.

We received NUMATS result in mail today. DS9 was a bit upset in reading. He has pretty good vocabulary skill and won spelling bee in school a few weeks ago. But that apperantly was not good enough for the test.

The first line in the toolbox.

You took a test that was above your grade level. You should be proud of your performance because taking such an advanced test at your grade-level was brave and adventurous.

I know with some kids this is not enough. He should be very proud of himself.

My son was not happy with his English score.

I agree with mecreature - these tests are supposed to be hard, and your kiddo can be proud just to participate. I believe the toolbox even said that some kids might get zero. I was surpised by my kiddo's reading score too, thinking it would be higher since his MAPs have shown him reading at very high levels. But then again he's never taken a hard test like this, and he didn't even finish it. I'm proud of what he did. Also, the kids who are taking this test are all extremely bright, and some may be way super advanced in one subject, and not so much in others, etc., etc. There are so many factors. I'm sorry your kiddo is upset.

MAP test can be quite misleading because it misses the "hard test" factors. DS has been through a few competition events such as Spelling Bee, AMC8, Mathcounts in last three months. He ranked EXPLORE test the easiest one.

I didn't see any zeros in the last statistical report I saw, but yeah, I told my DD that some kids get zero, even though you have to be really smart to even be allowed to take the test. And that I didn't anticipate that she'd get zero on every part, but that it would be totally OK if she did.

Numats= EXPLORE has an award for third graders this year. My DD just missed by 3 points,I'm proud of her.

DS took the EXPLORE this year in school in May. I'm not sure it is with NUMATS. are they all with NUMATS? IF kids take it at this later date, do they miss awards?

What is the critiria for 3rd grader to win the award?

76

Good Job. Thanks for posting the info here.