My DS14 scored 152 on the WISC-IV at 11.5 years old. As an 7th grader he scored 670 on the math portion of the SAT and a 30 on the science portion of the ACT with no prep other than one practice test to get familiar with the format and length. He has also scored in the top range of the JHU-CTY SCAT and STB the last couple of years. I'm not throwing these numbers out to brag but to give some perspective on ability.
Now some reality. He doesn't like to show his ability. His independent school would not let him take algebra in 6th grade because he was not getting all A's in 5th grade math. He has always grasped the concepts immediately but loses interest in the tedium of calculating a final answer. The school feels he is "appropriately challenged" and acceleration is not warranted. Even though he never has questions on the material and gets through all of it with minimal effort while many of his friends struggle under the same load. He has always been an A~B student with a couple C's in his more loathsome classes (english & history). Also, he was penalized for not regularly seeing his teachers with questions or just to show his face. He is not motivated by grades and doesn't wish to play the game. He thinks school work is boring and he doesn't wish to apply his "mental resources" to tedious activities. However, when it comes to programming mods for Minecraft he will work for hours at a time writing thousands of lines of code. His spatial skills are off the charts (3 perfect scores out of 4 sections on the STB) but this ability is all but ignored in school. He is a tough kid to manage!
We've had him take tests and participate in the talent searches to provide evidence to his school that he is not an average kid and needs more of a challenge. Unfortunately, the school doesn't offer any resources for gifted kids like they do for kids who are struggling. He is entering 9th grade and will be taking Honors Chemistry, Honors Geometry & Trig and Honors Latin II. Hopefully, he will rise to the occasion.
It doesn't help that he is a highly divergent thinker. Teachers and administrators encourage thinking outside the box, but I'm pretty sure they find it difficult to tolerate someone who lives life outside the box. I know I do some days. I have to encourage him to think inside the box quite often.
DS14 applied to The Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies in Richmond, VA as an 8th grader. He was not selected. Two factors hurt him in the admissions process. He did not receive the maximum number of rigor points because his independent school did not allow him to accelerate in any subjects other than math. Also, he did not achieve a high enough grade point average to receive the maximum number of points. The lower GPA was entirely his fault and he has learned a valuable lesson. However, on the ability tests where all of the prospective students were compared equally, he absolutely crushed the average scores of the admitted students.
