Unless your daughter is really burned out with testing, then I think the Explore could be a good tool to see where she is at on an above level test. It is relatively inexpensive and can give you some valuable information.
DD9 took the Explore as a 7 year old 3rd grader. It was her first time taking any type of timed test and we think she did pretty well. She excels in reading, so we anticipated she would do well in that part of the test. Reading ended up being her lowest score. She later told us the passages were boring so she just zipped through it. There was another thread about the Explore a while back and someone there mentioned it might be possible if a child reads at a higher level for enjoyment, then reading dull passages and answering comprehension questions may not be their thing. I can see this being true for DD9. If I recall, Reading was the 3rd test they gave so she was probably reaching her attention limit by then anyway.
We tried to show her how to use a calculator for the math section since she hadn't used one previously - then she told us she didn't even use it.
The best part of having her take the Explore was the recommendations NUMATS made based on her results. We took the printout of their educational recommendations to DD's school to use as further leverage for acceleration. NUMATS spells it out very clearly and gives the school a step by step path to take. This is now part of DD's GIEP.
We've recently received communications from NUMATS regarding scheduling DD9 for the Explore again to see where she is at with a year's growth. DD9 has no desire to take the test again at this point, so we will wait at least a year and see how she feels in 5th grade. Taking it again in 5th grade may be a better option anyway since our 6th grade is middle school and we may need more leverage going into middle school than we do right now.
If your DD does end up taking the Explore - good luck!!
