We just found out that DS14 qualified for the NUMATS ceremony, and he is surprisingly pleased (in his own quiet way). smile His brother qualified a few years ago with his EXPLORE scores (and just missed qualifying this time with the ACT). We live in a pretty high-achieving school district and many of his friends already took ACT/SAT prep classes in 8th grade. DS did no prep beyond a practice test and hasn't accelerated beyond our normal gifted curriculum (he's taking an AoPS course, but it's programming, so not too applicable). He had taken the SAT in 6th grade through his gifted program and wanted to see if he had progressed (and of course, his brother decided to tag along; he hadn't done anything except the EXPLORE that his school requested as a precursor to math acceleration). After younger DS took the EXPLORE, I hadn't thought of doing NUMATS again, feeling like it would be difficult for a non-prepped/non-enriched kid to qualify(this year, 8th graders needed a 35 in reading, 34 in math, or 33 composite to qualify for the awards ceremony), but I signed them up at his request. So, it was really satisfying to see that DS could get close to those scores (he got 34 reading, 34 math, 30 English and Science-qualifying via his math score) without special prep or advancement, but just by reading a lot and having some natural aptitude for math.
I have been nervous about some of his freshman courses (like AP World), and seeing that reading score is reassuring. I know it's just one test, but it's a bit of confirmation, and I'm happy to see him get rewarded for academics. In our district, maybe because administrators are sick of pushy parents, kids get recognized for sports and music, but not usually for academics.
Thanks for letting me share-obviously not something I feel like I can talk about IRL (I'm guessing you all understand why!).