This is a great question. DS will be taking his first out of level test this year. It will be the ACT. He has been taking the state tests for NCLB for several years which do have many out of level questions. He has scored "advanced for 10th" in all areas on these since about 4th grade so I know is is smart (his are by far the highest scores for his grade in the district.) and I know he is good at tests. But I know the ACT questions will be harder and the BIG DEAL is that they are timed and our state questions are not. DS is very reflective and enjoys savoring the challenge of hard questions as well as getting a good chuckle over the decoy wrong answers. I can just see him thinking hard about the first reading passage or two and then forgetting to do the rest. So, first, how do I prepare him for a timed test?
Second, DS is quite aware of what this is for. He wants to do one of the cool summer institutes and he wants a score that will get him into one that he wants to go to. He also knows the typical incoming freshman scores for the college next door. He is quite aware of score cut-offs for various things and has goals in mind. He wants to take practice tests and he wants to do really well.
It would have been nice if his first out of level test was more of an innocent affair but its not. He LOVES tests and wants to do well. I know that studying for out of level tests misses the point and I don't plan to force him to study, but what if he wants to study for his own purposes, is that OK?
Since this a something he has high hopes for and is excited about, how do keep it sane, especially if he does not do as well as he expects to do?
