The MS that my daughter will be attending next year has a similar "pre-algebra test-out" option in 6th grade. We just started using EPGY in Dec also, to solidify/accelerate a little at home and to place out at school next year.
In my 5th graders case, she is doing 6th grade math now in her self-contained GT school. Because of this, and because the MS just started to offer Algebra 2 on campus (vs having to travel to HS), she has the option of taking Algebra 1-Geometry-Algebra 2 for 6-8th grade. Majority of the IB kids, however, do start with pre-algebra in 6th, since they are either coming from 5th grade math and/or don't want to skip pre-algebra in order to build strong foundation for Algebra.
For EPGY, I had signed her up for 6th grade math, but given we started mid-year, and the system starts out 1/2 behind by default, she is finishing up 5th grade math now - I figured it's all good, for her to build speed, facility and plug any holes in her learning. So far, she is getting ~95% or higher in most of her strands and she is close to starting 6th. She is committed to it and tries to work on it nearly daily for 20min.
We will see how she does...I would like her to complete 7th/pre-algebra EPGY and maybe be well into Algebra by end of summer if she is to test out of a class at school all together. While I don't want her to be bored at school, I also want to make sure she is very solid and fluent in these foundational math years before "skipping". Wish us luck!
