Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Prep for ACT - how much?

First time post here...

I have a just-turned-11-year-old 6th grader, who had been accelerated 1 year in a full-time elementary gifted program and is now excelling in middle school honors (e.g. 7th grade math, 12.9 reading level). So far her only formal assessment was with the Woodcock Johnson test when she was 4 years old, and she'd scored the highest classification (Very Superior).

From what I've read, at this grade level the most appropriate test for re-assessment is the ACT. I want to get an accurate representation of where she's at now, and resist the urge to over-prep or over-coach.

So how much prep is appropriate? I.e. where's the line between making sure she's prepared enough for the test to let her true abilities shine through, without having her "prep" so much that it skews her results?

If your daughter is in school she has probably taken plenty of tests so she is aware of the concept. Are you taking it through a talent search? If so, They probably got her name from...tests, right? State tests? The only prep you really need to do is to get a practice test, either from the talent search or the library, and have her do it at the kitchen table. DS practiced it in two chunks, on two Saturday mornings, so the first time he took the whole thing was on the test day when he was 11. The practice was mainly to get a feel for how long it is, and how many ovals you're going to be circling, and when to use the calculator. We didn't do any more prep than that, because it was a way to see where he was truly at.

The CTY site site for talent sarch participants http://cty.jhu.edu/talent/testing/about/act.html has a "Preparing for the ACT" booklet with sample questions. Before my 4th grader took the SAT I had him work through the book "Math Study Guide for the SAT, ACT and SAT Subject Tests" by Richard Corn. In general, I would try to expose my child to all the math concepts covered on the test and would not worry about this biasing the result. For most 11-year olds, SAT/ACT test prep would raise their scores very little, because the concepts would be over their heads. The ability of test prep to raise the ACT score of an 11yo is related to giftedness IMO.

Welcome!

You've received great advice above. I'll just add that in general the rule for when to prep for a test is as follows:
If it is an IQ/ability test, do not prep (Yermish article on Hoagies).
If it is an achievement test (such as the ACT), prep using materials supplied by the test maker.

Students interested in prep for ACT will find materials, freely available to all, on the ACT website: http://www.act.org/products/k-12-act-test/
- Question of the Day
- Sample Questions
- Test Tips

The amount to prep might best be determined by the student's curiosity and interest in spending time prepping.

That's about the same general level of "prep" that my DD13 used when she took the ACT for real as a junior in high school, btw.

ITA-- this isn't the kind of high-stakes testing that would make one consider intensive prepping as you truly just want the information and don't intend to share the scores other than for gaining appropriate opportunities in the next few years. It's not college admission on the line.

Thanks for all the responses! I really appreciate the advice from those who have been there.


We're pursuing this on our own, actually. She's been bored in class, gets straight A's with minimal effort in the honors program, and got a perfect score on her latest state test for reading. Science & math scores for this year haven't come back yet, but last year her math was over 95%.

I'm not sure what criteria the talent search organizations use, at what point they reach out, or if it varies by state. In any case we want to be proactive, get some more data on where she's at and go from there.

My dd11 just took the ACT, and I had similar questions. I took the advice of the other posters and just had my daughter work through the practice test so she was familiar with the format. She took the English and reading practice tests without issue on a timed basis, and we went over the answers together so she could see the reasoning. She freaked out a bit over the math and science, so instead of timing her on them we just went through the test together and I walked her through some of the questions so she had a better understanding of what they were asking. Once she realized the science was really more of a reading test and she had to infer the data rather than knowing it she was more confident.

I did not want to expose her to new concepts just for the test because that would have put more pressure on her to try to get things right. We went into it just wanting to know where she was currently to help plan for our first foray into homeschooling.

My dd does not like taking tests, so we did just enough to make sure she knew what to expect. She had no problems with the actual test and actually enjoyed meeting some of the other young kids there taking it through NUMATS. Although after we got the results this week she informed me she will not be taking it again until absolutely necessary ;-)

In our case interest was fairly high, so the house was strewn with library books for a month or so. It seemed to be a combo of "Whoa, look, math AND pretty bubbles to fill in" plus a way to sort of assuage questions of what the scores would be, what the test would look like, etc, plus satisfying innate curiosity. However, it was apparently not very useful in practice (techniques like skipping a lot and coming back, and whatever nonsense was up with the reading section, for example, fell by the wayside) and its main benefit was entertainment in the form of new math concepts, reading passages, and witty remarks on behalf of the Kaplan test prep books.
I would say that the prep did raise the scores to the highest possible AT THAT TIME, if you know what I mean -- it raised familiarity, but not ability really. So in that way I think it made the scores a more accurate portrayal of ability than just going in blind.

This approach may both manage expectations and optimize comfort level. Staying grounded and keeping it real may bode well for future college application, selection, and transitioning: finding the best "fit" and adjusting to the various demands... being discussed in a concurrent thread called Gifted teens and suicide.

Yes. We've tried to come up with a sort of plan for how to deal with the whole college admissions and test scores thing, consisting mostly of NOT going beyond one's personal limit for studying, grades, etc -- ie, it's one thing to work hard and strive for excellence, another to overwork and expect perfection or cause oneself anxiety, stress, etc.
However, the ACT scores...well, it could be quite hard NOT to feel the pressure/expectations for even better, perfect scores next time around. I think testing was a good idea but I hope we can still be fairly calm about the test when it's for real. Likely, we won't prep any more than we did this time -- it felt relaxed, but not careless.