Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy What math level would you choose?

Hi all,

My DYS, age 8, just finished placement testing for his new online school. He tested "off the charts" according to his teacher and qualifies for placement in high school math. Age wise, he would be entering third grade this year.

Since I know that placement testing is by no means exhaustive and only has a few questions on each topic, I am wondering what I should do. Should I let them place him in high school math or should I ask that he be placed somewhere else, maybe pre-Algebra? I watched him take the test, and I am pretty sure he had never seen some of that stuff before--he just sort of figured it out. I think if it had been timed, he probably would have placed into pre-Algebra.

So, do any of you with "mathy kids" have any advice? I don't really remember what is covered in pre-Algebra. Would it be easy to sort of skip over and just fill in any gaps as they arise?

For what it is worth, he tested about the same in reading, but I am not as worried there because it isn't as sequential as math.

What do you think? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I think this part:
answers this part:
- i.e. I think that if he can figure this stuff out under test conditions, even a little slowly, he won't have much trouble filling in any gaps! Unless your instinct is really telling you different?

If Algebra is what their high school math starts with then sign him up. He may have some gaps but he will most likely have no problems filling them up.

You may also want to look into AOPS classes if you can. From what I've heard those work really well for mathy kids.

Thanks for all of your input! It is really helpful.

The test he took was the actual placement test for the school's curriculum. It was on the computer, and it kept asking more questions as he continued to pick the correct answers. (It was multiple choice.)

From what I saw, the test seemed to have maybe five questions on every topic. Five multiplication, five division, on up to five multiple-step algebra equations. So it definitely wasn't totally comprehensive. It took maybe an hour and a half or so.

The school is an online public school/homeschool, so it is completely self-paced. I think filling in the gaps wouldn't be too big of an issue, I just wonder if there will be so many gaps that starting with pre-algebra makes more sense. As I mentioned before, I can't quite remember what exactly was in pre-algebra because I took it more years ago than I would like to calculate (yikes!).

OK, I'm going to keep thinking about this...

Thanks again!

If his placement test shows that he is eligible to go on to high school math, I will let him do it.
My own experience:- Ds9 first took one placement test (up to grade 5) and he did well. So he was asked to try the next placement (should be grade 7/8). The tests are quite detailed in my opinion. It took him more than one hr (almost 2 for the 2nd). He skipped Pre-Al and went onto AL. He has no problem so far. His only complain is when he has to do more exercises relating to topics he doesn't like eg. graphs.
For your ds to be able to "figure it out", I think he is going to do fine.