DS will be taking the ACT Saturday as a 6th grader. We signed him up for the talent search on our own, not through a school. I am not aware of anyone in our town who has ever taken the test except as a High school student. DS may be the only talent search kid there. We live in a pretty small town and I am suddenly worried that we will run into people we know Saturday who are taking the test as Jr's and Sr's and that they will wonder why DS is taking this test.

Any thoughts on a quick canned speech DS and I can give in case it comes up?

That's a tough one!
How about?

We wanted a test that could monitor his growth all the way into the high school years.

or

We've heard that it's a good way to figure out what a high ability kid's educational needs might be.

Good luck,
Grin

There's always -


It's required for a summer camp we're considering. So how's your new job?

g

I accidentally posted this on a different thread.

Hi acs,

We live in a smallish town, too. There's only one testing center and my kids have run into high school kids we know. I've always taken the son who is testing, wait with him until door opens, walk him to the room, make sure his registration info is correct/accepted/no problems, ask the proctor what time I should come back. They are aware of the younger kids, either by a special list from talent search if not just by size. Don't look/act nervous (even though your heart will be pounding fast) because you don't want to transfer anxiety to your son. Act as if it's the most natural thing in the world for him to spend his Saturday morning taking a test. Then, freak out after you leave him...

February is hard because it's a big HS testing date. I like the less populated dates for younger kid testing (Dec or Nov). One of our good friends' HS daughter (at 18) called me the day before testing to see if (then) DS 12 wanted a ride to the test the next day. At first I thought, How cool to show up with a beautiful young lady. Then I thought, No need to make him more of a pariah; he needs me to deliver him and make sure he's ok. We saw her and other HS kids we knew at the test center and they were so nice. I actually think DS's presence made them more nervous than they made him. One kid actually said, "How humiliating that that little kid is going to do better than I will". (It wasn't meant to be mean, but just nerves).

Be there when the test lets out.

Any inside scoop on which Spring dates are less popular?
I'm still considering sending DS11 this Spring. I was so unready for 7th grade!

Grinity

ACS and CYM:
Same situation here last year, when Ghost was 11 and in 6th grade. The test was SAT. Also taken at our local college, but in January. I do not think January is a busy month for SAT, but I don't know about ACT.
So Gost walks in and in the hallway he spotted his friend from fencing, one year older. This I think has made him feel more at ease. Besides Ghost there were 2 or 3 7th graders testing in the same room. I also believe that it has made HS kids more tense to see such a little guy sitting next to them. Ghost reported that girls were especially amused. He was asked how old he was, followed by a question which book he used to study from - none was the reply, to the horror of the other kids. There was also a comment about kids like that scoring higher than most HS juniors. Ghost was actually enjoying this short lived fame:-) Nobody has asked him or us, for that matter, why is he writing this test. But if they were, I would have answered that it was for a talent search. People generally do not ask further thinking that this is something they should be aware of:-)
I am past the stage of hiding my child's ability - I have to be loud to help him and others like him.
This year January SAT was not offered at our local college, so we had to make a trip to the U of U. There they had a special, separate room for talent search participants. Much less amusing:-)

OK, I discussed this with DS. He says his answer to any questions is going to be, "because my mom made me." He said I can explain it any way I want to. He says he's excited about it but it would be embarrassing if anyone knew that he was there for any other reason than parental coercion.

That excuse works for a lot of things!