DD9 took the test back in January as a 4th grader (she is skipped one year) and she did quite well for a 3rd grader but not really DYS level when measured against the 4th grade yardstick. We had her sit for the test to expose her to this kind of testing and here are the results:-

English: 17
Usage/mechanics(1-12): 9
Rhetorical skills (1-12): 10
Mathematics: 14
Reading: 15
Science: 17

Composite: 16

Our main finding was that she needs to learn 'exam technique' as she did not answer all of the questions - not even putting in a place holding guess to be looked at later. Also, (this still burns me up a bit) the proctor insisted that DD use a calculator which she didn't need and she isn't used to one.

When she had a problem involving negative numbers she wasted a lot of time trying to work out how to get negative numbers into her new toy (had never used or seen a +/- key) when she could have effortlessly performed the calculation mentally. Maths is one of my DD's strong suits and had it not been for this I believe that her score would have been higher.

We need to brush up on her exam technique but I am quite pleased for my DD because it shows that she is capable of holding her own even as a 4th grader. Had she known not to leave blanks perhaps her score would have been a little higher.

I am deeply disappointed that this test has been discontinued as it would have been an excellent measure of progress/ or lack of it going forwards.

I can not imagine why they would insist she use a calculator ! How terrible. Well done DD. Her reading comprehension scores are really good ( in Eng and Science ).

I believe the next test is going to ASPIRE ...or r they discontinuing ACT and SAT too ??

That doesn't sound right. The calculator is for their convenience; it is NOT required. It sounds like you had improper interference from the proctor and I would say something.

ASPIRE is not going to be an out of level test from what I have seen of it so far (precious little).

Don''t forget that the advocates of the Common Core have dictated that acceleration is not needed so obviously any test the shows this premise to be false must be rooted out and eliminated.

Your daughter should be very proud - nice, strong scores!!!

If it makes you feel any better, DD8 (3rd grade) took it in Feb. and I told her to "take a guess" on all items if she was running out of time - and she just didn't. So she told me she left 7 math questions and a science question BLANK, even though she had been advised to at least guess (sigh). My DD tends to do her own thing, but ugh!

Truthfully, though - I was proud of DD for taking it. After the test, as I watched her emerge from the sea of "bigger bodies" (she was on her tiptoes trying to find me), cool as a cucumber, I was VERY PROUD of her. I think it takes courage for the younger test takers to stay poised and do their best.

Ditto for mine too LOL

I always say that she has my DW's stubbornness with mine as the exponent!

WHAT !!!!

Congrats to your DD, madeinuk!

We did the same thing with our oldest DD last year as an 8 year old 3rd grader. We scheduled her for the EXPLORE just to give her that experience and to give us some idea of where she was at on an above-level test. We were secretly hoping maybe she would give us some ammo for a DYS application too.

We had concerns she wouldn't be able to focus or take the test seriously and we probably did have some of that going on. We too told her to make sure she answered all the questions and she said she did. She was the only 3rd grader testing, obviously the smallest kid in the room, and there were some pretty rambunctious older boys also taking the test - one boy was asked to leave during one section since he had finished early and was disturbing the others. DD told us she didn't use the calculator at all on any of the math and the stories in the reading section were boring (she admitted later that she zipped through that part). This explained to us why her reading score was low when we anticipated it to be her highest score. (She later took our state assessment test and scored "exemplary" in reading, so I know her reading score on the EXPLORE does not exemplify her best work)

We thought about having her take it again this year to see if she made any progress and especially after hearing it wouldn't be offered again after this year, but we didn't. I haven't looked into the replacement test at all, so we will wait and see how things go before signing her up for any other testing.

The best thing we got out of the EXPLORE was the write up NUMATS sent us. It lined out the next several years for DD and what she should be doing academically. We presented this at her end of the year GIEP meeting and hope they will take some of the suggestions into consideration.

My son did the same thing at that age! I wasn't able to convince him to guess, even when I showed him the explanation in the handout that was sent to us. When I asked him about it later, he looked at it as a moral issue-- he wanted to be right on his own merits. LOL.

Love it.

Y'all have reminded me about this... anyone know when the next Explore test will be?

Explore is being discontinued.

EXPLORE (All EXPLORE test dates allow for award ceremony consideration.)
Test Dates

Regular Registration Ends
Late Registration Ends**
November 9, 2013 October 8, 2013 October 13, 2013**
January 25, 2014
(January 26, 2014)*


December 17, 2013
December 29, 2013**
February 15, 2014

January 14, 2014
January 19, 2014**
*Non-Saturday test date is for students whose religious observance prohibits testing on Saturdays.
**$14 late registration fee will apply

That was how my DD saw it too - almost like lying when I asked why she hadn't done that after the test.

If she's skipped a year, does DYS count her by her age for the EXPLORE scores or by the grade (since by her age she would be in 3rd grade). I was curious about that. I could see it going either way. Age (count use the 3rd grade stick because of maturity) or Grade (use the 4th grade stick because of what they've been exposed to in academics).

Oh, I wish I thought in DD's case it was for such a noble reason. But alas, I think it is more likely that stubborn quality mentioned earlier - she follows her OWN advice best, ahem.

Yes, um, the uber-compliant goody-two-shoes is NOT my DD. Rather, she's the self-directed mind-of-her-own.

As to whether it can be by age rather than grade - I WISH, but I don't think that is how it is done. I think someone in another thread said it is always by grade. DD is a pretty young 3rd grader (summer birthday), so if it was by age, that might actually help her a bit (of course, they do not give it to 2nd graders). DD manages to hold her own in 3rd grade though, so I'll just have to hope that of those she chose to answer, they were correct.

Lilswee,

As far as I know, they do not count age to EXPLORE for DYS qualification purposes. Duke TIP does not do that either. That's one of the disadvantage you have when you skip grade in public school. Home schooling has more flexibility. You may be teaching 7th grade Math but the kid is 8 and she can take the test as a 3rd grader instead of 7th.

If your DD has qualifying IQ score, consider taking other achievement tests such as WJ III or WIAT III. Those are age based and not the grade based.

Good luck!

Peter thanks for the encouraging words.

My DD is a DYS and she had respectable scores in the WJ Ach:-

Math fluency (a year ago as a 2nd grader) was GE 5.9 (132) but her appled problems was GE11.4 (152) and calculations was 'GE' 13.0 (194). Overall, her brief Maths was GE 12.2 (168), broad Maths 9.7 (168) and math calc skill 8.6 (178).

Based on those scores and the fact that has learned a lot since I do not think her performance on the EXPLORE showed her at her best. I am just a little sick ( still - LOL) that she will not get the chance to kick the EXPLORE's butt at a future rematch because the test has been take away.

C'est la vie.

Well if the curriculum is challenging for all and in-class differentiation is the gold standard then obviously no one will need any more. So why test. I am not in the US but it is familiar.

Great point! Pass the Coolaid.

The DYS qualification FAQ page is the source of information for this answer: http://www.davidsongifted.org/young...rs___Frequently_Asked_Questions_381.aspx

This is the source for information regarding EXPLORE being discontinued: http://www.act.org/products/k-12-act-explore/. Previous threads here and here.

Oh well, we were just planning to let DD9 take Explore for DYS applications. Looks like we will have to wait for the transition to happen and see if DYS also switches to Aspire or something else for young kids.

Just got DD's 2015 Explore results:-

English: 22
Usage/mechanics(1-12): 12
Rhetorical skills (1-12): 9
Mathematics: 25
Reading: 15
Science: 25

Composite: 22

Big improvement on last year's attempt and highlighted a concern regarding the reading score which was the only one that did not improve.

Very pleased for my DD10 and proud as a parent I have to say as this site is about the only place where I can safely even mention this.

While she will not be one of the award winners this does qualify her for DYS at her grade level which is a year ahead of her age level and she made a vast Improvement over her last year's scores.

Nice scores- good for your daughter!



My son's reading score was also very low and out of sync with his other scores, odd. I can't decipher the report (or haven't taken the time to, I guess I should admit) well enough to determine whether there is an issue to be concerned with or just impatience on his part with the passages.

Gee, I wonder where he gets that trait...

Congratulations to your DD!!!

We just received our 4th grade DD's explore results. She's got some quite high scores and we're thinking of applying for YS. We're hesitant about spending hundreds of dollars for IQ test, but hardly have any ideas about what kind of works for the portfolio. Is it possible to get in DYS with just high explore scores? She's also got high cogat scores, but it doesn't count as IQ test.

PICD, you can use work samples from your child's classroom or from home for the portfolio as long as it is 2 grades above your DDs actual grade. Also, you can use the cogat test as one of your portfolio items even though it cannot be submitted as a "TEST". Read the application instructions and FAQ carefully. Make sure that the explore scores meet the qualification criteria listed.

Thank you, book4life. Her explore scores are near perfect. But we looked through her school work and there's almost nothing clearly showing 2 grades above. We'll probably wait a few months until the school is over to see if anything worthy is coming out. We'll use cogat as a portfolio item for sure. Thanks for the idea.