TLDR; tested multiple times by public school systems in 2nd, 3rd, and 7th grade, last one being an individual test, schools never gave me a score or any feedback; top of the class without effort in elementary school, C student in high school/zero effort, 3.78 college GPA with equal effortlessness as elementary school; irritating sensual overexcitablites regarding tags, texture, and temperature; 99th percentile in several subjects on standardized tests and over 90th percentile in all but math every year; phonetic and spelling failure but very good writer and articulate speaker, math computation is impossible; abstract, metaphorical thinking/speech and hardcore visual-spatial learner. Why are my ACT and IQ scores depressed? Do I look like a 2e profile?
Hi everyone!
I suspect I have a twice-exceptional disability and wanted to hear feedback from those of you well-informed. I was never identified as gifted in public school systems, but their behavior regarding testing me was very odd. Any insight as to why I was tested over and over again without ever being admitted or told my IQ score would be lovely.
Standardized test scores always placed my reading, reading comprehension, and English-related scores in the 99th percentile. In elementary/middle, I scored 95th-99th percentile in social studies (99th) and science (95%). My math scores were above average back then, but still only around 80th percentile, much lower than the rest of my scores. Generally my standardized tests showed all percentiles in the 90s (barring Math in middle school) with one or two at 99th (English, reading comp) and the other scores scattered between 90-99th.
First tested for gifted program in 2nd grade, group test. Didn't get in/no feedback/who knows what I scored.
Tested again in 3rd grade at a different, better school system, this test wasn't in group format but the examiner didn't speak to me. Proctor-like. Tried to skip a harder question but accidentally filled the next question's answer into that bubble and ultimately rendered my test scores useless. I scored a mentally retarded IQ and my teacher was so nasty towards me afterwards she actually snail-mailed me a written apology via a Hallmark card the following Christmas! Why would my teacher even care about my score coming back so low when my family never pushed to get me tested or demand anything? Was I just more annoying on a day-to-day, classroom basis than I thought?
By 5th grade I'm struggling to maintain excellent grades in math, still getting the job done. I was placed in a daily, albeit brief, pull-out accelerated reading program with two others in which we chose our own (above grade level) reading material and wrote papers versus made group projects with peers. My STAR reading level (TN assessment) in 5th grade tested as post high school/entry-level collegiate.
I didn't try anymore in middle school. My personal spaces were so discombobulated and messy I'd lose important papers five minutes after receiving them. I still made great grades in English, reading, and social studies, but mediocre in other classes. Math first became downright impossible in middle school/6th. I'd REFUSE to practice multiplication cards to the point of screaming/crying fits.
Tested a third time in 7th grade, but this test was individual and took hours. I asked what it [the test] was afterward and she said an individual assessment for gifted program admittance--what? Why? Any idea why they tested me individually? Never heard a peep back from anyone about this test either.
No more testing. My parents had to hire a professional algebra 2 tutor for me to pass Algebra my senior year--I was failing. I graduated from high school with 12 semester hours of AP college credit but a dismal 2.2 GPA.
I grew wings and took off when I made it to college. Setting the class curve became as second nature and easy for me as daydreaming. I utterly flourished and my abysmal GPA sky rocketed from 2.2 to 3.5 my freshman semester. College was quite literally effortless and I loved it. I graduated with a BA in English literature (3.78 cum GPA, Latin honors, English dept. honors & university-wide honors) with a minor in history (4.0 in my history minor). I finished college in 3 years.
On the GRE I scored 158 verbal & 130 (the absolute lowest score possible) quantitative reasoning. My writing score was a 4.5.
While 15 (first and only time I took the ACT, this score got me my state scholarship) I took the ACT and scores are as follows:
Composite Score : 24
English 25
Usage/Mechanics 13
Rhetorical Skills 14
Mathematics 19
Pre-Algebra/Elem. Algebra 12
Algebra/Coord. Geometry 08
Plane Geometry/Trig. 10
Reading 30
Social Studies/Sciences 16
Arts/Literature 15
Science 21
Combined English/Writing 26
Writing (score range 2 to 12) 10
Why are my standardized test scores off the charts but my IQ test taking ability so low? I know my ACT composite, all ACT sub scores, and especially my verbal GRE score are just plain lower than I am capable of. I learned to read via sight words and did not learn phonetically. I have terrible, atrocious phonetic awareness. For example I often don't know if gender is pronounced like the g in "giraffe" or g in "godly." No idea how to pronounce myriad--migh-re-add or meer-e-add? Math computation and algebra are akin to speaking fluent Japanese. I hate to admit it, but if spell check/auto correct weren't practically integrated into our own brains through today's technology, my spelling would be horrible too. I used to spell "recommendation" with two c's until a few months ago and was flabbergasted when I realized "tomorrow" isn't spelled "tomarrow." I feel like I have an odd culmination of gifted scores, painfully average/below average scores, gifted sensitivities and processing problems, with odd 2e phonetic and spelling issues. Any thoughts?
