Originally Posted by raptor_dad
Either your tests are unbiased and meaningful and any prep is worthless... or whatever you are testing is arbitrary and I would be naive not to prep. You can't have it both ways.
I disagree. My eldest son at age 8 got a 700 on the math SAT in part because he was "prepped" -- he had worked through Singapore Math and EPGY through Beginning Algebra and taken the math section of two practice SATs. But for almost all 8yo's, including my younger two, SAT math "prep" would be an exercise in utter frustration. My current 8yo dabbles with algebra but keeps thinking that 5x^2 really means 25x^2 -- and that's OK.

In short, the ability to benefit from test prep is itself g-loaded.