Hi BBDad - we didn't think too much about iq tests before DS4 took his earlier this year. DH and I had him tested as a prerequisite for possible early kindy entrance. Having read Ruf's book, we figured he was at least a level 3, with some 4. I remember thinking "whew, at least he's not one of those profoundly gifted kids who have troubles with regular school." We went through a bit of shock after getting results that put him with that higher group. But now, I'm the positive that we have for getting him tested before school is that we are advocating ahead of time to make sure his needs will be met and he will be placed with the right kind of teacher.
But although we lucked out with DS getting a "magic number" first time round, most of the time he doesn't seem like a HG+ kid to me. As for reading harry potter, he could, but doesn't like to read much by himself, and he has a hard time with tracking all the lines unless he follows with his finger. DH and I do the majority of the reading. DS4 was however extremely happy to read a little star wars droid book to us by himself - i guess it's a matter of interest. If there were a giant chapter book on gonk droids, he'd be all over it!
And as for cooperating with testing, I was worried that DS wouldn't do the easier levels because once he's done something before, he isn't too interested in revisiting it. I think a little prep (e.g., telling DS that he had to do all the easy and silly questions or else he wouldn't get to the really fun ones) and a tester with experience with gifted kids made all the difference.
For me, one of the nice things about testing was learning about potential obstacles in DS's future education. Good to know in advance.
Good luck!
