Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Explore Test

My 4th grade twins took the Explore yesterday too. In the waiting area before the test, while all the other kids were waiting quietly, ds was alternately bouncing off the walls and finding ways to get error messages on his calculator, while dd allayed her boredom with a thick book. They let her bring the book into the exam room too. Afterwards, she said she like the science test best of the 4 because she finished that one more quickly than the others, leaving her more time to read. The only one she ran out of time on was the math - there were a few on the math that seemed unfamiliar to her. Ds was less casual coming out -- I got the impression he struggled a bit compared to his sister, which is consistent with past performance.

They did the practice test a few weeks ago, which was valuable, but this (the actual test yesterday) was their first experience running into time limits on a test like this, so good experience for the future.

A primary goal for the testing was ammunition in working with our public school system. Next year we will be planning the transition to middle school, and from what we've heard, having our own data about their performance level should be very valuable.

Has anyone recieved more appropriate learning by showing Explore results?

Someone at my testing center said it's good for kids to keep taking these tests. That can help them perform better and helps with scholarships. Do you think that is true? Is one test a year like this good enough practice?

As someone who took the ACT and SAT one time each, I think it certainly can't hurt just knowing what a large scale timed test feels like. I plan on doing some sort of timed/standardized test yearly for that kind of practice alone. Being exposed to a similar format as an elementary student and doing it once a year for years can only be a good thing as a college bound student.

That being said, I don't know that you can make any judgments about your child if they don't do well on a timed, above level test. Especially at an early age. I was just talking to a friend who took the SAT as a jr. high student to test in to a HG+ high school program. She achieved an incredibly high score. She said she felt like a bit of a fraud. She has amazing time management, deduction, and logic skills which all served her incredibly well on the SAT. But didn't necessarily feel she had the actual math and science skills to be a great fit at the school. Interesting perspective, I thought!

Our old school system did not know what to do with the test scores other than finally send DD to gifted math enrichment. When approaching our new school system, the gifted coordinator asked for the Explore scores. He was impressed and arranged for IQ testing which DD had never had before. Explore scores in addition to IQ scores have given DD 2 year subject acceleration in math, condensed science and 1 year in LA.

Taking Explore once a year has been good practice on time management during a test and frankly taking a test where she didn't ace every question. Now we are looking forward to the SAT to keep challenging her. And for the low cost through talent search, it is money well spent, IMHO.

Jen

Dottie- That's so funny about the SAT scores. Do mature adults remember their scores? really.

FWIW...Ohio now accepts the Explore as one way to ID a gifted student. The scores they use are at: Ohio Dep't of Ed

Gifted teachers in Ohio should be familiar with that website.

We used EXPLORE to help negotiate out of middle school math for DS (his placement test given by the school and telling them he took AoPS algebra also helped).

I think most people remember ballpark SAT scores. I don't remember exactly, but I know I did better on math than verbal and I know the total adding the two together. DH was opposite--better verbal than math and he knows his ballpark total.

Nope, I don't remember my SAT scores or my ACT scores. Or my GRE scores.

I have no idea what my actual SAT scores were. I have a very rough ball park figure. I did better on math than verbal. But I never even did a practice exam and took it one time.

I do remember how I did on the GMAT though. For that test, I actually did a little prep and didn't have the test anxiety I had as a younger student. My scores much better reflected my actual ability.