Kcab,
It's interesting that you say
I felt darn guilty taking DD13 to take the ACT and hearing how much she felt in over her head afterward. DS8 did eventually get fed up with all the testing this spring.
I've been ruminating on challenge for gifted kids for the past week or so. I recently read someone (maybe even on this board) point out that maybe the right level of challenge doesn't start until gifted kids say, "this is too hard." In my house we're all in the process of learning Japanese. I found myself saying, "This is too much!" about a lesson last weekend and realized that it's a great sign! I just need to remind my daughter of that from time to time.
Like Kriston, I took out of level tests when I was in jr. high (lo, these many years ago). It was good, because I got exposed to things I otherwise wouldn't have. And, I enjoyed the tests. Even feeling slightly over my head, I remember coming out of a test and looking up the words because I hadn't come across them before. It was also a great confidence booster to realize that my scores were high enough in 7th and 8th grade to get accepted to most state colleges (if they were only looking at test scores).
