I know it's not even been four weeks yet but I'm tired of waiting!!!!!

I'm really not a patient person... grumble grumble... but DS said he'd be happy to take the ACT next, so this should be his last Explore and my last long wait.

It doesn't help that I'm also waiting for a bunch of other things -- unrelated of course, but every day that I don't get interesting mail feels like a conspiracy!

Step away from the thread Dottie...LOL!

This year has been much easier for us than the long wait last year. For once, our school situation is great and DD loves the challenge. We are in the planning process for middle school and the Explore may be helpful for that.

I hope I will just forget about the test until I casually notice the envelope in the mailbox... yeah right...

Dottie, congrats to DD for being nominated! Since this is our last Explore, I think, I want to see if there is any progress esp. after the grade skips this year. We'll also do SCAT soon and then our school district does some testing for middle school. I think Otis-Lennon and Standford? Of course the year the testing isn't as important, we have tons of it...

Jen

Cool that she was nominated!! That's a fun envelope to open anyway! We had a big envelope this week but it was something to do with being a stockholder in something or other... probably one of DH's former employers. I'm not looking at anything to do with stocks until at least 2015.

The scores don't make a bit of difference here either... I just enjoy the overanalysis to which they lend themselves. I would say I need a hobby, but I think I've got one! It just doesn't come around but once a year.... LOL

We are also waiting...although I have to say that D seems to have forgotten about it. This was her second and last time with the Explore. I am not expecting ceiling scores, but she has always surprised me so far
With Ghost's HS course selection we have plenty of other things to 'worry" about

Soo...when should we have them?

Depends on who you ask.... our talent search website (Northwestern) says "4-5 weeks", but last year was more like 6-8 I think....

I've never been the first person to get them (I guess since we don't live anywhere near Iowa! LOL) and I've not seen any posts of other people getting them yet, so I'm not really holding my breath.... well maybe a little.

NOOOOOOOO! We have hit the 4 week mark, and I was sure that we would get them this week. There is no way I would last another 4 weeks.

LOL -- I'm optomistic every single day until about, uh, 1pm when the mail comes and it's not there. Again. grrrrrr.... Not like I don't have plenty of other things to keep me occupied, I just hate having this "loose end" hanging out there! Here's hoping they're on their way!

This is me, except my hope is dashed around 11:00am. It didn't come today, maybe tomorrow. (Two more days and it will be past 5 weeks.)

I was avoiding the boards the past couple weeks for a variety of reasons Time being one, extreme frustration with DS the other.

But like the rest of you - still waiting...

I hope you like your new Job Dottie

Nothing here either...

Are the EXPLORE tests taken at the same time by all kids nationally-- so you're all waiting on the same test results?

I think my niece took it this year, I can't wait to hear what her scores are.

I forgot to get the mail on Sat. DH brought it down to me this morning in the middle of a snowstorm since it was a packet from CM. I opened it up to find summer camp information LOL. It was super sweet of DH to walk back down our very long and steep driveway to bring it to me

Snow day here. Time to bake cookies.

Aw man, I was hoping for some vicarious excitement!! LOL

Vicarious cookies will have to do

We got it today!

Yay! Someone has their report!! Ania - what talent search do you use (if that's not too nosy to ask...)

Does it seem odd that for C-MITES there is explore and for CTY there is SCAT? I would love to have the same test for many different talent searches.

They came today Hope that is a good sign for you too, Dottie!

Not stellar scores by this groups standards, but nice ones none the less

Nothing for us today. I hope this is a good sign that we will get our results later this week.

Jen

We're still waiting here. At least with some of you getting them, but with our mail that probably means that we will get them sometime next week.

Still waiting here.... but yay for some vicarious excitement! Can't be long now, right?

Congrats to all of you that have scores in hand.....
Sympathies to those of you still waiting.....

You guys have made a good case for not subjecting myself to explore!! I'm a really impatient person!!

We are in the RMTS

Shari--you should consider it when DS is in about 4th grade. Currently we're the one and only test center in the state and hopefully we'll still be doing it by then. It's a great opportunity and he'll love it. The waiting only annoys the moms (kids don't even think about it).

Hmmm... I wonder if there's a pattern... We're in CTD/Northwestern, and the ones who've gotten theirs already are C-MITES and RMTS.... I'll try not to have a temper tantrum if they're not in tomorrow's mail...

Does it mean the maximum score for DS on the math section?

If you have to put "9th grade" in "quotes" then I say yes! LOL

LOL, Erica!

Erica's right

Cym - He's skipping to 4th next year and he'll only be six. Can you go by age instead of grade?

I called NUMATS when we registered the first time. They told me to go by actual grade level, so the data would be comparable to students exposed to the same grade level material. I thought since the test was for 8th grade material, that it wouldn't make a difference if I put down 3rd or 4th grade, but I did as they recommended.

The recommendation may be different from other Talent searches, so calling them might be the best thing.

Jen

Their norms are by grade, not age, so you have to pick one... but I don't think they actually check that you're doing it the way they'd like or anything... and since we're homeschooling there isn't anyone else for them to ask in our case!

I first signed DS up when he was 7 as a 3rd grader -- could be once- or twice-skipped depending on whose cutoffs you use (that is, our local PS would have admitted him as a 2nd grader that year, but the private schools would have wanted him in 1st). Nobody blinked except the other parents waiting in the school library where he took it. LOL We've increased his grade at the rate of one per year without regard to what work he's doing... which probably isn't strictly fair to the other kids, but then it's the same issue as Dottie's above -- there isn't a grade that I could choose without putting it in quotes for one reason or another!

I'm not going to worry about it, because this is our last year with them anyway and we'll be doing the ACT on our own without interfering with anyone else's system. I might have felt guilty if I waited until this year to sign him up as a 3rd grader -- he would have been both at the very upper end of the possible age range AND tutored way ahead of that level.

OK, I'm brand new to this, but hope someone can help me out. My 4th grade daughter took the NUMATS/Explore test in January and just got her results back. Her composite score was 17, which sounds pretty good, given it is above the average of what 8th graders scored on the test. Is there some way to find out how this compares to other 4th graders (I Googled it and didn't seem to come up with much)? Does anyone know if this is an average, good or great score for a 4th grader, from a GT standpoint? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

My dd took the Explore though NUMATS too. I think that we are supposed to get more info next month, something that will tell us how they did compared to other kids their age. Until then I have been using this site. http://bbc.honors.uiowa.edu/talentSearch2009/ It doesn't quite work for us as my dd is only 3rd grade, but it does give some info. I can tell you that my dd also got a composite of 17, and it says that it is the 93% for 4th graders taking the test. Sounds like both of our dd's did pretty well.

To be honest, it totally blew me away. No wonder I pull my hair out trying to find curriculum for her (we homeschool).

Ethan, here's one way of looking at it. Davidson lists the criterion for their Young Scholar program here. A composite of 17 on the Explore for a 4th grader meets the achievement testing part for the YS program. I'd say that is very good.

Dottie your scaring me here, LOL. This is the first testing she has done, and I was not expecting these results. She did well on regular standardized tests, but I am very surprised at these results. I guess I had a good case of GT denial going on.

(((shaking))) the denial dust off the House! LOL
Welcome aboard!

LOL Tracy - that's what these things are good for... they're excellent anti-denial tools! I can talk my way out of believing almost anything indicates GTness, unless it's accompanied by a ridiculous quantity of statistics. Congratulations to your DD!!

Sounds like this has been a good year for those taking the explore Congrats to all the young ones!

Wheeee! They finally came!!! And oddly enough his English score jumped WAY up -- I never thought that would happen.... LOL But he got into the 20s, which was my "cutoff" for moving on to the ACT, so we're done with the Explore! Yay!

Awsome, Erica

I am new to this area and trying to learn about this issue of giftedness. We have always though our son (4th grade) was pretty smart, but he just got back his NUMATS / Explore results and he had a composite of 19 and his lowest area was an 18. It sounds like that score is pretty good, but now what? I suddenly feel like I need to take some action, but I haven't figured out what the appropriate next steps should be. I feel like the person shaking off the denial above. Any advise is appreciated!

Thanks for your feedback. He is not receiving anything special at all and attends regular 4th grade classes. His 3rd grade teacher said she thought he was really bright and suggested we look into it further so that encouraged us to sign him up for the Explore test. His current teacher has told us �he is doing fine� so she just kind of lets him skate through without pushing him. He says school is boring and easy so I guess that makes a lot of sense now! I though he was just complaining.

The only things we have done at home � other than making sure they do their homework � is nightly reading together as a family and we have done some basic math games but that is about it. I am feeling that I have been a little naive about his abilities.

Back to work Dottie!

Thanks. I guess my next step is to talk to the school and see what our options are as well as outside alternatives.