<p>Have your children participated in middle school academic talent search programs such as through Johns Hopkins or Northwestern? How did they score on the SAT or ACT in high school compared to middle school? Where are they considering attending college?</p>
<p>My 14 yr old daughter scored 30/36 on the ACT last year as a 9th grader and 1680/2400 on the SAT in 8th grade. We are wondering how she will score as she gets older and what kind of colleges she should be thinking about. </p>
<p>My 12 yr old son scored 25/36 on the ACT as a 6th grader.</p>
<p>Mathson scored 690M/680CR on the SAT in 7th grade and within ten points in 8th grade too. He scored 800 CR both times he took the SAT in high school and 740 then 750 in Math. Despite the higher verbal score, he's still a math guy. He applied to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon (School of Computer Science), Harvey Mudd, RPI and WPI. Got into Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, RPI and WPI and is attending Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>If you search around the SAT section a year or two ago there was a long thread of posters comparing talent search scores with ones received as juniors or seniors. If I remember correctly most scored about 100 points higher in each section. (Obviously not those who already had scores in the 700s.) One kid who had amazingly high scores in middle school actually went down, he found it somewhat amusing - I think he may have petitioned to use the middle school scores.</p>
<p>I got something like a 510M/500V in seventh grade and wound up with a 780M/690V. SAT II Writing I had something like a 510, haha.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, I did considerably worse on the GRE math than I had on the SAT, even though it's the same material and five-six years later. My verbal and writing scores went way up, though (worst engineer ever)!</p>
<p>My oldest did the ACTs for one of these programs. He took them in 6 and 7th grade and then not again until the PSAT in 10th and then last time as a junior. His scores were fairly predictive of what they report - about 2 points higher for each year of schooling. 25 in 6th grade is fabulous. Congrats to him on that. It's one of my "mother" memories dropping Son 1 off at the high school on a cold winter Saturday when he was in 6th grade with all those "hulking" teenagers to take the ACT. He was still my "baby" then.</p>
<p>I had a a 580W-580R-800M score in 7th grade. Everyone told me the maximum I could increase my total score was only about 200. Needless to say, my score oriented Asian parents were dissapointed and angry, heheh ;)</p>
<p>Ended up with a 790W-800R-800M last winter as a junior. (My PSATs weren't absolutley stellar though: 219 and then 225)</p>
<p>Son scored 1180/1600 in 7th grade, then 33 as a junior on ACT. Definite improvement.</p>
<p>I would expect a student who scored 30 as a 9th grader would have a nice increase by the time they are a junior. She'll be learning a lot in the next two years that will be covered on the exam.</p>
<p>I agree with firefly. ALSO, once you get a hang of how these (stupid) standardized tests work, they become a lot easier. If there was one thing the ITEDS (the Iowa standardized torture method), it's how to maximize the input vs output figure during a test - ie. how to spend the least time on the tests and still have a 99%ile composite, hahah. </p>
<p>I'm sure you DS and DD will figure things like that out too. Expect great things :D</p>
<p>I think I scored in the 650-ish range for math and reading in the 7th grade through Johns Hopkins (writing didn't exist then). Ended up with 760 R, 800 M, 800 W last year on my "first try" at the SAT for real, no studying/practice aside from taking the PSATs at school. I'm going to Stanford in the fall.</p>
<p>As someone mentioned, all it takes is practice.</p>
<p>Later they can get perfect SAT scores but still end up at a flagship U- Honors program, of course. There is a surplus of top students out there, don't count on your gifted kid getting into the elite schools. Of course, they may and should apply to more than a couple... Also, where they apply depends on geography and the strength of the state U.</p>
<p>Yes, concentrate on everything else, you know the test scores will be good. Make sure they have a good, academic and otherwise, HS experience. Let geography and interests decide which schools to target. Your house will be filled with solicitations from schools based on information checked off on interest boxes on the tests taken. Be aware that most of the best schools do not need to market as much as those looking for students to raise their level. Do pay attention to the 50% range of test scores for schools, your children will find more peers at schools where the test scores are higher rather than average. Remember that flagship state U's usually have some sort of Honors program, many top students populate those. Check out your top instate school(s) for a safety, use the information found in US News and World Report to get ideas of schools with top students and choose those that meet your child's criteria. Start reading books from the library about how to pick a college. Remember a good fit is the most important, not prestige. Finally, remember it is your child's job to apply to college, your job is to expose them to what is out there and not to do the searching for them.</p>
<p>There are a lot of other factors to consider, besides standardized scores. Very important one is HS GPA and ranking, EC's, what your kids's area of interest and maybe some special programs that they are interested. Location of college, scholarship importance/availability. It seems way too early to start thinking about it, too many unknowns.</p>