<p>My two oldest both took the ACT in 7th grade as part of Duke TIP qualifying.</p>
<p>I think it was a good experience for both of them.</p>
<p>Both scored well enough to get some recognition level, and to qualify for the summer programs. DD15 took it first, and so far has not been to any of the related camps. DS13 scored higher, and went to a 3 week program at Trinity University in San Antonio this past summer. He really enjoyed it. I think it helped his confidence (both academically and socially), and also maybe has helped/will help with various skirmishes for academic resources and advancement within their school. </p>
<p>There’s a fairly good chance that DS13 will do the university program again this summer, and DD15 may do a similar program at Vanderbilt (not within the Duke TIP sphere, but similar in nature, and relying, I think, on those ACT scores to qualify).</p>
<p>The college programs are not cheap. Furthermore, if, like us, you are not close to the location where the program is, there will be additional travel costs. (I flew down to San Antonio with DS13 to drop him off. My wife flew down to pick him up. I did get some value out of a little San Antonio sightseeing and seeing him off at the program itself.)</p>
<p>FWIW, we did try to have our kids do a little prep. IIRC, basically tried to get them to take a practice ACT, in sections, and look at their mistakes. They were, IIRC, a bit resistant to doing this and I’m not sure if it mattered much. I suspect having an early glimpse of high stakes testing was probably good, even if they didn’t feel the stress of the 11th and 12th graders taking the test.</p>
<p>As I’ve said every time this comes up, S took the SAT for CTY, did well, and attended CTY for four summers thanks to generous scholarships from CTY. It was really the high point of his year. He chose to study philosophy, not something available through his regular schools, and found it intellectually enriching. He loved CTY, both socially and intellectually. That’s what is important about it. He was also able to use the online course availability to correct a poor placement in 8th grade.</p>
<p>As far as I can recall, there was no “invitation” to take the test: the availability of the program was simply made known at G/T program parent/student night. Anyone is free to register and take it. His prep consisted of running through the sample booklet. He had to go to a strange HS, but he was not stressed: he wanted to take it. We didn’t push him to take it OR to attend a summer program, nor did we dictate or push when it came to his course selection.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t comprehend people who insist on talking about “pressure” and parents “pushing” and the horror of a kid spending ONE Saturday morning in a year taking the test. (My S was also a soccer player at that age: it’s not like he had to give up the soccer season, for doG’s sake.) If your kid wasn’t interested, bully for you. Don’t put everyone else down.</p>
<p>Oh, and the one kid I know who did Duke TIP wasn’t thrilled with it, according to her mother. </p>
<p>My S17 took the SCAT as a 7th grader (also in 2nd or 3rd) for CTY. He qualified at the Grand level in both math and language, but we didn’t go to the ceremony in Baltimore (we’re in CA). The SCAT was very low-pressure compared to a SAT – he just went to a testing center and took the tests on a computer. We scheduled it on a weekend, because the testing center is the next town over and was next door to a LaserTag place. He was happy to go take an interesting test on a computer and do an afternoon of LaserTag. We didn’t have him do any prep.</p>
<p>In hindsight, it might have been better to have a bit more stressful testing situation and have an SAT score to impress the schools. But, I’m not sure what we would have asked for. 7th and 8th grades met his needs pretty much in math and history, and 8th grade science was quite good. Since he’s gotten to high school, they’ve let him take classes mostly with kids a year or two ahead of him in everything but English and the dual-enrollment situation is good here so that he won’t run out of classes and need to graduate HS early.</p>
<p>I probably should have had him go to a CTY camp or trip when he was younger, but there were plenty of things for him to do around here, and we didn’t need the online classes (did AoPS instead), so we haven’t ever done anything as a result of his CTY qualification.</p>
Some insight on Duke TIP testing (we could not afford the summer programs).
This may be different than the Johns Hopkins or others, but Duke goes for kids who are in the 95th percentile on whatever standardized tests they take (Iowa Basics in my kids’ case). That only needs to be in one category so initially it is a fairly wide net, but it is not open to ‘everyone’.
The kids taking the test with High School kids is fine. Probably a bigger deal to the HS kid than the 7th grader. 3 of 4 of my kids have take the ACT through the program so far and all scored in the 20s and received at least ‘state’ recognition.
Benefits: lessens the stress in Junior year as they have already gone through the testing. Points out areas for improvement or ‘holes’ in one’s learning. Scholarship opportunities for private HS. S1 won two scholarships at different boarding schools due directly to success in the Duke TIP testing.
The program is becoming a bit less useful as (like the ‘regular’ ACT/SAT people are turning it into an ‘edge’ and spending time and money prepping). We did nothing but sign up and take them to the test. They ‘lose’ a half-day of their lives, but for us it was definitely worth the process. Scores are rising among testers due to the competitive nature of too many parents. Sad, but that defeats one purpose of the program.
OP, I had the same question in mind for my D in 7th grade when her school sent information suggesting she take the SAT for the Duke TIP. I thought taking the SAT in 7th grade was ridiculous and there was ample time to worry about it later. I was ready to say no but I asked a couple of parents whose approach I liked. They suggested that it was a good time to see how my D would handle a long standardized test and identify potential problem areas early. That sounded very reasonable.
I asked D to read the instructions for the SAT and familiarize herself with its length and structure. At home, she practiced filling in the form they fill on the day of the test and got her pencils ready. That was it. My H made her an omelette that Saturday and drove her to the SAT. She did end up scoring high enough to qualify for the award thing. I feel knowing how she would handle the SAT lessened MY stress level. We did not make a big deal about it and I just continued encouraging her to prep for the PSAT/SAT/ACT tests later by self studying during summers. It worked out very well. My H would have been more inclined to get her a private tutor (regarding which I was not completely on board) so it was good that I had reason to say it was not necessary.
D did not attend any of the Duke TIP programs during the summers, opting instead to do other summer programs away from home more suited to her interests. She actually ended up applying to Duke because of other considerations and she will matriculate there this Fall.
On the other hand, we have friends whose D attended Duke TIP programs every summer after 7th grade until she aged out. She applied to Duke but was not admitted. There was some disappointment there. Their S has had the same experience and will apply to Duke for the Class of 2020 along with other schools but Duke seems to be his “favorite” for what that’s worth.