<p>The older two kids took the SAT in 7th grade as part of the Duke TIPs program. Neither of them did well enough to get anything but put on the mailing list. I had already decided that I wouldn't put the youngest child through that. Lo and behold, she wasn't even asked to take it. In one way, that sort of confirms my belief that she's probably the least bright of the three. (Pretty bright, but not super bright.) Of course, a really bright girl who is in the top 10 kids of my (other) daughter's 10th grade class was not asked to take the SAT back in 7th grade either. </p>
<p>I'm not going to mention this to my 7th grader....it will just reinforce her "I'm not smart" mind set.</p>
<p>Anyone else have a bright kid who was not asked to take the SAT?</p>
<p>Whether a kid is asked to take the SAT/ACT in 7th grade is based on:</p>
<p>Whether any of their standardized test scores in 6th grade were in the 95th or higher percentile;</p>
<p>Whether the school participates in the programs in which students are referred to take the SAT/ACT in 7th grade;</p>
<p>Whether the GC does the work required to recommend students to the talent search program if the kids have the requisite scores;</p>
<p>Whether the student was paying attention, sick, distracted, etc. when taking their standardized testing in 6th grade;</p>
<p>Whether the kid remembers to bring home the paperwork about the ACT/SAT, something that younger S remembered only after I asked him if he had gotten it.</p>
<p>It ended ended up that his total 7th grade SAT scores were exactly the same as those of his older brother, the brother who was so verbal that even strangers would comment on his intelligence.</p>
<p>Younger S's junior year SAT score was significantly higher than his brother's even though his brother's was in the 98th percentile. Interestingly, both of their junior year composite PSAT scores were the same.</p>
<p>My first two weren't asked and they are "socially bright" The third one got asked only for math and I was so excited to get the request he came into the room where I opened the letter and asked what I was shrieking about and I told him he got to take the SATs so he could go to smart camp!!!! He was absolutely horrified. I persuaded him to take them just so I could be seen in the check-in line. He had no interest in the programs and I thought they cost way too much $$ anyway.</p>
<p>Honestly, I never even heard of 7th graders taking the SAT for any reason until my younger kid was in 8th grade, and it turned out that two of his friends had done it. (Not including his then-girlfriend, who had been the highest-scoring girl in the state on the 6th-grade math assessment, and whose main strengths were verbal. She could easily have gotten a 1400+ in 7th grade.) In our world, this was practically unknown. </p>
<p>I can't imagine their school suggesting that any 7th grader take the SAT; for the kids who did it, it was purely parent-initiated.</p>
<p>@missypie: take Northstarmom's good advice. There are many reasons why even very talented kids don't get recommended for the test; on the other side, if you look at the scores of the early-graders who take the tests you'll see quite a range. Being recommended is no assurance of anything, except perhaps early practice.</p>
<p>I will say, though, that seeing those 6th, 7th, and 8th graders taking the test scares the crap out of some of the 11th graders who are waiting in line on test day.</p>
<p>@JHS: my son took the test in 6th grade. It was not parent-initiated. We had no clue this could be done until the notice came from the school.</p>
<p>Our school district does not "ask" any 7th graders to take the SAT. For that matter, it doesn't even "suggest" that students take the SAT until May or June in 11th grade.</p>
<p>I am not familiar with the Duke TIPS program, but my daughters were invited to take part in the John's HOpkins CTY (center for talented youth) program of testing. We first got a letter from the school that we would be hearing from CTY based on percentile for our state mastery tests. They both participated in the testing, including early SAT testing, which I told them was simply to get "used" to the tests. My oldest daughter did attend some of their summer camps at her request.</p>
<p>Fast forward, my son did not get a letter from the middle school, but as I by then had his scores and he did pretty well in at least one section, I went to the CTY website, and the information was there regarding qualifying scores, and he did achieve it, even though the school did not "nominate" him. So I filled out the information online, including his actual test score, and we got the packet that he did qualify. </p>
<p>If he didn't qualify, I would also have kept mum, but he had already seen his two sisters go through the program, so if he DID qualify, I saw no reason not to let him participate. I have no idea why the school did not initiate it for him though.....</p>
<p>@JHS: my son took the test in 6th grade. It was not parent-initiated. We had no clue this could be done until the notice came from the school.</p>
<p>Add me to the no clue list.
Older D took ERB in 6th grade- ( private school), the head of the middle school had me in to discuss her test scores- I thought he was going to suggest where she could get help.
She did ultimately take the SAT in 7th along with a friend who took it in 6th. Her friend went on to skip high school- her scores were in the 1400's, in 6th. ( old scoring system)
However- I don't think it is as common for testing in public school to be used for SAT qualification. My younger daughter didn't take the SAT in 7th. ( and she didn't take PSAT until 11th grade)</p>
<p>our school sends out the letters to all kids getting a 98% or higher in one or both math/english state exams. Most dont bother taking the SATs at that age.</p>
<p>One of Dd's elementary teachers suggested I look into Center for Talented Youth, I did and taking the SAT was a suggestion that came from the program (when DD was in middle school). Although she hasn't wanted to do the summer camps, she has participated in some other programs that she enjoyed. Here, the younger kids take the SAT in a separate room from the high school students, it seems to work well for all concerned.</p>
<p>
[quote]
@JHS: my son took the test in 6th grade. It was not parent-initiated. We had no clue this could be done until the notice came from the school.
[/quote]
Ditto for my daughter except 7th grade and the ACT as part of the Duke TIPS program. We did not know about it until the school suggested it. She did it and we took the same view as bhmomma - just for practice - no prep or anything. She was interested in some of the programs but the ones she liked were out of our price range.</p>
<p>Now where my friend lives in Texas the schools heavily prep the eligible kids for months before they take the SAT in 7th grade. Must be some bragging rights associated I guess.</p>
<p>I persuaded him to take them just so I could be seen in the check-in line.</p>
<p>LOL. I admit that with the other two, I was quite interested to see who else was in the line...as in, "I'd have never guessed that she was smart...." I do now remember that of the three kids, last year all got "commended" on all parts of the state tests (TAKS), except for this child, in math. That is probably what did it.</p>
<p>"I will say, though, that seeing those 6th, 7th, and 8th graders taking the test scares the crap out of some of the 11th graders who are waiting in line on test day."</p>
<p>LOL! I remember when my 7th grade S and his 6th grade friend stood in line on a chilly Saturday morning at a nearby HS, waiting to take the SAT to qualify for the JHU CTY program. We thought they looked like small little kids in line. Since then, they shot up in height and both are playing on the varsity water polo team.</p>
<p>Ours is a rather typical public HS, so I tend to latch on to parents with talented klds a few years ahead of my DS. This is how I found out about CTY, from a school board member who's twin son's attended and took summer enrichment classes, and enjoyed the experience. Ditto for my S and his friend.</p>
<p>Both of our kids took the SAT as part of the CTD in middle school (though only son took it in 6th grade). Neither had an interest in the summer programs. </p>
<p>I think the early scores can be a good first approximation of how the kids will do later (assuming no special prep either time). On the old SAT's (math and verbal only) the typical kid could expect about a 50 to 100 point improvement per year, just from learning in school. Our son was way ahead in math the first time, but by the time he took the PSAT and SAT in 11th grade he had 'evened out.'</p>
<p>Our middle school does notify all qualifying students. They changed the testing between younger and older son though, to instruments that I thought were probably a lot less accurate. I certainly did not need to be seen in the line, but I admit I was rather curious who else would be on the list of CTY qualifiers. </p>
<p>The real eyeopener for me though was when the scores came back and my oldest's scores were way over on the right side of that bell curve - and that was in the gifted crowd. No wonder we'd always had such a hard time meeting his needs at school. It gave us some ammunition for further subject acceleration. I never got another peep about other kids who'd "done as well or better" on the state tests. </p>
<p>Younger son also qualified, but just squeaked into being eligible for CTY programs which he had no interest in participating. He got a much needed ego boost out of qualifying for them though.</p>
<p>Interestingly my nephew, who attended a certain school in DC that has been popular with the presidential progeny, got a letter from the school discouraging qualified kids from taking the test or participating in the program. I suppose there are some parents who push their kids into academic programs who would have been better off doing more typical camp programs, but surely not all. She believed them, and it was really too bad because her son is a lot like my oldest and I think he would have loved the CTY programs. He ended up doing programs that attract a similar crowd like computer camps.</p>
<p>At any rate - if you think your child should have been selected - look into it. If you think he shouldn't have or if you know he wouldn't care about the camps or the recognition, I don't think it's a big deal. Your kid can take the SAT with everyone else whether or not the school nominated him anyway.</p>
<p>Both my kids liked having a chance to take the SAT at time when the scores didn't count at all. The scores get expunged from the record unless you ask for them to be saved.</p>
<p>My first child took the SATs in 7th, and scored well enough to be in some special society of CTY, but never showed the slightest bit of interest in any CTY summer programs. We still get the little magazines, and I like to read those, but there was nothing further that came out of his early SAT than that. Oh, except that he knew he would take the test in a single sitting with no prep, as a junior, which he did.</p>
<p>My current 7th grader has expressed no interest whatsoever in CTY either, and I don't even know that she would do that well on the test. So, she isn't taking it. Our school doesn't do ERBs, and I think the SAT takers in middle school are self selecting, so she would neither know nor care.</p>
<p>Honestly, I think there is no reason at all to take the SAT in 7th unless some of the TIP or CTY programs are of great interest. However, kids don't have to score THAT well on the test to get into them anyway, so....my two cents.</p>
<p>I don't think you necessarily have to be "invited" to take part in the talent search. If you think your child might benefit despite the lack of an invitation from your local school, check the websites for Johns Hopkins CTY, Duke TIP, or Midwest Talent Search. There are often several ways that a child can qualify.</p>
<p>our HS uses the state tests for eligibility yet the elementary school does not, they have to use the Ottis to qualify, no idea what the difference is, but have one child that qualified in elementary school, and another that did not in elementary, yet she did via the state tests in 6th and 7th.</p>
<p>Missypie, my oldest son was invited, his younger brother was not. I did some digging, and found out that the criteria was based on their sixth grade taks/teks/whatever scores. Call me a nut if you want, but I signed him up for the SAT and had him take it. His scores were sufficient to make the Duke TIP cutoffs, in spite of his earlier taks/etc. performance. Don't sell your daughter short.</p>