<p>My 7th grader just got his results back, with a 19 overall. Is there a formula that makes a prediction on future test scoring? Have any of you had one take the ACT that early and seen a big improvement? I know it is all just a guess at this point, but I am curious.</p>
<p>Divide by the grade (s)he’s in, multiply by the grade the future test will be taken in. 36 cap, answer will be +/- 1.</p>
<p>Correct answer: No, not really. However, looking at the percentile of 7th grade testers might help. There are many years ahead, plenty of time to improve study habits. It’s not a bad score for a 7th grader.</p>
<p>No it’s not a bad score for a 7th grader, I think mine scored an 18 or 19 in 7th grade. Hard to predict. I’m guessing at the very least a couple points each year on composite at least into 10th grade…but it’s anyone’s guess.</p>
<p>As others have said, I think it would be hard to predict. Here are some scores of my children and nephews - </p>
<p>7th grade 21 - Junior year - 33
7th grade 25 - Junior year - 33
7th grade 27 - Sophomore year 34
7th grade 19 - Junior year - 29</p>
<p>It also probably depends heavily on what he got on the individual sections - when I took the ACT in 7th grade, my score was dragged down by a bad math section (because I hadn’t had any of the material yet). When I took it again as a junior, my reading / writing / science scores didn’t increase significantly, but my math score did, and I therefore got a far better score (29 -> 35).</p>
<p>I don’t know if this helps. My son took an unofficial timed Kaplan CD-ROM for the first time at age 9; he got, I think, a 24. He took the real ACT 4 years later at age 13 (as a high school junior) and got a 35. (He graduated high school at 14.)</p>
<p>DS’s seems to track fairly well with the other responses:
7th = 29
9th = 33</p>
<p>Has not taken his 11th grade one yet.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, your son has not had all of the necessary material.
When I took the ACT in middle school, I only scored a 21. However, by sophomore year I brought that up to a 35. I’m sure he is brilliant and you have him on the right path! When he learns the material, he will embrace it and apply the concepts to the test. Good luck to him!</p>
<p>For our son, 7th grade = 22, freshman year = 33, junior year = 36. But this, of course, all depends on the individual student.</p>
<p>257WBY, I think you could expect a very large improvement in your son’s score by the time he takes it for real. If you want a very rough idea of the score to expect, I’d try the following, assuming that he took the test for a talent search: The talent search will give you the percentile among the talent search participants, corresponding to a score of 19. Start with that percentile. </p>
<p>Next, find the corresponding percentile among all 7th graders. The 7th graders in the talent-search pool should be those who have scored in the top 5% on a grade-level aptitude or achievement test. To obtain a conservative estimate of the range of possibilities, suppose that the talent search students are really the top 10%, rather than the top 5%. Then, for example, if your son scored in the top 35% among talent-search participants (i.e., 65th percentile), you’d estimate that he scored in somewhere in the top 1.75% to 3.5% of everyone in his age group (since the top 1.75% is the top 35% of the top 5%, while the top 3.5% is the top 35% of the top 10%, to give the range).</p>
<p>Now, look at how the top 1.75% to top 3.5% of the 11th graders do on the ACT. (Note that you have to subtract this from 100 to get the percentile–i.e., the top 1.75% is about the 98th percentile.) This is a reasonable prediction of his future performance, if the relative quality of his education remains about the same as it has been.</p>
<p>Obviously, there are a lot of variables involved, and no one can make a definite prediction.</p>
<p>BTW, The kids on this forum are all brilliant…</p>
<p>Relax and let him be in middle school!</p>
<p>Kids take the ACT in middle school?? Why? I didn’t think the college admissions arms race was more intense in other locales compared to suburban Maryland - and that is unheard of. Again I ask, why?</p>
<p>My kids took it in middle school as a qualifier for a program from Northwestern University called Midwest Academic Talent Search which opens up enrichment educational opportunities at nearby colleges etc. as well as programs at Northwestern. My kids aren’t the academic superstars that pop up in these forums but they are above average :-)and were invited by their school to try and qualify. I’m sure there are other such programs perhaps in the NE they use the SAT since the NE still is heavily vested in SAT. </p>
<p>When my kids took the ACT they took it right along side the ‘big kids’ at a normal testing center…it’s a gut wrencher to drop off alittle 7th grade boy with sharpened pencils and a calculator next to all those big high school kids! A priceless picture I’ll never forget.</p>
<p>The only predictor is that, assuming normal growth, the score will go up.</p>
<p>Otherwise, no, I would not trust any correlation.</p>
<p>The ACT is also an option for 7th graders qualifying for the JHU-CTY talent search.</p>
<p>The SAT and ACT are options for qualifying for the Duke Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP), also in 7th grade. I took the SAT in 7th grade and can’t for the life of me remember my writing score. Naturally, I didn’t see what the big deal was about, haha.</p>
<p>257WBY, I ran the projection based on a 19 composite ACT in 7th grade, the Duke TIP results at [Duke</a> TIP - Interpreting SAT and ACT Scores for 7th Grade Students](<a href=“http://www.tip.duke.edu/resources/parents_students/interpreting_sat-act_scores.html]Duke”>http://www.tip.duke.edu/resources/parents_students/interpreting_sat-act_scores.html) and the ACT score percentiles nationally. I would project a later score of 30-32, on that basis. It could easily go higher than that, with some preparation. I’m posting this with the thought that it may let you relax, and let your son enjoy middle school, as others have suggested. Duke does have some recommendations for academic enrichment based on the outcomes, which are listed on the web site I’ve mentioned.</p>
<p>
So, my Post #2 method was accurate…</p>
<p>Yep, it seemed to work pretty well. :)</p>