<p>My Son is in 8th grade and attending after school math program with Russian Math School. His teacher suggested to take SAT this comming Jan. I heard SAT is guggested to take max 3 times in Junior/Senior High. By taking SAT in 8th Grade would anyway impact him taking test later in the High School. Actually how many times is the limit?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>There is no limit, although the practical limit may well be 3 if you don’t want colleges to view the applicant as a test-taking drone.</p>
<p>SAT scores taken prior to 9th grade are wiped by the College Board at the end of the academic year, unless you request otherwise.</p>
<p>What would be the reasoning to do so? Do you think he can score well and not have to take any SATs in high school? If not, you might as well make him take practice SAT tests available online or in various books. It is essentially the same thing and he will be ready to take them in high school and get a high score. </p>
<p>Is this for one of the Talent Search program, like CTY through Johns Hopkins?</p>
<p>There’s no harm since as stated above scores from before 9th grade are wiped out, unless you request them not to be. (I know of one child who got 800s in middle school and obviously saw no reason to retake them.) I don’t really see the point in taking them unless the kid is interested in participating in one of the Talent Search programs (TIP, CTY etc.)</p>
<p>As said before, SAT’s taken prior to 9th grade are usually for talent searches and those scores won’t follow them. My eldest took the SAT in 7th grade and qualified for John Hopkins CTY but we could never afford the programs so we didn’t bother having our second child take it at that age. It’s not a big deal for most kids. Mine thought it was sort of fun to go to the college campus and take it with a bunch of teenagers (she was 11 at the time.) Her big reaction to the day was “Mom, half those kids were in their PAJAMAS!”</p>
<p>I don’t understand why anyone would want their 8th grader to take the SAT - or do practice exams. </p>
<p>They should be out playing /hanging out with their friends. </p>
<p>My kid took them, but only for CTY. Also, the score that makes them “gifted” at that age is definitely not the score that will get them into YHP. The scores my kid got would have gotten her into most schools, just not the tippy top ones.</p>
<p>To answer the question of the OP, it is a COMPLETE myth that there are limits such as a maximum of 3 or 4 tests. That is one part of your question. The other part is that there are few (if any) benefits or negatives with taking a SAT in the eight grade. Your kid will not be hurt by it nor find it extremely beneficial. While some might disagree as their kids found the experience enjoyable, there are no direct benefits to focus on programs such as CTY, or at least no greater benefits than spending time pursuing fun activities. </p>
<p>The simplest way is to look at a calendar that focuses on the fall of the Junior year as the target for standardized tests such as the SAT, and let kids be middle schoolers in middle school. As Emilybee said, let them play outside! But remember to change that program a bit by the end of the 9th grade. ;)</p>
<p>It can be a good tool to know where you child stands as far as being “gifted” without regard to the TIP CTY programs. We always heard “your child is so smart”. What does that even mean? So he took the ACT as a seventh grader , no writing, with all the other high school kids. One practice test under real conditions as far as timing and no distractions. No other prep or pressure. Told him to " just get your name right" and I would be proud. The score was enough to have us look into augmenting his high school work with programs that he enjoyed and challenged him. </p>
<p>Maybe your school is different but my kids had taken quite a few standardized tests by 8th grade. Those tests were grade-appropriate and properly normed for grade/age so if you are interested in how your kid’s skills compare with peers that would be more appropriate to look at than the SAT.</p>
<p>The SAT isn’t as informative as other tests because the scores or percentiles you can compare to will either be something like high school seniors, which doesn’t mean much when your kid is in middle school, or it will be middle school kids who took the SAT–but what does that mean, who are those kids? I’m not aware of any proper norm group for middle school SAT scores. Even if there is such a thing, since the material being tested is routinely taught at some middle schools but not others (eg. algebra1 in 7th grade) kids who have already studied the material at school are naturally going to do better. Some of them have already been pushed into SAT prep classes by their parents–but does that mean they are better students?</p>
<p>^^
Unfortunately, the definition of gifted for programs such as CTY as everything to do with their marketing strategies, and the ovbious objective to find clients for their programs. </p>
<p>A cynical way of looking at this is that our kindergartens are filled to the rafters with gifted students and plenty in middle school. Too bad that the numbers melt like ice cream in the Sahara by the time they take the PSAT. </p>
<p>The 7th and 9th grades SAT are just as useful as the ERB and the other crap that is sold from Iowa to our schools. </p>
<p>I disagree. To me, it doesn’t make sense to use a test that some kids prep extensively for and others don’t at all if you are trying to make any statement about ability. But who studies for the ERB? </p>
<p>It also doesn’t make sense to try to compare your child to others based upon a group (college-bound high school seniors) to which they don’t belong. People on this site are asking all the time about how to extrapolate progress over those 4 or so years. The info I’ve seen posted seems to vary wildly and I don’t think you can make meaningful comparisons. </p>
<p>Of the various tests my kids have taken, I think the approach taken by the MAP testing is the best I’ve seen for high achieving kids, which presumably is the group likely to be interested in taking the SAT in middle school. From the little my kids said about those tests, it does seem that the test implementation itself needs some improvement.</p>
<p>Mathyone, to be clear, we posted at about the same time. My post 11 was not in answer to your post 10. And, again to be clear, saying that the SAT in 7th grade is just as useful as the ERB is a proxy to opining that both have no real value. Hint … I wrote about ERB and other crap from IOWA. I happen to have a very low opinion of those precise tests and the organization that has marketed the said tests. </p>
<p>Is there a test you don’t have a low opinion of? I’ve only seen a few ERB test questions so it’s hard to know, but I actually felt that the ERB nailed my kids’ weaknesses pretty well, whereas other tests just glossed over them. And unlike some tests they have a private school norm group which opens up the higher end a bit.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for a test to help you compare your child to his high-achieving peers perhaps the best would be the SSAT, the standardized test taken by kids applying to competitive prep schools.</p>
<p>I’m not clear, however, as to whether this is the intent; or is it for the tutor to demonstrate how advanced his student’s math skills are?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, I happen to like a number of tests, even when the interpretation they generate is suspect. I also think that a number of tests could be implemented differently, and with better outcomes. </p>
<p>I happen to think that most tests in K-10 are abysmal and mostly misleading. Feel free to have a different opinion.</p>
<p>So what do you do when your child in middle school take the test designed for seniors and outscores the average senior at his school. I understand that most middle school children won’t be in that situation. But as a parent of one of those children I can tell you I was thankful to have that information.</p>
<p>I think there are two good reasons for taking the SAT in 7th or 8th grade:
<p>My daughter took it because her school gave it to her, which they did because of the CTY. She qualified, but didn’t do anything except get a nice letter. I’m not sure I follow the “should be out playing” line of thought. It took four hours, which she’d otherwise have spent in school anyway. No effect on play. Anyway, if you know what most 14-year-old girls consider playing, you probably don’t want to encourage huge amounts of it.</p>
<p>My understanding is that it’s not all that meaningful for most kids, but it does provide highly relevant information regarding some tiny percentage who score really high, particularly in math. There’s a small group of kids (which doesn’t include mine) who can score in the upper 700s in 8th grade on the math test. That’s a fairly significant thing to know about them. You’d think any decent school would’ve already figured that out, but apparently that’s not always the case.</p>