<p>oops-didn't notice there was a second page...CTY was already described.</p>
<p>Oooh OK that makes much more sense. I assumed that it was just an attempt to perfect SAT test taking before college admissions.</p>
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Basically, it's a money-making scheme by SAT and Johns Hopkins. The parents receive affirmation that their kid is special and some sort of genius and so they shell out the big bucks.
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I don't think that this is entirely true. CTY was started by a psychology professor, and research remains one of their top goals. I'm not denying that JHU tries to make money off the program, but I don't think it's fair to say that's all it is. The SET program, for example, provides their services at no cost. You still have to pay to attend CTY summer programs and things like that, but the academic counseling SET provides is free. They also conduct a lot of research about "gifted" youth.</p>
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Basically, it's a money-making scheme by SAT and Johns Hopkins. The parents receive affirmation that their kid is special and some sort of genius and so they shell out the big bucks.</p>
<p>None of this helps the kid get into an Ivy, but they may get a decent education at summer school.
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<p>As I said above, I consider the education my D got at CTY to be secondary, as does she. The important part was meeting other kids who were a lot like her. They refer to it (fondly) as 'nerd camp'. CTY helped her to mature socially at a time when she really needed it, and that's something that the program recognizes as well. That was much more valuable than any of the classes she took, good as those were.</p>
<p>Both my kids took the SAT for CTY and the ACT for the similar University of Washington program. We applied NO pressure to the kids, and both had a pretty good time. One thing it did was remove the mystery and terror from the SAT. Neither of them has the least fear of standardized testing. Son #1 went on to apply to the UW early admissions program, but after interviewing (another low-stress event) we agreed with the Robinson Center at UW that he wasn't ready for college at age 13. Son #2 is likely to take the UW writing course this summer -- five weeks of essay writing with a college professor -- WITHOUT grade pressure. I wanted to sign up myself...</p>
<p>corranged, I should have prefaced my remarks by saying that, in addition, I think the SAT program is a huge money-making scheme, but that's fodder for another thread!</p>
<p>So, my views are pre-tainted on this one! I'd prefer to see the CTY program offered to the kids who score high on the standardized test and leave the SAT out of it. Or how about offering the CTY program to ALL kids?!</p>
<p>In our family, D took the SAT and then in preparation for private HS, took the SSAT soon after. In retrospect, I wish she had skipped the SAT.</p>
<p>Now, S just rec'd the CTY offer to take SATs and we're mulling that over. Other than pre-SSAT stressing out of my kid, I can't think of a reason to have him take it!</p>
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Or how about offering the CTY program to ALL kids?!
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<p>Fine with me, but I don't know that they could accomodate everyone. They'd have to vastly increase their staff, number of campuses where it's held, etc.</p>
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Other than pre-SSAT stressing out of my kid, I can't think of a reason to have him take it!
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<p>If he doesn't think he'd like to do distance learning or attend a CTY summer program, there's no reason for him to. Since he's going to take the SSAT, he'll be plenty familiar with standardized testing!</p>
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So, my views are pre-tainted on this one! I'd prefer to see the CTY program offered to the kids who score high on the standardized test and leave the SAT out of it. Or how about offering the CTY program to ALL kids?!
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<p>You've missed the whole point of CTY. You have to offer the SAT or other test designed for much older kids because of the ceiling effect of most grade level standardized tests. In addition in NY the standardized testing is no longer norm based, it's standard based. The whole idea of CTY is to find the small number of kids who might benefit from radical acceleration and a college level experience at a very young age. Spending a summer at CTY was the first time my kid found others like him in large quantities. He found other kids who were ready to do matrix math in 7th grade or thought it was interesting to ponder the prisoner's dilemma problem.</p>
<p>Some kids aren't right for taking the SAT and have no desire to participate in the programs. I liked taking the SAT. It was fun to go with some classmates to take this test with no pressure at all and afterwards go out to lunch with my mom. The score itself had very little meaning to me. One of the things that is nice is seeing a score on a harder test where the student won't hit the ceiling of the test. If all scores on a school-administered standardized test are in the 99th percentile, it provides no information about the student's relative strengths or weaknesses. I think it can also be useful to see how high a smart kid can score; there is a difference between an eleven year old getting a 900 on the SAT and a 1350, and though the SAT score shouldn't be given very much weight, it can be a signal that a student may need further resources. </p>
<p>If your child is the type to worry or take everything seriously, having him/her take the SAT may be a poor decision. For a lot of kids, though, taking a more difficult test is fun, and it gives them the opportunity to participate in academic programs and gives the parents a chance to get a little additional information.</p>
<p>My D was invited to take the SAT in middle school for both CTY and a UC program. We wouldn't let her take it in 6th grade but by 7th grade, she expressed an interest in the CTY summer programs. </p>
<p>We knew she was a bright kid, but were pleasantly stunned/shocked at her scores and to learn how good a test-taker she was. We could expect pretty exceptional scores down the road when they would matter for college.</p>
<p>As a result she attend CTY and took Fast Paced High School Chemistry, an incredible class, where she met some other great kids, had a wonderful "professor" and allowed her to skip into AP chem early on. She also attended other courses which helped her focus her interests and figure out her college major (she ended up NOT liking the sciences/chem enough to go to medical school and discovered a love for international studies/middle east politics); </p>
<p>Also, by taking the test in middle school, we were able to start looking at colleges that we would not have even considered until well into high school. It gave us time. over several years, to visit schools on the other side of the country and research options. When the time came to apply, we had a lot of information. It also prepared us to think about the $$$$ aspect and get out ducks in order. </p>
<p>It was not about taking the test repeatedly to improve scores.</p>
<p>Somehow I missed the whole CTY thing in middle school. Some friends of one of my kids did take the SAT I then. It didn't occur to us to have our kids do that, and they had other ways they wanted to spend their summers. They did superfine when they took SATs as HS juniors (one twice, one once) anyway.</p>
<p>I do remember, though, that way back when (mid-80s) a neighbor's child attended the Hopkins program. She got inducted into a Satanist cult there. No kidding. Her involvement continued for about two years until her parents found out about it, and it included some very unpleasant, abusive stuff that demanded big shrink bills later. She wound up going to a very prestigious college.</p>
<p>Although my D only took the distance learning course ( during the school year) and we eventually realized that she was getting enough enrichment from her regular studies- ( she attended a private prep school), I think that if someone was in a larger classroom setting, without as much feedback on assignments, that either the summer program or the distance learning could be invaluable.</p>
<p>D did the writing program & the assignments were well thought out, and the feedback was very detailed and supportive.
( I would also recommend this magazine for any kid who is thinking about college- it has some great articles <a href="http://www.cty.jhu.edu/imagine/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cty.jhu.edu/imagine/</a>)</p>
<p>As for our reasoning for taking the SAT- we were thinking along the lines of it would be a nice opportunity for her to do something with her friend ( by that point they were in different schools- while we have a lot of choices in Seattle- her parents were having difficulty finding something appropriate) & to demystify it a bit.</p>
<p>They actually took it at Kane Hall at the UW- which was interesting- we were standing in line with kids who must have been twice their size, but I was used to everyone being bigger than D so I didn't think anything about it- until someone showed us the right room ;)
D didn't study at all- but I was happy that at least she had taken it earlier because she didn't study for it in high school either!</p>
<p>My son scored so well on the SAT in 7th grade that he was invited into a special study, where they track this group of high scorers longitudinally.</p>
<p>Was he interested in attending CTY during the summer? "Are you kidding?" was his response! I thought it might be a great opportunity for him. He thought otherwise.</p>
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She got inducted into a Satanist cult there.
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<p>Oh dear. The worst thing that happened to my D is that she developed a fondness for Don McLean ('American Pie' is a CTY 'canon' song.)</p>
<p>My younger son (13years old) was asked to take the SAT and be part of the John Hopkins program. He's a straight A student and in every state mandated test has ranked in the 99th percentile. I think he is ranked 1st in 2nd in his school right now. He has extremely high standards for himself and is mature enough for his young age to explain to me that he has not learned enough to feel comfortable in taking the SAT. In his head he feels that he will be letting himself down if he does not score well, practice or not..so he would rather wait, learn all that he can then take it as a junior in HS. He is the kind of kid that has already set his heart on a career path (wants to be a doctor) and he does not want anything to derail this dream. I respect his wishes and commend him for making his own choices. Wish I was that mature when I was 13 :)</p>
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In his head he feels that he will be letting himself down if he does not score well, practice or not..so he would rather wait, learn all that he can then take it as a junior in HS. He is the kind of kid that has already set his heart on a career path (wants to be a doctor) and he does not want anything to derail this dream. I respect his wishes and commend him for making his own choices. Wish I was that mature when I was 13
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<p>I think this is wrong-headed rather than mature. Taking the SATs in middle school is a no pressure situation as they toss out the scores anyway. It gives you an opportunity to try out the format with no risk. I'll have to say when I saw my older son's SAT scores way over on the right hand side of the Johns Hopkins bellcurve, it opened my eyes a bit and those of the school. No wonder he'd found so few intellectual peers. We had no difficulties getting him into more advanced courses after that. But the main reason he took the SAT was that he thought the summer courses looked cool. </p>
<p>My younger son also elected to take the SATs, because he thought it would be fun no risk experience. His SAT scores as I expected were much more average (within the CTY group). However he was not interested in the courses - he much prefers his old fashioned outdoorsy camp. That's fine with me too.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, here's my little story about the JHU testing.</p>
<p>I had scored consistently at the 99th percentile on grade level standardized tests in all subjects since 3rd grade. I took the SAT in 6th grade and scored a relatively low 1050. I now have a 2350. I'm not too sure what that test is supposed to measure if you don't have the necessary learning to succeed on it. I didn't know geometry or much algebra yet. I'd say that hurt my math score. I knew almost NONE of the SAT words as well. Not too sure how that determines if I was "gifted".</p>
<p>"think this is wrong-headed rather than mature."</p>
<p>Why not keep that kind of crappy response to yourself. That is his decision...not his Mom's. A lot of parents ( and it may sound like you are one of them) makes the decision for the child and not let the child have a choice. My son is very mature, thank you very much, has a great head on his shoulders and is active in more clubs, acitvities and programs than most. It's hard enough at 13 to make any decisions and I am damn proud of him making a choice about what he feels is right. Oh, by the way...he actually has signed up for a couple of summers taking extra courses in the schools, even though he has never been pushed to do this...all on his own.</p>
<p>My s also took the SAT in 7th grade for the Duke TUIP program. He got an 1170. This year (11th gr) he scored 340 pts higher (cr. reading/math). So I guess its true that you do better if you take it a second time :)</p>
<p>DD was invited to be part of the Duke TIP program in 7th grade. She took the ACT and did pretty well, snagging an invitation to a state level award ceremony. DH and I were pleasantly surprised and DD thought it was no big deal ... she skipped the ceremony to go to to a birthday party and later received her award certificate in the mail. She never showed an interest in participating in the summer programs until she went to Girls State and Governor's School during the summer between junior and senior year.</p>
<p>I have asked her whether or not she thought taking the ACT that early was helpful or not. She said it was kind of helpful to know what to expect when she took it a few years later.</p>