<p>^^ agree about the balance point.
Looking from a different perspective also helps ;)</p>
<p>This thread made me dig out my kid’s scores. Took SAT in 8th grade and PSAT in 9th.
Strong scores in both and there is a correlation between both : math is always the highest, reading in the middle, writing the lowest. BUT his PSAT score is slightly lower in each cathegory compared with his SAT score.
Anyone has seen a simliar scenario?</p>
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<p>WatchfulEye, I think an eighth grade SAT is in no way an absolute indicator of how well your son will perform on the test later on, as SAT scores tend to improve dramatically from middle school to high school. I took the SAT back in eighth grade as well at the suggestion of the school district and had a 1650; three years later, I had a 2350 by the time I was applying to college. A good score on the SAT in as early as eighth grade is obviously great news, but there’s no need at all to worry about it even if the scores are less than ideal. Encouraging your son to take a challenging courseload and develope his extracurricular interests is more important at this point than worrying about standardized tests - scores will improve naturally as he learns and grows.</p>
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<p>o.O</p>
<p>Please don’t bug your son everyday about his homework. Being a student myself, I would’ve been horrified and thoroughly annoyed if my parents suddenly started inquiring into the details of my schoolworks. Excessive parenting as such is unnecessary and detrimental to your son’s development of good independent studying habits - please don’t become that helicopter parent.</p>
<p>A dear friend’s son scored 1600 (on older test) out of 1600 in seventh grade. Puts it all in perspective.</p>
<p>mathmom: He’s the guy I told you about who teaches CS at Carnegie Mellon. He got his PhD there (BS fully funded at Duke, MS Cambridge) after being rejected at MIT. It was as painful for him as it is for anyone else.</p>
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<p>There are probably only zero to two middle-school perfect scorers a year.</p>
<p>From the Johns Hopkins CTY stuff there are always a handful of kids who get 800s in math or CR, but they don’t tell you how many get both. </p>
<p>Kelowna, my older son did worse on the SAT than the PSAT - all due to the W section though, the other two sections were similar. SAT verbal better, SAT math an average of his two PSAT scores. My younger son did much better on the SAT than the PSAT.</p>
<p>Great scores, even (especially?) in middle school, don’t guarantee successful college admissions!</p>
<p>I think as much as possible one should stop bugging kids about homework in high school so that they will be ready to be on their own in college.</p>
<p>@goodbetterbest
There’s no need for someone with a 31 on the ACT to retake the SAT if the SAT is not a “good” test for him or her! If anything, I’d suggest that person try the ACT again. Some kids do better on one than the other; kids should play to their strengths. Unless you are an NM Semi Finalist by PSAT, you wouldn’t ever need to take the SAT.</p>
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Do you have the data on that? I’m pretty sure a girl made headlines a few years ago for scoring a 1600/1600 on the old SAT in 7th grade. The article said somewhere between 0-2 students do it in any given year.</p>
<p>I think it is absurd to prep for the 7th/8th grade SAT. Give the poor kid a break.
I’m sure your son is a wonderful student and great kid, but you have NO idea how much things can change over the next few years. To be even thinking about “Ivy League” possibilities at this point is a waste of time. Let your kid develop interests and then, in about sophomore or junior year, see what might be a good fit for him.</p>
<p>I can’t find this online, but looking at the 2006 Score Report section of the 2006 CTY Student Resource Guide, there were 3 7th graders and 13 8th graders with an 800 score on Critical Reading, in that year. There were 19 7th graders and 43 8th graders with an 800 for Math.
The publication does not indicate if any of those kids had 800 in both sections.</p>
<p>I don’t think they put the score reports for CTY on line. My score reports don’t say if any got 800s in both math or verbal either. CTY is not the only talent search out there. I agree it’s not a good idea for kids to be prepping for the SAT in 7th grade - the whole idea of talent search was to find the kids who did well despite not being prepared, despite not having officially been exposed to the math.</p>
<p>I’ve got numbers for CTY for other years similar numbers for 800 scorers:
2002
7th grade:Math - 6 (all boys)
8th grade: Math - 26
7th grade: Verbal - 1 (female)
8th grade: Verbal - 7
2003
7th grade:Math - 11
8th grade: Math - 38
7th grade: Verbal - 1 (male)
8th grade: Verbal - 8
2005
7th grade:Math - 17
8th grade: Math - 31
7th grade: Verbal - 3
8th grade: Verbal - 5</p>
<p>As for what constitutes a strong score? CTY says anything better than an average high school senior. That varies from year to year, but was in the low 500s when my sons took the test. 75th percentile (from an already select group of kids) was a little higher 570/600 (m/f) for 8th graders in math, 560 for 8th graders in verbal.</p>
<p>My SAT score went from a 1770 in 8th grade (taken for CTY, which I loved) to a 2240 junior year with little real prep inbetween. I only had to take the SAT once as a junior, and I do think that that was partially due to my previous familiarity with the test. Getting to know the test itself can’t hurt.</p>
<p>I agree with others who say that you shouldn’t push your child into higher-level classes based simply on the results of one test, especially for math. The SAT doesn’t test very high levels of math; I believe that it doesn’t even cover pre-calc. It just words math problems in a tricky way.</p>
<p>However, there’s nothing wrong with using the SAT as a tool to see what general areas a child is stronger in. There’s nothing wrong with saying “Oh, his writing can be improved” or “He can read more”, so long as it’s for the child and not for the test.</p>
<p>Just my $0.02.</p>
<p>I chuckled when I got to the last sentence in the OP’s first post. My D was in a GATE program from 4th - 8th grade. To be placed in it the student had to have scored in the 99th percentile on a cognitive abilities test. There were 8 kids in my D’s group. Here is where they are currently attending college:</p>
<p>University of Oregon (full scholarship for track)
UC Berkeley
Ohio State University
Wesleyan (Connecticut)
MIT
Brown
UC Santa Cruz
Princeton</p>
<p>At least two of the group were NMF (I don’t know about the two who went to private high school).</p>
<p>Looking back over the class list from that time, I note that some of the colleges that the non-GATE-identified students are now attending include Wellesley, Stanford, Yale, and of course several at Cal and UCLA. The girl at Wellesley was NMF.</p>
<p>I would have to say that performance on standardized tests, especially in elementary or middle school, is a very poor predictor of college admissions.</p>
<p>Accelerated math can be good because it keeps kids challenged. But done to an exteme, he/she may run out of math options high school. Some kids find a way to take college courses, but much depends on the schedule mesh and transportation logistics.</p>
<p>I attended CTY Award Ceremony in 2008. There were 26 kids nationwide who scored over 700 on both Math and CR. However, they did not say how many scored 800. My state had 5 of those 26. My S was tied for 1st place in CR with a score of 760.</p>
<p>dragonboy, is CTY 7th graders?</p>
<p>When you get the scores, CTY will send you a chart that will indicate qualifying scores. The chart might be posted on the Hopkins site. That will give you some idea of how you child stacks up with other gifted kids. However, even gifted kids are rejected at the top schools in the country.</p>
<p>Ooops, I did not read all the posts, so forgive me if I repeated.</p>
<p>Watchful eye–CTY starts in 2nd grade–if my memory serves me. My daughter tested in third grade. They do not use the SAT until 7th grade. They use SCAT for younger kids.</p>
<p>MD Mom, it sounds like you have gifted children? What grade etc?</p>
<p>WatchfulEye: CTY Starts early and continues to high school. The Awards are for 7th and 8th graders. The catagories separate 7th and 8th. If you are interested in CTY, you can submit application for your S. If he meets the SET requirement, CTY will provide recommend letter for college application later. However, I don’t know if it helps to get in the top colleges.</p>
<p>I got 1870 in 7th grade, didn’t study at all, and got 2330 (770M, 770 CR, 790 W) in the beginning of junior year. I might retake them again in the fall.</p>
<p>So I’d say that anything above an 1800 could get you a 2300+, especially if you study.</p>
<p>Friend of D’s got in the 1400’s in 6th gd before recalibration.
D said " I got something like that didn’t I?"
Um- no hon.
Her friend skipped high school and went straight to university.
However- I daresay that is fairly unusual.
D took the test just for the practice, not for the scores.</p>