<p>did anyone have a kid in your testing room that was not a junior? there was a girl in my room that was (listen to this)...only 12!! why is she testing now? she should be at home sleeping in or watching blue's clues or something. why worry about colleges at that age? dont they realize that they should enjoy being a kid and take advantage of their non-stressful life?</p>
<p>Admission to summer programs sometimes depends on ACT scores even for the little kids. There were a ton at my testing center too. Made me feel all stupid taking the same test as 6th graders, but oh well.</p>
<p>I think the girl (7th grade?) in front of me gave up on her test.</p>
<p>I'm not against them taking it though...just sucks that they have to.</p>
<p>I'm only against them taking it when the test center is too crowded.</p>
<p>There were a bunch of 6th graders taking it in my room.</p>
<p>Hmmm...I've never heard of anyone taking an ACT in 7th grade, but I took an SAT in 7th b/c I qualed for TIP</p>
<p>I took the ACT in 7th grade for TIP...got an 18, but that's aside from the point!</p>
<p>Yeah I took the SAT1 when I was 12. I got a 560M and 700V. I didn't feel pressured or anything, in fact I wanted to do it. Then I went home and watched cartoons and went back to 6th grade. It's not a big deal people!</p>
<p>jmbob, it's extremely intimidating to some people! </p>
<p>Our "coach" had told us that there would be huge football players who were trying to simply score 15s and that we would feel intimidated. I can't even imagine what those seniors thought about people 6 years younger than them scoring higher on a test that they're taking for the 4th or 5th time.</p>
<p>yeah i saw a lot of younger looking kids there...</p>
<p>but the ones next to me just stopped taking the test about halfway through and would just sit there o_O;</p>
<p>Some of them are not so serious but some of them are, they even brought their prep books to the testing place. I wonder what their parents are like...</p>
<p>Some kids like taking standardized tests--especially when there's no pressure to do well. I bet they'll be a lot more relaxed about it when they get to high school and take it for real. I'm sure some of their parents are crazy, but no more so than parents of normal kids.</p>
<p>My 12 year old daughter took the test as part of the Midwest Academic Talent Search. For her, it was just for practice and to see what the test was like. Her composite score was a 24, but her math was only a 17, which she was disappointed with, but since she's only now taking pre algebra, I thought it was pretty good. Next year, she'll take the SAT for the same reason. Then when she's a junior and it really counts, she'll know which test works best for her and will be comfortable taking it. And no, she's not a genius who spends all of her time studying. She was just curious.</p>
<p>haha. You're talking about a 12 year old taking it, one of my mom's friend's son who is 9!!!!!!! goes to 1 hour drive to take ACT prep LESSONS!!!</p>
<p>HOW awkward is that? I mean what has the world gotten to? Here we are talking about preparing in junior year when one is 16 or 17 and here we are having 9 year OLDS!</p>
<p>My 8th grade son took it (the SAT) but I made sure he wanted to and knew it was just for "fun." He is advanced in math but did even better at the reading sections! The only prep he did was to do the practice test the weekend before. I think it's an eye-opener to kids who are not being challenged in regular classes to see what higher level reading selections and questions are like. My only worry was that the essay would be too much of a challenge but he has done Power of the Pen so knew how to do a timed prompt at least. It was no big deal.</p>
<p>Maybe the kids who "gave up" and just sat there had finished the section? :-P</p>
<p>It was given at the nearby high school here when I was in elementary. I'm not quite sure how people "qualified" to take it. Maybe it was purely voluntary. I took it in either 5th or 6th grade though with a 17 on it and no prior preps. </p>
<p>I liked taking it, but then i've always enjoyed tests. I believe they may have used the results to determine eligibility for some sort of gifted summer program at one of the colleges in the state. I remember going there for two summers, and it was a lot of fun. Never really thought about why they decided to send me the letter, but that could have been it.</p>
<p>Or it may have been from the PLAN test scores, or whatever the test given in junior high is called. Doesn't Duke university also have some sort of talent search program that they used based on some score? Is it the ACT or the PLAN? I think I may have been eligible for that also, but trashed it once I found out i'd have to travel to North Carolina.</p>
<p>Duke University talent search uses ACT scores. So do a number of other national talent searches, and a great many local gifted summer programs.</p>
<p>Wow going to prep classes before 8th grade is a little freaky...8th and 9th grades is still early but excusable, IMO...</p>
<p>My DD took SAT for Midwest Talent Search in 7th grade. She thought it was fun and was just curious as to how she would do. There was absolutely no pressure to it.</p>
<p><em>shrug</em> I’ve taken it since I was in 6th grade. Not like it hurt me or anything- now I’m not nervous about it anymore that it actually counts
It was kinda fun, they had an awards ceremony and gave us medals for high scores (it was through Northwestern)</p>