Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth question archived

Most kids around here take SATs

Mine did ACTs. CTY folks who suggested as much.

It depends. How old is your kid?

12.

One of my kids took the SAT and one took the ACT. We chose based on scheduling. I don't think it is that critical. They have evaluation methodologies specific to each of those tests to determine who are the top performers who should be accepted into the CTY program. Since the ACT is much more knowledge-based (vs reasoning-based) the qualifying score is somewhat lower than you might expect if you are already familiar with ACT scores of high-achieving college bound high school Juniors. That is true, but to a lesser degree, for the SAT.

For the middle school students, I thought that the SAT and ACT were the only choices. When my kids did it SCAT was for the younger children. I'm not sure about those others.

The SCAT is now accepted for middle school, but there are advantages to having taken the sat or act early and often when it comes time to take them in high school.

I

Anyone with some pros/cons of participating in this program? Not sure I see the benefits for my kid, but also haven't paid that much attention. Thanks in advance!

One of the benefits are if they feel like they want to explore a subject deeper or faster than what is taught in school or are interested in subjects not taught, they can take classes online that are self-directed or in a subject matter that they wouldn't be exposed to. A lot of the math courses are self directed, for example. Many of the other classes we've seen are more session based - so your child has to commit to taking the class at a certain time and for a certain period of time, but there are some really interesting courses.

As far as what test to take, the CTY folks will tell you. Ours took at end of 5th and 3rd grades and were told to take the SCAT. No real downside. You pay the money to take the test, but then you only pay for the classes they want to take.

Can you only do the courses if you take one of the tests? My kid got the notice from the Middle School inviting participation, but I'm not sure I feel like subjecting the kid to another standardized test. Courses might be cool, though.

That's my understanding. We got the course info and eligibility after the tests were taken. For what it's worth, the SCAT test was only 90 minutes long. I'm not sure what test a middle schooler would be required to take though.

We found it to be a benefit for the students to take the test. It's an early, no-risk opportunity to take one of those high-stakes tests. The score DOES NOT get included later on when they are taking the tests for college as high schoolers. Many high-achieving middle schoolers (like those invited to take the tests) enjoy the experience and challenge of it. Certainly if your child does NOT want to take the test, then I wouldn't push them.

The actual CTY courses are great, but expensive, so some will take advantage and others may not, but we thought that the opportunity to take the test was valuable itself.

Our daughter DID take one CTY summer course and enjoyed it (and learned a lot.) We know others who qualified and went every summer as well as some who qualified but never took any of the courses.

phyllis said:

Can you only do the courses if you take one of the tests? My kid got the notice from the Middle School inviting participation, but I'm not sure I feel like subjecting the kid to another standardized test. Courses might be cool, though.

Yes, the student must qualify by taking one of the tests.

There's benefits to taking the SAT at 12 or 13, but really all that's needed for CTY is the SCAT which is a far less arduous testing option. It also makes it more feasible to retest if you need to (cost and effort wise).

I took the SAT in 7th grade for CTY 30 years ago. It was an ego boost in that I was taking the test in the same room as high schoolers. The score was also a reality check about how much more I needed to learn in high school.

When I then took the SAT 'for real' in high school, I think having taken it in middle school gave me an advantage. I knew exactly how the testing day would go, and my brain didn't have to worry about that part.

(FWIW: I didn't take the CTY courses).

sprout said:

When I then took the SAT 'for real' in high school, I think having taken it in middle school gave me an advantage. I knew exactly how the testing day would go, and my brain didn't have to worry about that part.

The thing about that though is that 30 years ago (for me, more like 35 years ago) we had the PSAT (which certainly was prep for the SAT), but they didn't have SAT prep classes- we were told to get some sleep and bring a #2 pencil. Now with all the prep classes, my kids had a ridiculous amount of prep for the SAT and what to expect without having to take it in 7th grade.

There's nothing like "the real thing", though. And, in my experience with my own kids and their friends who took it in 7th grade, it wasn't really a burden (other than getting up early on a Saturday morning.) More of an adventure, and they were excited to learn their scores (mostly pretty good) as well.

I get that people like it and its no big burden, but I decided to pass on spending $$ so that CTY could offer my kids a summer program.

They did just fine on the SAT when it counted ;-)

Might be worth asking the kid(s) in question what they would like to do (?)

That is def a good idea.

mine found the SAT fun in 7th grade - it's no stakes testing, really. the summer program, as mentioned, is really expensive - over $5000 - for a three week course - just like college!

They have a number of weekend programs that are much more reasonably priced. One advantage of participating is that your child gets to spend time with cognitive peers. This can be reassuring for bright children that don't feel at home in the usual school crowd.

http://forum.maplewoodonline.com/discussion/100360/center-for-talented-youth/p1

In the above thread, I wrote:
"My kid did three summers at Dickinson through CTY. He took Cryptology, Film Studies, and Game Theory. All three courses have helped to broaden his worldview, and Film Studies significantly improved his writing. During those same years he was playing a sport at the high school level and was able to fit in his training. CTY was life-changing for him, and he looks forward to being an RA some day. "

oh wow thanks. i had searched but missed that...

OK, sorry, just skimmed through both threads and am still not clear. The recommendation is the SAT over the ACT? Or both?

Talk to me like I'm stupid (because I am--not really) using a minimum of words. I'm a mom with previously undiagnosed ADHD trying to pull it together for a kid with no such issues!! :-D

Help.

Better yet, is there a human I can contact who can help me make sense of this gigantic form I have to fill out!

@meandtheboys the deadline now isn't for a few more weeks. I chose the SAT coz I figured she'd be taking that in the future and it's good practice. They urge you to take a test by the end of the calendar year, so they can place your kid for the summer. You can still take the Dec. SAT or ACT on Dec. 7. The letter in the packet (if you got it) talks about how to fill out the form -- you don't need a photo, you do need them to write (in cursive) a statement and sign it. I found tests in Mwood and Morristown to be the closest test centers.

Addiemoose- so if you sign your child up for a January test date, he/she will not be able to do the summer programs? I didn't see mention of that in the materials (but they were vast so I might have missed).