<p>MPM, I googled it, seems like a way to sell summer camps. I do know little about the US public school system. I thank the board for educating me. None of the kids that got 700+ tok any prep courses, they all went in cold. That’s why I was surprised.</p>
<p>I was just wondering whether there is any broad application of IQ tests. I never took one in my life.</p>
<p>Well for instance if you were so inclined to skip high school and go right to college as some of the kids we know, an IQ test could be useful to measure whether that would be appropriate.
High intelligence isn’t always expressed. Someone may be able to understand high levels of math reasoning for example, but perhaps they get bogged down with simple computation for which there are work arounds.
When my daughter was younger she would work math problems in her head, but the type of testing the school district required, placed more emphasis on being able to explain what you did, even if your answer wasn’t correct :rolleyes: Knowing that she was able to understand advanced math, despite her verbal difficulties gave us more info into what sort of supports were appropriate.</p>
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<li><p>Although not common for the average student, it is not that rare for a 10-12 year old to score above 700 on a section of the SAT. </p></li>
<li><p>After years on CC, I realize that people tend to narrowly define … test preparation. For many, “douing test prep” is linked to paying for a SAT tutor or signing up for one of the (worthless) group classes offered by the likes of PR or Kaplan. The reality is that students in competitive schools have been “prepared” to face standardized tests through batteries of tests such as the ERB. Other students have also been prepared trhrough participation in academic competitions or by … parental drilling since birth.</p></li>
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<p>Pre-employment screenings are a necesary part of the hiring process for people applying for positions in public safety (eg law enforcement), security positions, etc. Some private companies use pre-employment I-O (industrial-organizational) evalutions of potential high level executives to see if they have the personality characteristics that will fit well into their corporate culture. If they are going to pay someone a lot, they want to be sure the person is a good fit. Makes perfect sense.</p>
<p>“seems like a way to sell summer camps”
sigh…
No, for the truly gifted, its a chance to take intensive, advanced classes in areas of academic interest that are otherwise not available to them, as well as an opportunity to meet other gifted kids who share their passion for learning.
Its not just a money making place to park kids for the summer.</p>
<p>but as you said, you’re kid’s not gifted, so how would you know?</p>
<p>its not a club- its an academic camp, that requires pretesting to prove a student is smart enough to handle the rigor of the classes- kind of like to get into IIT , students have to pre qualify with a minimum high score on the entrance tests.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what that means. I haven’t run into any parents that don’t do their level best to help their kid realize his/her dreams. Being tied as parent-kid and living under the same roof for 18+1 years, they may have shared dreams, a lot. But, no parents can succeed in realizing their own dreams through their kid. However, parents may not know how to help their kid and what the kid is potentially good at, though many think they know. Remember someone mentioned that “everyone thinks their kid is a genius”? Not on CC, of course.</p>
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<p>The narrowly defined “test prep” is indeed bad for everyone except for the test prep business. A broader definition would capture those who claim to have taken a test cold. Someone may have life-long prep without knowing what the SAT looks like, e.g., someone who reads so much that SAT vocabulary becomes no issue, and someone who got exposed to so much advanced materials outside of school, as through gifted programs. They are advanced kids.</p>
<p>Xiggi, those tests all seem like SAT lite. Given that I hold the SAT in disdain, i find it sad that such tests are used to label kids as gifted. To e, the proper tests would be subject tests, like the AMCs, and equivalents in other subjects though I am not sure what they are.</p>
<p>With a second thought, I think IP has a good point here. Many 7 year old kids today would be considered a genius 200 years ago by what they know. The power of our brains is way underestimated, perhaps. I heard that brain is the next frontier in scientific exploration. We will know our brains better.</p>
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<p>Given the SAT is no long called an aptitude test, it’s a knowledge-based test. People who didn’t learn enough or forgot what’s learned use test preps for a test, hence the market. Those who got exposed to a larger knowledge base, process information faster, and with better memories have advantages. I see lot of predetermination in these advantages. But isn’t giftedness measured by other tests nowadays, like IQ test?</p>