Somehow, it feels kind of strange

[Dmmetler]

I'm getting DD's stuff together for the EXPLORE tomorrow. Somehow, there's just something about the juxtaposition between sending my small for her age 8 yr old DD to a high school to take an 8th grade level test-armed with a pink calculator decorated with Phineas and Ferb stickers, kindergarten pencils, and a cartoon frog lunch box containing Disney character pretzels and a juice box.

 

Sigh....it's talent search-they'll be used to asynchronous kids, right?

[quark]

My friend drove her small for his age 10yo to our local high school for the AP Calc BC test. She said it was really weird because after the test, the high schoolers were exiting the test room looking tired and some a little nervous/ resigned to a bad grade while her son skipped out happily into her arms. I remember being that resigned high schooler so I don't know how I personally would have reacted to a younger kid taking the same test. It really is an odd situation. My friend said most of the high schoolers were very impressed with her son and I think the others just were not alert enough to notice him or something like that. He was the only "kid" there.

 

I don't know if your venue will be used to younger kids but this is just one of those things we have to develop a little protective internal armor for. I have personally decided not to test my son at a center for various reasons (we tested at home using an external proctor) so I am glad I have some more time to develop that armor. My admiration is with parents who can handle the advocacy part of all of this despite feeling those twinges of how crazy it is. Good luck to your DD! And to you too!

[Belacqua]

Aw...that's a fantastically adorable image.

 

We always found the high school kids to be really sweet and protective of the little kids there for testing. The girls tend to get all maternal and hover around the younger kids, making sure they know where to go.

 

Best of luck with the test!

[Dmmetler]

I'm hoping DD isn't the only young one-no one around here seems to do talent search before 7th grade. Apparently the EXPLORE is required for class placement for students transferring into some of the private schools, so some kids take it multiple times to get a high enough score. I know of one kid taking it for the third time.

[acurtis75]

I'm hoping DD isn't the only young one-no one around here seems to do talent search before 7th grade. Apparently the EXPLORE is required for class placement for students transferring into some of the private schools, so some kids take it multiple times to get a high enough score. I know of one kid taking it for the third time.

 

I didn't find out about the process in my area until it was too late to register so we won't be doing it until next year but I know there are some younger students taking it in our area. A few moms at our p.e. class have their kids signed up.

[KAR120C]

The first time DS took the ACT he was still riding in a booster seat.

 

On the other hand, when we showed up for his first AP exam, I was thrilled that the school security guard thought he was a regular student. :)

 

He was seven when he did the Explore and looked tiny, but did fine. I got to hang out with other parents in the school library, waiting for the kids to come out and fielding awkward questions, but he didn't get any of that.. lucky kid... lol

[Crimson Wife]

There were a bunch of younger kids when my DD took the EXPLORE. She may have been the youngest as she has a fall birthday and was just turned 8 in 3rd. But she was not so much younger than the rest that it mattered any.

[Dmmetler]

Got her dropped off. I think her room is mostly TIPS 4th graders, so not too bad (she just turned 8 before Christmas, so she's a very young 3rd). They did have a little trouble finding her on the registration list-I'm guessing it's sorted by program, b

Grade, or both, because DD was the only one on her list. She saw one of the older girls from our homeschool group who is taking the ACT for TIPS, so even though they aren't in the same room, she relaxed noticeably when she saw that K was there, too. I think the size of the school overwhelmed her a bit (BIG public high school building/campus). Now, to twiddle my thumbs for the next couple of hours.

[Dmmetler]

She said it was easier than she expected and she didn't use her calculator. We'll see how the scores come out.

[Lilaclady]

great. my dd took it last yr and was the only 3rd grader. Duke TIP is the talent search we are zoned for but she did it through Northwestern. I did not let her know she could be the youngest so she wasn't overly concerned while there but she did great.

[Tattarrattat]

She said it was easier than she expected and she didn't use her calculator. We'll see how the scores come out.

 

If she felt it was easier than she had expected, the test probably was indeed easy for her :) . My kid didn't use a calculator either on a test (not explore) and did just fine.

[Dmmetler]

I'm trying to tell myself that. In fairness, I gave her a practice ACT so she could see the format and the answer sheet, and compared to the ACT, it might have been easy-or maybe she was overconfident and jumped to obvious answers that were wrong-I guess we'll see when results come back.

 

I did hear some of the kids coming out saying that the math wasn't as hard as last year, which seems strange since the kids on WTM who did the January administration said it was harder than last year, and I can't imagine they wouldn't try to keep all the versions equivalent.