Question about Saxon placement

[gatory]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm switching my above-average/recently tested as gifted son from Singapore Math to Saxon this coming school year (6th grade). 

He completed Singapore 4B before the end of last year, so we just used the rest of the school year to review. He did fairly well with 4a-4b (with a few snags) and breezed through much of it. His Iowa test scores at the end of the year tells me he's placing as more than average in math (94-98th percentile on almost all math areas). I want to challenge him, but not throw him in too deep and frustrate him with math that's too challenging, especially since the number of problems alone is higher per day with Saxon than it was with Singapore.

 

I'm familiar with Saxon because my daughter (just finished 5th grade) is halfway through Saxon 5/4. It's plenty challenging for her; she's in the right spot for her needs (she isn't quite as proficient in math as her brother is). 

 

I gave my son the placement test from Saxon's site this morning, and he got 16 out of 20 right in the first section, but a whopping 13 correct in the 2nd section. Would putting him in 6/5 based on the first section alone not challenge him enough? Or would putting him in 7/6 (though he didn't quite make the mark to officially go to that level based on his answers in the 2nd section) be a better fit? 

I am wondering if his lack of know-how and wrong answers are showing me more that he has gaps in his math knowledge vs. issues with math ability. Since Singapore is less review-based/spiral, he expressed to me that "he knows he learned how to do many of these problems" but he'd "just forgotten how to solve them." 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tiramisu]

My DD just finished 4B, too. She did much better on the 76 placement than the 65 test because she added instead of subtracted. She seems to have the same weaknesses as your DS which is why Saxon may be better for her with there being a lot of review.

 

65 seems easy, but 76 might be too much with the increased number of problems.

 

FWIW, CLE 500 looks like a perfect fit. You may want to take a look.

[Ellie]

If he didn't place into 76, I wouldn't start him there.

[PeachyDoodle]

I'd be wary of not taking the placement test seriously. Saxon is a different beast from Singapore, and a lot of its efficacy depends on following its system.

 

You might check out some of the info on Art Reed's website: homeschoolwithsaxon.com. I think he responds to emails to give advice about placement, so that might be worth a try too. He has a long history of experience teaching Saxon math.

[Syllieann]

I haven't used Saxon, but I'm familiar enough with the method behind it. The idea behind the incremental learning/massive review is that the problems should seem easy. You don't want to do that many problems at the same challenge level you were probably doing with Singapore. Go with the placement test.

[KarenNC]

I switched my daughter at the end of Singapore 4A into Saxon. We did the placement test and she only missed placing in 7/6 by one point, so I thought it would be best to go ahead and start in 7/6, figuring with all the review we'd be fine. She wasn't. She started strong but her test scores trended steadily downward. I consulted Art Reed (highly recommend!) and he suggested testing through 6/5, stopping to review relevant sections if she didn't get at least an 80 on any test. That took us a few months and worked well. Now, a difference may be that she is not math-intuitive and is gifted in verbal rather than math areas, tests significantly lower in math than verbal.

 

 

[gatory]

Thanks, all! 

Will definitely check out the homeschoolingwithsaxon.com -- and still waiting on a confirmation from my state homeschool association advisor -- but I'm thinking 6/5. Worse case scenario: We end up moving faster through it and into the next one before year-end (and saving 6/5 for his sister).