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National Mythology Exam registration deadline!


Kerileanne99
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Just a reminder that the deadline to enroll for the National Mythology exam is looming. I received a very timely reminder that January 15th is the deadline to order exams/register. This year has been...particularly difficult, but dd would be devastated to miss it!

Edited by Kerileanne99
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Do they allow accommodations for dyslexia? Like could someone read the exam questions aloud to a student? We are not taking it this year, but just a question for the future. Robby might really enjoy these competitions, but he is still not reading well enough on his own.

Call them, but I would strongly believe so. They are incredibly flexible and welcoming to everyone. Last year I called to talk to them about Alex taking the exam at age 6 and I guess they assumed she would need the questions read aloud because they suggested I do so for her:) They seemed a bit surprised that I said it wouldn't be necessary. This is a FUN exam, meant to encourage. It was a great entry into the exam world for Alex.

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Do they allow accommodations for dyslexia? Like could someone read the exam questions aloud to a student? We are not taking it this year, but just a question for the future. Robby might really enjoy these competitions, but he is still not reading well enough on his own.

Yes. You can use any accommodation normally used in a classroom except for limiting answer choices. You can read to them, scribe for them, etc. The ACL are very, very easy to work with.

 

The youngest child I ever had take it was a 4 yr old sibling. DD has decided against doing it again, after 5 years. It was a nice test, and for most of my mythology club, their first test.

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My order history shows that I paid $15 for the registration fee, and $5 for the exam.

 

Does this contain all the optional sections? My 7yo wants to do the 30 item basic exam, plus the section on Heracles, and maybe another one or two from the gr 6-9 category, but I'm not sure how many sections of the exam are included in my order.

 

Anyone have any insight for me, please?

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Yes, all the subtests are in each book. Be aware that if your DC takes more than required, they will be scored accordingly-so a 3rd grader who takes classical subtests will be scored like an 8th grader

How does the scoring work, or is there any particular encouragement kids would get for being scored as a 3rd grader vs. 8th?

 

Norse mythology is the hands down favorite around here and if my kids took the exam, that would be their main interest. I don't think they are really national competition material and we'd just be doing it for the fun of it.

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How does the scoring work, or is there any particular encouragement kids would get for being scored as a 3rd grader vs. 8th?

 

Norse mythology is the hands down favorite around here and if my kids took the exam, that would be their main interest. I don't think they are really national competition material and we'd just be doing it for the fun of it.

The big thing to keep in mind is that the reading level and question level isn't constant. The core is written for 3rd/4th grade, the specialty for 5th, the Norse and Native American tests for 6th/7th, the classical tests for 8th/9th. The Norse subtest is much harder than the core, and the classical tests are very detailed and very version-specific. So, it is very possible for a child who would get Gold on the tests recommended for that grade level, but be knocked down due to mistake or two in a harder subtest (this happened to my DD as a 3rd grader who adored the Iliad and the Odyssey-but hadn't read the specific versions covered in the test). In general, I recommend that kids answer as much of the test as they want, but only actually grid what is required, at least the first time they take the test (once they have, then adding subtests adds challenge).

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The big thing to keep in mind is that the reading level and question level isn't constant. The core is written for 3rd/4th grade, the specialty for 5th, the Norse and Native American tests for 6th/7th, the classical tests for 8th/9th. The Norse subtest is much harder than the core, and the classical tests are very detailed and very version-specific. So, it is very possible for a child who would get Gold on the tests recommended for that grade level, but be knocked down due to mistake or two in a harder subtest (this happened to my DD as a 3rd grader who adored the Iliad and the Odyssey-but hadn't read the specific versions covered in the test). In general, I recommend that kids answer as much of the test as they want, but only actually grid what is required, at least the first time they take the test (once they have, then adding subtests adds challenge).

That's great advice. I appreciate it. Thanks :)

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I've never even heard of this! Is it for a particular grade/age group?

What's its purpose?

 

3rd grade and up, though some have had younger kids take it. And I think it's pretty much just for fun. Unfortunately, my oldest, who enjoyed listening to D'Aulaire's Greek Myths half a year ago (and the Illiad, and the Odyssey, but we didn't read the right version of those, and we wouldn't, as the right version would be too hard), and loved staring at a poster of Greek Mythology Family Tree I've got hanging on the wall, says he's not interested (in all fairness, he's never interested in anything, other than Pokemon and Minecraft). On the bright side, that means I can read whatever Roman mythology to the kids now instead of doing D'Aulaire's Greek Myths again.

 

ETA: my youngest wasn't quite ready for D'Aulaire's half a year ago... he listened to maybe half of the stories, and wandered off during the others, so I don't think he'd be ready for the exam this year... maybe next year, if he's interested.

Edited by luuknam
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You can write all over the booklet, so if your kid does answer the other sections (but not grid them,) after the results come out (May??), PM one of us that has a large number of kids take the test. They won't give you the answers, but I have a large group of kids take the test, so I usually have a kid who did well enough to help you 'grade' the extra sections your kid filled out on the workbook but didn't bubble in.

 

I had one fourth grader (younger sibling) take almost all the subsections last year. He got a ton wrong on some of the hard subsections, but had a blast. I think he'll only bubble in required sections this year, but try everything else in the book.

 

It is a fun test.

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  • 1 month later...

I broke down and registered (just to do as a fun school activity) and also convinced another homeschool family to register two of their children (3rd and 5th grade students).  I have read almost the first half of the required pages pages 1-69 or so to Robby.  He is working on illustrating his narrations of the stories to practice.  We are going to try to meet up a few times and do some activities to review for the test.  Any ideas or activities you all have done to prepare in the past?

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Just a thought:

Although it didn't start as a way to get ready for the test, my dd fell in love with mythology listening to d' Aulaire's Greek Myths on audiobook. She has it loaded on her phone and ends up listening just about every night as she goes to sleep:)

Edited by Kerileanne99
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

We sent back our exams.  My son and one of his friends took this together.  I think my son did alright, but I know it was not a perfect score.  He kept forgetting Hephaestus' name even though he was his favorite god. I have a nice picture he drew of him with his silver and gold robots.  I specifically chose to do this because I wanted a break from robots.  Who knew Greek Myths would include robots!?!  He also was not sure of the Greek vs. Roman names.  He somehow knew Jupiter was Zeus.  So we definitely have some things to learn before we take this next year.  

 

Those who have taken it before how do the medals usually work?  I would assume gold is for a perfect score.  Since there is only 30 questions I thought maybe 1 wrong would be silver and 2 or 3 wrong bronze?

 

I am glad we participated this year to give him his first opportunity taking a standardized test as something fun and recreational and not a stress induced situation.  He enjoyed filling in his name and bubbling it in.   

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DS took the core a couple of weeks ago, and I expect he'll be very pleased with his results. There were a few questions I didn't know the answers to, so I can't be certain he got 100%, but he was confident with his responses.

 

It was a great first exam experience. :)

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DS took the core a couple of weeks ago, and I expect he'll be very pleased with his results. There were a few questions I didn't know the answers to, so I can't be certain he got 100%, but he was confident with his responses.

 

It was a great first exam experience. :)

 

Oh that is fantastic!  I think Robby has missed more than 3.  I don't know all of the answers, but I think he missed -- The god least liked by most gods and goddesses: He chose Hermes.  I think this is Ares.  We will also certainly study the Roman/Greek names for all the gods next year. :)

 

I do think this was a great first exam experience for us as well.

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My girls enjoyed taking it.  This was the first year for my 2nd dd (Ker).  She is absolutely certain that she is getting a gold medal.  I keep trying to talk up how it's just fun no matter how you score, but she is sure.  The thing is, I know that she got at least one wrong (she answered with a Greek name when asked for Roman), and there were a few others I was uncertain of.  I'm not sure whether to tell her or not.  Older dd chose to add both the Heracles and Norse Mythology subtests.  Norse mythology is her latest love.  She had a Norse mythology birthday party for her eighth birthday on Friday.  It was awesome.  We played 'pin the legs on Sleipnir'.  I haven't the faintest idea how she did, as she knows far more about mythology than I do.

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