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Every parent finds their child amazing, and it is true. Children are like precious stones, one different from the other. However, there are some diamonds in the rough, a few handful who are superior to other children as they are marked with gifted abilities. For such children, gifted tests are conducted. Since every parent wants the best possible education for their children, partaking in a gifted test can be of use.
However, to make your child capable of clearing these gifted tests, enough preparation is required. Just like preparing for any test, children are provided with sample questions and material for gifted tests to help them understand the question type.
Gifted exams like SCAT, CogAT, SAT and ACT are there to test your child’s special capabilities. And you can’t simply throw away your child in a gifted test without any preparation. While sample papers are a great help for children, one should also follow these five ways in which you can prepare your child for a test like this:
Table of Contents
Keeping Calm Under Pressure:
It is natural for a person to commit mistakes when he/she is anxious. While adults learn how to deal with the situation, children must be taught how to deal with a stressful situation that might arise during a test. Try teaching a few relaxation techniques to your child that he/she can use if they get too stressed out during a test.
Encourage your child to continue with the test even if he/she is feeling stressed out. It’s a good idea to tell them to focus on one question at a time instead of worrying about the rest of the examination.
Encourage Talking:
75 percent of a gifted test is all about vocabulary. Thus it’s important to prepare your child for the same right in the home. While books can help in vocabulary building, having a lively discussion with your child can enhance his/her vocabulary to a great extent.
However, many children are not much of a talker, in that case, you can create a word board for him/her or get them word bank books to read.
Read A Lot:
As per a paper published in the University of California, kids get to learn 50 percent more words by reading books than by watching television. In that light, if you are planning to get your child to take up the gifted test, reading should be made a part of their daily habit.
Ideally, parents should be reading to their child for 30 to 60 minutes every day right from their birth till they are in 3rd or 4th grade. This is often known as the Read-To-Time. But before you pick up any book to read out to your child, go through a list of prescribed books by authors. Make sure to run a research on the web to find out children’s illustrators. It is also a good idea to focus on children poetry
Cut Down On Answering Questions:
The gifted test is designed to test the thinking ability of a child, not his/her level of knowledge. The test does not require a child to know everything, the idea is to find out how the child thinks through a problem. That is the primary reason why parents must stop answering questions that the child poses. Instead, parents can encourage them to think of a possible answer.
Once children learn to think, they develop a sense of reasoning. Eventually, they develop problem-solving skills which not only helps them with the gifted test but also assists them to take up challenges later in life. However, not answering does not mean not discussing. For instance, your child may not know the meaning of a particular word. In that case, it’s important to let him/her know the meaning. However, if your child is stuck with a math problem, you should not solve it; let him/her think their way through the problem.
Teach Them To Have A Way Around Perfectionism
There are many gifted tests that start with easy questions and then move to the more difficult ones. While this may not pose a problem for many, if a child has a perfectionist mentality he or she might lose focus if they do not know the answer to every single question.
To avoid such a situation, explain to your child that it’s okay not to know the answers to a few questions and that the test is so designed. Additionally, encourage them to use a process of elimination and a sense of logic to come up with the best guess.
With these few tips handy, getting your child prepared for a gifted test will not be very difficult. All the best!
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