My son just brought this home after receiving his testing scores and was wondering if anyone had any knowledge of this. He scored high on the Science portion of his test.
http://tip.duke.edu/

We briefly looked into this and saw that while it could help him by providing some addtional resouces. We explained that to him and he frowned and said "Great! Extra work."  While he was in elementry school he was offered admission into the higher education program. He was excited at first but then the extra work made him feel that he was being singled out and punished. The next year he let his grades slip and he was removed from the program, but still tested higher than the majority in the school. He currently goes to the Magnet School and is doing well and not bothered by the advanced classes or the added work because everyone is getting the same.

I am planning on setting him up to take the exam but I do not want to make him feel like it is punishment for being smart or getting high scores. Some of the programs are very pricey with the "summer camp" being almost 4k for 3 weeks, way out of our price range.

I am just curious if anyone has any information on this.

Thanks!

Thanks for your insight and I agree. He would be fine with a grinding load of super challenging coursework but everyone would have to be getting the same workload or gameover. lol

I am sure he would be ok exploring some of the extras offered but I am it would be temporary.

At least get him tested.

That has been around for awhile...

I qualified for it based on SAT scores when I was in 6th grade... (I'm 28)

From what I remember, the only things that came from it were:

1- They paid for me to take the ACT in 7th grade (scored a 21).

2- They tried to sell a "yearbook" type thing with your picture and status in it.

Its possible there might have been more if I had done better or the 'rents looked into it more

Yeah, he is getting tested. That cost is 70.00.

I'm seeing if it is would be worth trying to convince him to try some of the stuff. Money isn't freeflowing at our house and the course work is expensive. I guess we will cross that bridge when it comes.

Ask them if there is any aid.

I got a flood of things for having perfect SATs.

My kid got the same thing.  In a way it is a sales flyer for Duke.  Not that they need a sales flyer.  It is a very well respected university as you well know.

My son got the same thing.  He asked to sign up for the online independent study they offer.  As I suspected he lost interest.  He has not gone to the camp, but did take the ACT test.

That is the route we are going to go.

My daughter did this.

It didn't cost us anything and she got a free ACT test out of it in 7th grade. That became beneficial last year when she was able to sign up for college classes at the local Jr college in her 10th grade year because she already had qualifying ACT scores.

She never did any of the other stuff associated with the TIP program, but she got a medal and a certificate. It may look good for her later on, but the biggest benefit for her was it helping her to start college early.

Congrats and good news! Early college classes is a good thing. I know here they have college classes in high school they can take if they qualify.

Duke is one of several regional talent searches.  One of the first is based at Johns Hopkins University & is known as the Center for Talented Youth (CTY).  

CTY used to use the SAT to identify talented 7th grade students;  those students who scored a 930 or above in 7th grade qualified to apply for CTY's summer program.

In the 3-week summer program, kids age 12 to 16.5 went to class 5 days a week.  During those 3 weeks, they advanced 1 whole year in a single subject.

Even if you do not choose to have your daughter participate in a summer program, you should look into what the talent search offers; there are books, one-time events, and classes during the school year now.

You have already lost half the game.
These programs are aimed at students that are interested and have the drive to learn.


Sounds like the game is over for him.  You have to be curious and want to learn for it to work.
Damn straight it is a lot of work.

My son took the test Saturday. He was one of the few students that was not in high school, most were 17-18 YO. In his group he was the only one not in high school. He said he answered 30+ questions from each group. The math was way above his head but he attempted to answer them the best he could.

He was real neverous but I just told him to relax, not to stress, just keep an open mind and do the best you can. I told him that it was good practice. When he was in the class room he was told that it was the ACT. He said he panicked and looked at the cover page to make sure it was a practice test-it wasn't. I guess he misunderstood me. Later we were getting some lunch and ee saw some older kids that had been in his class and one flashed him the peace sign. He asked me why he did that and I told him he was giving you props. I replied that here you are at 12 taking the same test he was and he is a Senior in high school. It registered then.

Regardeless of the score, I am very proud of him.

 

Talent is something to be nurtured over time. This talent search is one arm of it, and I'm not sure what else the program offers.

However, there are plenty of other academic opportunities available that is not well advertised.

I'm in research, and I can tell you that most academic institutions will have some form of summer research internship program for high school students. They're extremely competitive, and so forth, but they oftentimes pay for room/board and may even include a small stipend. I would steer your son in that direction when the time comes.

We had good experiences in our family with that program (same program; different region).





Early familiarity with standardized tests is a bonus that everyone walks away with.





We had a hard-charger who really thrived each summer during the classes. It was time and money well spent.



Edited to add:  summer internships in high school are also a great opportunity.  Kiddo from the previous paragraph would up doing boundary-layer analysis in clouds for a summer internship at a government facility nearby.

I was recognized by Duke TIP, had two options -- was invited to spend the summer at Duke, or if I declined I would just receive recognition at a local university in a ceremony.

As a 6th/7th grader, i really wasn't all that clued in to what kind of advantages actually going to Duke for summers might offer, so of course I chose to stay home, go to scout camp, etc.


I SHOULD HAVE GONE TO THE PROGRAM AT DUKE. It would have given me such a better insight into higher ed so much earlier, I would have been much more aware of the 'track' I needed to put myself on in high school.


One of my few true regrets. Let that help guide you for what it's worth.

 
I did really well on all sections of the ACT other than math.  We hadn't even started "letters can stand for numbers" in my math classes, so virtually the entire math section was a wash for me.


Now, the kids near me were all HS juniors and seniors, sweating bullets on the math portion. I finished it in about 15 minutes and had a completely nonchalant look on my face (because, hell, nothing I could do about it). Afterwards I find out the senior next to me almost threw up when he realized he was struggling to finish the section at all, and I had finished when he was on number six or so. Poor guy!


Managed a 21 or 22 overall, despite the math section being a 12. Did a little better as a Junior once I figured out what that A+B=C crap was about.

I was invited to TIP as a kid. I didn't go to the camp but I did take advantage of the opportunity to sit for the SAT in 7th grade. It was very valuable, learned a lot about the test format and wasn't nearly as nervous when I took it for the first time in high school.

I appreciate everyones reply it has been educational. We found that he made a 19 overall as opposed to the score I orgionally posted. If anything it has really boosted his self-confidence.

Thanks again. Feel free to keep adding insight.

thats awesome, OP. my wife and i were both identified and took the ACT in 7th grade as well. she is 37 now and im 36 so its been around at least that long. i dont remember anything else besides the test that was involved in the TIP. i made a 17 on it though.