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Hello,
I wanted to share and compare experience for those who are taking the CPS SEES test this winter. My kiddo took it 2 weeks ago (Kindergarten testing for Classical and Gifted) and came out after ~30 min. She had scored really well on Testing Mom and other prep materials prior to the test so I was surprised she came out so quickly. We had heard of others in prior years lasting as long as 1 – 1.5 hours (including some friends’ kids who are now at Edison, Bell, Skinner North), so are concerned that our chances are pretty low at this point.
However, one tutor / consultant we spoke with mentioned that he’s seen a reduction this year in how long kids spent in the testing center relative to prior years, perhaps attributed to a change in testing format / procedure.
What are others’ experience with test length this year?
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I am so glad you posted this – our 4.5 year old just finished after less than an hour when our current 2nd grader definitely took more than an hour when she did it. Our friends who did it earlier said their daughter was done in around 45 minutes. Glad to hear it sounds like it is a change overall.
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My daughter took the kindergarten exam last year. She was in there for 40 min and her score was in top 10%.
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I was also thinking the same thing. My son was done in about 35-40 min and from everything I’ve heard, less than an hour is pretty much a sign of no SEES schools possibilities.
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Thank you for all the helpful feedback!
Val – if you are comfortable sharing what type of programs are generally matched to 90 percentile / top 10%?
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It depends on your tier. If you are T1-2: you will get to any gifted/classical school you want. My kiddo spent about one hour, but it was last year and we scored high. If you are T4 you need to have 98/99% to get to the top SEES.
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Hi! As Birdie said ( Hi Birdie 😊) it depends on your Tier. We were Tier 4, so the required scores were higher than for Tier 3, Tier 2& Tier 1. It also depends on the school. For example the score required by Skinner North was higher than the score required by Decatur or Skinner West( we were interested only in Classical programs and not Gifted). My daughter tested 99.6 in Math and i think over 98 Reading.
We tested this Saturday for Grade 1st, honestly out of curiosity to see how she’s doing. They said it will take 1 1/2 up to 2 hours. All the kiddos were out in 1 hour( they went in together as a group and came out together). Honestly if your kiddo was doing good on TestingMom I don’t think you should worry 😊-
Hi Val! How do you like your school? I hope your daughter likes it. In case you are still considering other options, our school will have an opening in 1st grade, but we can take it offline…
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@Birdie, would love to chat offline. We like the school, but man…the amount of homework is insane. She’s like 50-50, most of the kids in her class are very shy, and she is very outgoing, so it was a bit hard for her to make new friends.
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Hi Birdie – would love to connect about the extra spot at your school as well.
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@Val and @CpsDad we were traveling for holidays. Will be happy to provide any information I have or answer any questions. You can reach out to me at any time at BirdieParent@gmail.com
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Also, all schools should have 5 openings from kindergarten to first grade, as the kindergarten maximum class size is 23 and the first grade max class size is 28. So there should be a lot of spots that open up in first grade at all selective enrollment schools.
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@CPS Mom&Teacher my daughter school has 25 kindergarten spots, and I know other kindergarten classes that have 25 spots/class
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I think because time is the only data point available until scores are released, we try to make a lot out of the length of time they were back. However Petra posted a spreadsheet (first post of Kindergarten 2022-23 applicant chat) that showed there’s not a strong connection between score and time. I know of someone at one of the most selective programs who got in and was back only 20 min. If the kid is confident and answers quickly that would shorten the time.
To reply to the original question, my current 2nd grader was only back 30 min or so three years ago. A lof of the kids that year came back after 15 min or so while I was there. This year my 4yo was back almost an hour and no one came back faster than 30 min while I was there. But it might be about the speed of the kids (my 4 yo is quieter and I imagine took some time to warm up). So my experience is the opposite from the OP’s but I don’t know that that means anything about scores.
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77 minutes for us! Is that necessarily a good sign?
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I just wanted to share my experience, my 4.5-year-old was in there for about 35–40 minutes, and it seemed like the other kids were in there for a similar amount of time as well.
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Hi- just wanted to post my experience of my almost 4.5 year old in mid November. He was in there for about 45-50 minutes, and another mom had a daughter in there for a similar time. Let’s see what the results are in March!
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My child was 4Y,2M at the time of texting and was in there for ~70 min. Is that a good sign? We didn’t do any prep, so I’m pretty nervous. Tier 4
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Hi Alice! Usually the longer they are in, the better it 😊
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* It is!
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I appreciate your response so much! I know it varies by year, but does this sound like a long time, such that we are even competitive? I’ve been so anxious for answers over the past few days, and I’m so curious if we can even consider ourselves in the mix!
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It was for kindergarten right? From what I know they keep getting tested until they don’t know the answers anymore. So 70 min is a great time for that. Hope it helps!
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Yes, that’s right! Ok thank you so much! I am realizing that I am not very informed about how the grading all works. I guess all will be answered Friday!
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I went through it last year! Very stressful. Good luck! If you have any other questions about this all process, let me know😊
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I’ve had 2 kids through the process. Both over an hr. Tier 4. One got an offer first round, one didn’t but got a good waitlist position. Issue w a waitlist position is hardly anyone in tier 4 declines. A tier 4 offer needs to be declined in order for the tier 4 waitlist to move.
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My child applying for K was there with a tester for about 30 min. Reading the above, I assume it is a very bad sign… Right?
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Nervous for the results! For those whose kids were inside for a long time, did your kid indicate whether they were with the instructor the whole time, or if they spent some of the time in an interior play / waiting area?
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I couldn’t get hardly any information out of my child, other than the fact that they had so much fun! They did say they watched some sort of video clip at some point, and they came out with a Pokémon card and sticker.
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Instructor the whole time for us! Pretty certain, my kid would have shared that as a highlight otherwise but the report was lots and lots of questions
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My daughter was 4 years 3 months at the time of the test. She spent 30 minutes with the tester. She said they read a book and then talked about it, she played a “find the fish” game, she wrote the number “5” and she read the word “red”. She seemed to enjoy it. I didn’t prep her at all.
My neighbors kid also tested for kindergarten and was 5 years 2 months old at the time of the test. He said they read two books during his test and did some math.
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Hi Katie! I’m not sure how a 5 year old can take the test for kindergarten…at 5 they should be already in Kindergarten. My daughter had the test for kindergarten last year( so maybe it changed) and she had to read 3-4 letter words and had some addition and subtraction to do.
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9/1 is the cutoff so if their birthday is in sept or Oct they’d be 5y2mo at start of testing
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I think people could take the test as late as sometime during the winter. If your kid turned 5 9/1 and took the test 12-1, for example, they would be 5Y 3M at the time of the test.
On the other hand, if your kid doesn’t turn 5 until 8/31 this year, they could have taken the test mid October and been 4Y, 1M. That’s why it’s so important that they adjust for age… a pretty big difference in expectations for those two ages! 🙂
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He turned 5 in early September and my daughter turned 4 in late August. There is almost a year difference but they both start kindergarten this fall
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