Preparing for the NNAT Test “Someday”

Parents preparing their children for the NNAT test are quite familiar with the word “someday.” It’s a word we use all the time. “Someday I’ll go on a cruise around the world.” “Someday I’m going to go back to school and get my master’s degree.” “Someday I’ll finally lose these extra 10 pounds I’m always complaining about.”
We even use “someday” without ever saying it out loud. This happens more than any of us would care to admit – I call it the “silent someday,” permeating our thoughts and pushing so many of our goals out into a distant, undefinable future.
For those of us who are parents preparing for the NNAT, this “silent someday” is all too familiar. For most of us, our children are receiving an adequate education. They are probably making good grades, and may even be toward the top of their class. But something inside us knows that our children deserve better than what they’re getting – and that we need to do more to help them achieve their full potential and get them on the path to a journey of lifelong success. A big part of this is making sure that they pass the NNAT test when the big day rolls around. The world is getting more competitive every day, and your child needs every advantage they can get to make it into a top college and go on to have a successful and rewarding career. “Good enough” just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. The real meaning of “someday” is “never.” “Someday” is a word we use to delay the work that we know needs to be done to improve our lives – or our children’s lives. Think about it: if you’ve been saying that you’re going to lose weight “someday,” where is the accountability in that statement? What is the due date for that ambition to be realized? If the goal isn’t complete by the end of the year, do you hold yourself accountable for failing? No! It’s impossible to fail when the deadline is “someday,” because you can keep pushing “someday” back your entire life.
When it comes to our weight, or finances, or vacation plans, we’re the only ones who have to suffer the consequences of our lack of commitment and focus. But when it comes to our children’s education, there’s so much more at stake. You can only put off improving your child’s chances of success for so long until it’s too late – and your child is forever stuck with the results of the decisions you made (or never got around to making).
That’s why it’s so important to get your child ready for the NNAT – and to get it right the first time around. Make sure you get started early, and use a variety of materials, from workbooks to online games to offline activities.

NNAT Kids and White Lies

We’ve talked before about why NNAT children lie. It’s hard to teach your child why lies are bad when sometimes a “lie” can be good – like when an NNAT child tells someone their hair looks good (even if it doesn’t!).
One way to show your NNAT child the importance of telling the truth is to acknowledge them for doing it even when the consequences may be negative. For example, if your child breaks a vase while playing catch in the house, and immediately confesses, you should acknowledge their honesty. Even if you get upset at them for breaking the house rule of no ball playing, it’s important to take a second and tell them, “Thank you for telling me the truth about what you did.”
Believe it or not, telling the truth comes in handy when children are taking standardized tests. When children aren’t constantly lying and trying to cover their tracks, they’re more at ease and less likely to get nervous during the NNAT test – or any other test, for that matter! If your child is comfortable in their own skin, they’ll go into the test feeling confident – and that alone gives them a huge advantage.
And yes, sometimes it’s the “polite” thing to do to tell a “little white lie.” You can show your child the difference between a “harmless” lie and a “bad” lie by showing them the difference in your own life. Show your NNAT child a gift you received that you may already have, or just do not care for. Show your child that you tell the person who gave you the gift, “Yes, I really like this gift that you gave me. Thank you so much!” You can then explain to your NNAT child the difference between that lie and a different lie, and why you told this particular lie. You can explain that that white lie was told to spare the gift giver’s feelings. Your children can start to understand the distinctions.
Again, the key is modeling the behavior that you want to see in your NNAT child. If you do it right, your child will excel on the test and learn proper social standards all at once!

Making Sure NNAT Kids Keep Up Over the Summer

Many parents of NNAT children think to themselves, “My child is smart. They won’t be susceptible to the summer slide.” After all, these parents have children who have either passed the NNAT or are getting ready to take it – either of which puts them in a special class of gifted kids.

Sadly, however, the summer slide doesn’t discriminate. Even the smartest students will lose up to 4 months of progress that they made during the school year if they aren’t actively engaged in academic activities over the summer. Here’s just one horror story from a parent who thought that the fact their child had passed the NNAT test meant they were immune from the dangers of the summer slide:

“Our son flew through kindergarten with no problems. He had passed the NNAT test and was enrolled in a competitive gifted program, and even there he was light years ahead of all his classmates in every subject imaginable – reading, math, spelling, even creative pursuits like art and music. His teacher said he was the most advanced student she had seen in her 10+ years of teaching. When the summer rolled around, it didn’t even occur to us that he might lose ground during the break. He spent the summer playing and having fun, and we never once cracked a book. We were so relieved to be done with the NNAT test that it didn’t even occur to us that we might be doing him harm.

When he started the first grade in the fall, it was immediately apparent that something was terribly wrong. He struggled with his homework and his teacher said he got easily frustrated in class. We ended up having to hire a tutor to help him get caught up. At one point his first grade teacher said he might have to migrate back to the general education program. Eventually, we got him up to speed – but he never regained the enormous advantage he’d had over his peers.”

This anecdote just goes to show that even kids who’ve passed the NNAT with flying colors can fall prey to the summer slide. Be sure to work with your child on skill building activities over the summer to make sure they’re all caught up in the fall – or you may regret it later.

Preventing the Summer Slide in NNAT Kids

For most NNAT parents, the summer slide is the last thing on their mind when the last school bell finally rings. Most parents are far more interested in vacations, barbecues, and pool trips than they are in what they’ll do to stimulate their child’s brain over the summer.

Unfortunately, there is danger lurking around the corner. Once kids are finally done with the school year and all the tests it entails – including the NNAT – and class is finally dismissed, they’re immediately susceptible to what’s known as the “summer brain drain,” or “summer slide.” In many cases, NNAT kids don’t just put away their books at the end of the year – they also put away their brains, and spend the summer sitting in front of the TV or swiping mindlessly on their parents’ iPad.

Lots of parents joke about this phenomenon, but it’s no laughing matter. Research shows that chidlren who aren’t involved in some kind of summer education backslide an average of 2.6 months in math and 2 months in reading. In case that wasn’t bad enough, the learning loss that results from the summer slide is cumulative and can cause a 5th grader to start the new school year as far as 2 and a half years behind their peers in reading and math.

Fortunately, there’s a solution to this all-too-common problem: make sure that your NNAT kids are engaged in learning activities throughout the summer. But it doesn’t happen magically: you have to develop a plan, and you have to start now.

The methods that you use to attack the summer slide will also help your child excel on tests like the NNAT. First of all, you won’t be playing catch-up at the beginning of the year, so you’ll be able to focus energy on preparing for the NNAT test. Additionally, by working consistently over the summer, your child will develop the patience, focus, and mental grit that are key components for a good NNAT score.

When NNAT Kids Lie

One thing that every parent, including NNAT parents, will have to deal with at some point is a child who lies. It often amazes parents just how brazenly their child will lie to them, often about something seemingly small or minor.

There are a number of reasons why children lie – to their parents or anyone else. Some children lie in a general way about all kinds of issues because they’ve learned that lying can be an effective strategy. These NNAT kids have gotten away with a particular lie for a time without the adults in their lives taking notice and they’ve learned, “Hey, this isn’t so hard.” As a result, lying becomes an effective strategy for these kids in all different areas of their lives.

When this happens, the key is to intervene and really talk to your child about the importance of honesty. But it’s also important to tell them that lying is not an effective strategy, and to show them other strategies for dealing with the things they’re lying about. This is especially important if your NNAT child is starting to lie on a frequent basis.

Other times, children lie to manipulate the adults in their life. In many cases, children lie when their parents are fighting or going through a separation. These children may be lying because they feel like they have no control in their environment, so lying becomes a strategy to exert some control. These kids tend to lie to manipulate, and they get away with it because the parents are not communicating, so miss inconsistencies in what their kids say.

Obviously, lying is problematic no matter when it happens or who it happens to, but it can also be incredibly disruptive when a child is preparing for the NNAT test. The child’s parents become busy trying to deal with the lying behavior, and lose their focus on preparing for the NNAT test. Further, it takes the child’s mind out of the space it needs to be in to properly get ready for the Naglieri Nonverabl Ability Test.

Having Family Meals with Your NNAT Kids

Every parent, including those of kids who are preparing for the NNAT test, wishes that there was a magic elixir to help their kids do better in school, have closer relationships with their family, and be healthier and more energetic. Just for good measure, the kids would be protected from things like alcohol, drugs, and smoking, depression, eating disorders, and all the things that parents fret about no matter how old their kids are. (And, of course, they’d earn a top score on the NNAT test!)

Well, sit down and brace yourself, because there is an elixir that does all these things: it’s called the family dinner. Believe it or not, research shows that kids who sit down with their families for meals have better grades, more advanced vocabularies, stronger relationships with their families, and are less likely to get into risky situations.

Now, having a meal as a family may sound easy. But as any parent knows, it takes time and dedication to gather the family for a meal even once or twice a week, let alone every night. This is especially true if both parents are working and your kids have extracurricular activities in the evening – such as soccer, ballet, or NNAT practice!

Even if you aren’t able to arrange a family meal every night of the week, every bit helps. At the very least, make it an effort to have family meals on the weekends. Set a pizza night once a week where your entire family gets together and eats together while watching your favorite TV show. Or set aside time for a midnight snack with your child while you’re up late preparing for the NNAT test. Any family time is better than none – and it will give your child the security and confidence that they need to do well on the NNAT, in school, and in life!

 

Where Can You Find Practice Questions for the NNAT Test?

Parents across the United States regularly prepare for the NNAT test and are often unsure as to where to find questions for the NNAT. The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test is required for entry into many competitive Gifted and Talented programs and private schools, so many parents start preparing for the test early – sometimes as early as a year before the test.
Fortunately for these parents, many websites offer practice materials for the NNAT test, and websites like Tests.com give parents the questions and material for the NNAT test that they need to get ready. Parents who are prepping their child for the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test can use practice questions, games, and fun online activities to help get ready for test day.
Children who are taking the NNAT test are contending with more and more competition, so parents often begin prepping years in advance. Believe it or not, some hard-working parents even begin preparing for the NNAT test when they are pregnant! No matter when you start getting ready for the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test, it’s important to read up on it and learn what’s on the test and how to help your child prepare in ways that aren’t just effective, but also that are fun and won’t burn them out. Just by familiarizing your child with what to expect on the NNAT test, you’ll be ahead of the pack, and your child will have an edge over his or her peers.
As we’ve discussed on this blog many times before, there are lots of ways to prepare for the NNAT test that are more fun and less stiff than your traditional methods of test prep. While workbooks and practice questions are always helpful in preparing for the NNAT, it’s also important to incorporate games and other fun activities when preparing for the exam.

Summer Slide and the NNAT

Today I want to tell you the story of two children who took the NNAT test: Jack and Diane. Both Jack and Diane are hardworking and well-adjusted, and both are bright for their age.
A few years ago, Jack and Diane were in the same kindergarten class. They had an excellent kindergarten teacher who had challenged them throughout the year, and who left them more than prepared for the first grade.

As the year came to a close, both Jack and Diane were excited for the summer break to begin. Both had big plans: Jack was going to a month-long sleep away camp, and Diane was going to her grandmother’s house for three weeks.

Both Jack and Diane had received excellent grades throughout kindergarten, and their teacher told both children’s parents that they had a good chance of getting a top score on the NNAT the following fall as long as they keep the momentum going during the summer months.

As you can see, Jack and Diane were very similar in many different ways. But one key difference turned out to have an enormous impact on both children’s lives. When kindergarten came to a close, Jack’s parents didn’t give much thought to working with him on skill-building or NNAT practice activities during the summer since he worked so hard during the school year. They knew that Jack was bright, and his teacher had just told them that he had a great shot of making it into the gifted program but they failed to listen to her advice to work with Jack during the summer. He would have to take a test, but that wasn’t until the late fall, and besides, it was probably good to give his brain a break during the summer months and concentrate on fun, fun, fun!

Diane’s parents took a very different approach. They had read about the “summer slide” and how students can lose up to 4 months of progress that they made during the school year if they aren’t actively engaged in academic activities over the summer. Diane’s parents knew that if they didn’t practice the skills that Diane had learned during the school year, her advantage over her peers would be wiped out, at best – and that she would have no edge over other children when it came time to take the NNAT test.

As a result, Diane’s parents made it a point to work with her for only 10 to 20 minutes nearly every day over the summer. Along with taking Diane to the library twice a week they used skill building materials covering reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and more to reinforce the concepts Diane had learned during the school year. When Diane began the first grade in the fall, she was actually even farther ahead of her peers than she was when school had let out – a rare feat for any child.

Jack, on the other hand, barely saw any academic or skill-building material over the summer since he was glued to his iPad all summer long playing mindless video games. When he returned to school in the fall, he had forgotten many of the concepts he learned the previous year, even those at which he had excelled as a kindergartener. It took his parents a full three months to get him back up to speed working every night. As a result,

Jack’s parents were so busy trying to get him up to speed during the fall that when the NNAT test rolled around, they hadn’t had time to prepare for it. Jack scored a respectable 88th percentile but not nearly high enough to earn him a spot in the Gifted program. Diane, on the other hand, scored in the 99th percentile and was placed into one of the best schools in the school district.

This just goes to show how the summer slide can affect not just school performance, but also scores on tests like the NNAT and Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test. It’s so important to make sure your child is academically engaged over the summer so that you can avoid the summer slide and make sure your child performs well on the NNAT.

Just What is on the NNAT Test?

On this NNAT blog, we try to give you the best ideas and ways to prepare your little one for the NNAT test. But every once in a while it’s good to step back and look at basic questions about the test. This is especially important for parents who are just getting ready to prepare their child for the NNAT.

In this blog post, we’ll tackle the most basic question of all: just what’s on the NNAT test?

The NNAT test, which stands for Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test, screens children for gifted and talented programs and is widely used in many different school district.  If a child passes the NNAT or NNAT-2 test, he or she may become eligible for entry into the appropriate program for gifted children or advanced learners. The Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability test is a matrix reasoning test containing diagrams and shapes. The NNAT test is, as its name says, considered a non-verbal test and many consider it unbiased given that it doesn’t discriminate against children whose first language isn’t English. The NNAT test contains progressive matrices, which are equally fair to children with disabilities, who are hard of hearing or seeing, and minorities.

The NNAT runs from kindergarten up to high school, and consists of 7 different levels. Preschoolers are often tested using the kindergarten level exam.

The Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test consists of the following sections:

• Pattern Completion
• Reasoning by Analogy
• Serial Reasoning
• Spatial Visualization

 

The NNAT consists of 48 multiple choice questions and takes 30 minutes to complete.

There are seven different levels of the Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test for administration from Kindergarten, first grade, second grade up to high school.  Preschool children can be tested using the Kindergarten level test.  The NNAT test contains many different kinds of questions, from reasoning by analogy to pattern completion to serial reasoning and spatial visualization.

Many people consider the NNAT test very difficult. Indeed, it’s designed to rank children by their ability.

How to Prevent Summer Slide in NNAT Kids

Even kids who are smart enough to take and pass the NNAT test can have a so-called summer slump (or summer slide). Believe it or not, even the smartest students lose, on average, 3 months of progress that they made during the school year if they aren’t actively engaged in academic activities over the summer. This means that for NNAT students who don’t flex their mental muscles over the summer (the way they did when they took the NNAT!), they will start school in September having wiped out any hard-earned gains that they made during the previous school year. Over time, these losses can be devastating to children’s academic performance and, ultimately, their college prospects and career trajectory.

One child I know who suffered from this experience is a boy we’ll call Tim. Tim is a very smart child who is enrolled in a Gifted and Talented program in a major American city. A few years ago around this time, Tim was a second grader who had just taken the NNAT test and, like so many children across the country, jumped for joy when the last school bell of the year rang. Tim looked forward to a summer of leisure, sleepaway camp, and, of course, lots of video games. And his parents had no problem with Tim’s plans for the summer. After all, Tim had passed the NNAT and  gotten into a highly competitive advanced program. Why push him to do schoolwork over the summer, when he was finally getting a break from his school’s rigorous academic curriculum?

Tim spent three glorious month playing outside, sleeping over at friends’ houses, and watching movies and TV shows. In September, he started the second grade tanned, rested, and ready to get back into the school groove.

Despite Tim’s intelligence and eagerness to learn, as well as his stellar NNAT score, he struggled with the math and reading assignments he brought home from school. When his teacher sent home an assignment involving adding and subtracting fractions, Tim had trouble remembering the fractions concepts he had learned the previous spring. And while Tim had always been a fast reader, his parents noticed it took him much longer to get through basic reading assignments than it had in previous years.

Tim’s situation was not unique. Indeed, this very scenario happens to thousands if not millions of children across the country every year. Many of them are children who are smart enough to pass the NNAT with flying colors.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to counter the Summer Slide. Children who practice core school subjects – reading, math, writing, science, social studies – for 20 to 30 minutes a day will have a giant leg up when classes start in the fall. Indeed, since so many children’s minds go on vacation during the summer, your child can actually start school ahead of the pack – and have a huge advantage over his or her peers. Lots of sites offer summer skill-building material that will help your child soar the same way they did on the NNAT.