NYC Gifted and Talented Program and Testing

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I recently had the pleasure of reviewing Aristotle Circle’s newest book to their collection for the Bracken School Readiness Assessment given for the NYC gifted and talented testing.  Overall, this Bracken practice question book is excellent and covers all aspects of the Bracken for the gifted and talented test. The $99 price point for this Bracken practice test  may be a little on the high side for some parents on a budget. The quality of the materials is superb and well done. When I examine the cost of private school tuition vs. free NYC G&T program the $99 is small price to pay – at least in my opinion. The Bracken practice set from Aristotle Circle contains 2 workbooks – one for the parent and the other for the child to take the Bracken sample test. It’s very easy to follow and provided good direction for the parent to help the child. I really enjoyed the 4 page overview of the Bracken Assessment that’s at the beginning of the book which provides a thorough understanding of the concepts covered on the Bracken test. I even learned a few things that I didn’t know about the BSRA test! There are scoring tips at the bottom of the page so you can tell if your child is correctly answering the question is great for practice. I have to admit, I did get a kick out of  the “answer key” for the parents book – if the parent doesn’t know basic shapes, colors and how to count to 100 they have a much larger issue than trying to get their child into a G&T program. 🙂

There are also fun exercises to do with the child at the end of each section to reinforce the concepts on the Bracken. The quality of the printing material is superior and on high quality paper along with high-definition color print. If the $99 price point is within your budget and you can still afford groceries for the week after shelling out the $99 then I’d highly recommend this book to parents who have children taking the Bracken. Shipping is free and Aristotle Circle has extended an offer to readers of this blog  10% off the price by using promo code NYGT at check-out!

Aristotle Circle's Bracken School Readiness Assessment Workbook

Here’s an overview of the Bracken test for those parents who aren’t familiar with it.

The Bracken School Readiness Assessment covers 5 subsets –  colors, letters, numbers/counting, size/comparisons, shapes.

Most parents think the Bracken test for New York City gifted and talented program is the “easy” portion of the G&T test for NYC gifted and talented since it covers shapes, numbers, colors, etc. I can tell you that many of these Bracken questions can be anything but easy – especially for a 4 year old taking the Bracken test usually administered by a complete stranger with no redirection of the child if they get distracted.

When some parents get the Bracken test results many are shocked their child did poorly on the Bracken portion (25% of the total score) but aced the OLSAT test (75% of the score). The poor Bracken test results are usually an indication the child hasn’t been exposed to some of the concepts covered on the Bracken test for gifted and talented. I can tell you that most 4 year olds I’ve come across don’t know what  these shapes: pyramid, cylinder, sphere or crescent – just to name a few. Parents, don’t forget to expose your child to the concepts on the Bracken School Readiness Assessment for NYC gifted and talented program. Getting a 99% on the Bracken will give your child some wiggle room on the OLSAT portion of the G&T test to make sure they score a 90% or above.