Parents never had me tested. What an odd thing for parents to do. Sounds like something a dog owner would do.
Anyway, my school and state administered various tests throughout my schooling, and I could have cared less what the results were. I do remember that after initial IQ tests were administered to my 4th grade class, my teacher scheduled a meeting at my house with my parents. After that, my parents expectations for my grades shot through the roof. Anything less than A+ was greeted with questions about my motivation, etc. I was placed in all advanced placement classes throughout the remainder of my elementary and secondary schooling.
My only request was before my sophomore year in high school, I asked my mother if it was alright with her that I not take advanced placement English, as I had already read most of the literature that would be required, and that I wanted to read books of my own choosing, so could I just take regular English. While this class became a bore, it in reality became my study hall period. About a month into my sophomore year, my English teacher asked me to stay after class one day. She told me that she and the advanced English teacher had talked and they were going to transfer me to the advanced class. I protested that I was in the class I wished to be and that they couldn’t do that. They relented and I was permitted to stay.
I don’t remember my college entrance exam scores, it was too long ago. But the grades were high enough to generate sufficient scholarship money so that my parents really never had to worry covering tuition costs during my college years. Post college, took a variety of professional certification exams with sufficient results to earn substantial bonuses and promotions as a result. Haven’t taken any sort of exam in about the past 25 years, but learning continues every day.
Let’s see… I had to take the ITBS in two grade levels in elementary school I scored 99th percentile for verbal and 80th for math both times.
Interestingly, that’s just about where my PSAT and SAT scores shook out as well- I got a 1280/1290 back in 1990.
I took the GMAT about 5 years after graduating from college (2002), and did ok- a 690. Same verbal percentile, but I actually did worse in the math part- it was all algebra I hadn’t done since high school 11 years prior, so I was rusty even after prepping for it.
The best one though, was some sort of BS test we had to take before attending college at a Texas state university back in 1991- I think it was called the TASP test. I had already been accepted to my school and already got a scholarship, so my entire goal was only to pass the test. So I basically tried to get done as fast as I could in hopes they’d let me go early (no such luck, they made me stick around until the time period was over). Anyway, I made the usual 99th percentile on verbal, and made a 95 percentile on the math part! I couldn’t believe it- I typically scored somewhere in the low 80s or high 70s as far as the percentile ranking was concerned.
I had a knack for performing far above my actual intelligence level when it came to taking multiple choice, standardized tests, which is the only reason I can think of for getting a 32 on my ACT, which was good enough to be the best score in my school that year and good enough for me to say, “Screw the SAT, I’m never going to do better than that.”
32 is also approximately where I ranked in my graduating class, which may be why I didn’t put much stock in multiple choice, standardized tests.
A friend of mine was one of those kids who did lousy in school because he wasn’t challenged (before they diagnosed such things). He was bright but got lousy grades and thought the teachers were idiots. The Navy really wanted him and said similar things about his test scores, though I thought he would chafe at the discipline of military life - last time I saw him he was a pilot and loved it.
I got a 32 on the ACT, but I’m sure I’ve gotten dumber in the intervening 15 years. I remember that I did exceptionally well in the English and Reading sections (like 35, I think), around 32 on Science and below 30 on Math.
I took the SAT in…1981, I think. I took it twice, and my best scores were 740 Verbal, 560 Math.
They gave me an IQ test in early grade school (probably around 2nd grade) and I scored really high. My mom showed me the score sheet (which was probably a mistake). It got me into the GATE program, which was nice, but aside from being a smart kid, I wasn’t anything particularly amazing.