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I'm a school psychologist. Just to comment on a couple things...one, if I'm re-evaluating a student who had their first cognitive test before the age of 7 or so, I always retest. While it's true that IQ doesn't usually change a whole lot, I think testing kids at a very young age is not especially reliable.

Some tests are more language-based and culturally loaded than others. One part of cognitive ability (which is also highly associated with academic achievement) is crystallized knowledge, which is basically your store of "what" and "how to" information. Tests of this kind of ability are almost always very verbal, both on the examiner's end and in response required from the child. I think it's these kind of tasks that are most likely to be influenced by a child's upbringing and experiences. Children who have more life experiences and more language exposure are more likely to be able to answer questions like "What is this?" or "What does this word mean?" I'm not sure how you would make these kinds of tasks "fair" for students whose primary language is not English or who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Fortunately, I guess, this is only one part of cognitive ability.

Also, we are extremely limited on what we can say when giving standardized assessments (like IQ tests). There are scripts we have to follow and specific statements or questions we have to stick to if the child does not understand the task or produces a certain answer. It's annoying sometimes, but it's the nature of standardized testing (though it sounds like many of you are talking about non-standardized tests).

@AmeliaBedilia: @Snowdrop: From my understanding of the question, it's more about helping a gifted, yet perfectionist child pass a test she can easily answer when she's actually in the mood to answer the questions. The fact that the OP mentioned that she's already been admitted into another gifted program should provide more understanding to her question.

This reminds me of when I had a very gifted student that was offered to participate in a short verbal competition. As his teacher, I knew he knew the answers. I've asked him similar questions before, and he can provide very detailed answers. But during the competition (I was 1 of the 3 judges) he froze. He just sat there and I could see his mind working, yet he didn't answer. I knew he could have easily won that competition and although the experience would help him the following year (where he would hopefully participate again), but by not answering, it cost his parents a year of scholarships.

@Mrs. Jacks: My advice is to play a game with a time limit. Set a kitchen timer and devise an easy game that consists of drawing things and describing something. This will help her with just answering and hopefully, she learns that it doesn't all have to be perfect.

@mrs.jacks: No advice to offer, just wanted to say good luck! The public schools in my area are very bad, so I understand how much getting into this school means to your family. I was in gifted from 1st grade on. I remember the test very clearly. One of the questions showed a picture of an Alpine girl (like Heidi) carrying water using a milkmaid's yoke. I had to explain what was happening in the picture. The examiner was amazed with my answer. I felt like a fake because my sister had a notebook with nearly the exact same picture on the cover and I loved to look at it and make up stories. That goes along with the comment @rins72 made about such tests being culturally biased and/or dependent on background knowledge.

I can't believe they test so early, there! D is going to be officially tested in our school district this year...2nd grade! I know that when he was 4, he showed some signs of gifted-ness, but I don't see how they can know for sure, until they perform regular school tasks for an amount of time.