I always know when the New York State tests are coming up, and not because I hire tutors or visit the many websites that offer practice tests and tips, including the state education department.

It starts with my younger son's sniffles. They become more pronounced in the days before the test. A sore throat is next, then complaints of a headache.

A visit to the school nurse follows. The whole body, it seems, is aching.

Later, I can count on a night-time visitor. I will be quizzed on how many hours of sleep are needed to be considered a good night's sleep. (Answer: more than I got with so many interruptions). A request to stay home follows, and a new round of questions begins: "Do the sixth-grade tests count for high school?" the sixth-grader asks between sniffles.

After years of taking tests, he's attuned to the concept that fourth-grade exams matter because middle schools see them. And because he has an eighth-grade brother, he's overheard all the conversation about finding a high school in our household and knows that high schools _ do _ take into account scores on the seventh-grade exam.

So how do I answer? My first impulse is to be reassuring: relax, don't worry, you'll do fine, just do your best.

As a veteran New York City public school parent, though, I know the best schools are highly competitive.

There aren't enough seats in the best schools for all who choose them. So as much as I'd like to downplay the tests, I do hope my sons will bring home high scores.

I know, too, that you can't possibly fully prepare a child for the city's specialized high schools and tell them their score isn't important, when in fact the score determines who gets into prestigious and coveted institutions like Stuyvesant or Bronx High School of Science.

The annual tests our children begin taking in third-grade have not been without controversy: a coalition of parents, educators, and other state leaders have long called for a break and a review of what they call "excessive high stakes exams."

The schools my children have attended have managed to balance test preparation with the rest of the curriculum, so it hasn't seemed oppressive. (Well, to me, of course. The kids have complained mightily about vacation packets of practice exams.)

I think I may have dodged this year's "do-they-count?" question with a promise to rent a movie or watch the mindless and annoying American Idol and by focusing on the good news that there's usually no homework during test week.

I'm not sure it will quell my sixth-grader's anxiety. I will ask how the tests went, but I'd still rather talk about what books he's reading and what he's learning in class.

And if he wakes me up again this week with a stomach-ache or sore throat, I'll tell him the truth: High schools do not look at the sixth-grade tests.

Which means he can start worrying now about his seventh-grade exams.