Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment How to Read MAT 7?

Ok, this is a silly question, because who really cares at this point, but I was looking at some tests my mom kept for me and wondering how to read them. I thought some of you could probably answer my questions easily.

I took a MAT7 test (Metropolitan Achievement Tests) when I was in 5th grade (11yrs, 7 months.)
Sections with Natl PR-S
It has Reading Comp (99-9), Concepts & Problem Solving (99-9), Language(90-8), Thinking Skills (99-9) and Short Form Total (98-9). My Grade Equivalent for all sections is PHS (post high school?), except for Language, which is 10.8.

So, how do you read and understand the scores on an achievement test like this? I remember I used to think 99 percentile meant I got an "A" on the test, so if I got less than 99th percentile, I was pretty bummed lol.

Here's a link to the current version of the test -
http://www.pearsonassessments.com/HAIWEB/Cultures/en-us/Productdetail.htm?Pid=E164C

It looks like this is an 'at level' achievement test. There is certianly some overlap between IQ and achievement test scores, and yours are certianly high. But it's hard to distinguish between kids who are thriving at grade level and kids who 'need more' (one definition of gifted) based on tests that are created to measure grade level performance.

That's why talent search organizations, such as
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Talented_Youth
use 'above level tests' - for example the College Board's SAT given to 7th graders to try and get an idea of 'who needs more.'

Interesting, no?

I think of 'giftedness' as more of a subjective experience, if you had educational needs that weren't met at school, that might have been due to giftedness.

Hope that helps,
Grinity