Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment What kind of test is the WIAT-III

So DD, almost 6, is doing testing at the end or March/beginning of April, the WISC and the WIAT, we have never done fill in the bubble anything, do I need to familiarize her how to fill in a bubble for the achievement test. IS it like the scantron test I took growing up that the bubble has to be filled in completely and any eraser mark needs to be erased completely or the machine scores it wrong, or is this type of test totally different?. Just wondering if the WIAT is that kind of test or not, and if so, do I need to introduce fill in the bubble before then LOL?

The WIAT abd WISC are both individually administered, meaning one test giver to one student.

Nope, no bubbles to fill in. The only paper/pencil parts are the math and the writing segments. For the rest of it, the tester asks the "testee" the questions orally and writes down the answers. FWIW, most of the questions have three possible scoring "0" points means it is wrong, "1" point means it is partially correct and "2" points means it is correct. Dr. Wood gives credit for creative, not in the manual answers as well, which is good. For example, the first time my son was tested (not by Dr. Wood) one question was "Why do we turn off the lights?". He answered "to save the earth". While that was a valid answer in his mind (and in mine), it wasn't in the book so he got no credit for it. If he had said "to save electricity so that we can help preserve the planet", he would have gotten partial credit.

This is why it takes so long to do the two tests. I think we were there for about 4 hours, not counting breaks and lunch. Of course, the more questions a child answers correctly, the longer it will take. I think (but am not sure) that the subtests end when the child misses four questions in a row. The problem with that is if your child hits the end of the questions without having missed any.

I think you don't need to prep her, other than to maybe tell her about Dr. Wood and that she's going to help you understand how your daughter learns. If she's shy with strangers, you might talk about Dr. Wood and where you're going and all. Or, role play with a doll or teddy bear what will happen.

I do suggest some snacks and definitely a drink. At the center, there's a fairly nice cafe with decent hot food and sandwiches, not too expensive.

Above all, try not to worry - your daughter will pick up on your stress. She'll be fine!

I used to tell the students I was about to test with the WIAT-II that there would be some questions that would be too easy for them, some questions that would be too difficult, but we hoped most of the questions would be just right. As part of my routine, I used to ask students to turn on lights, turn off lights, open or close windows and doors until the room was comfortable for them. For this test, they were a class of one!

It did take more than a couple of hours for me to give the WIAT(the more experienced school psychologist could give the WISC-IV in about an hour). Because of the "floor" and "ceiling" on the questions, and because they were getting one on one attention, students rarely seemed to be bored and usually behaved and performed much better than they did in class.

Thanks yall! I had no clue what those looked like. DD will be fine in those settings. She takes awhile to warm up to strangers but I'm sure the tester is used to that. Also, if an adult is talking to dd about something she is interested in, she never stops talking. I appreciate the help and info.
And petunia- thanks for the snack and drink suggestions