Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Trying to understand what the ERB-CTP-4 test is?

I am shopping around for private schools for DS 6 years old for the 2013 or 2014 school years. Some of the private schools require the ERB-CTP-4 test. I am trying to understand what the test is and how long the testing will take for a 6 year old and what areas are covered in the testing. My search online says that this is a "reasoning/achievement" test. I want to let my son know what to expect and how long the testing would take in order to ease any prospective anxiety about it. I want to tell him something like this: the test is for 2 hours with a break in between (or not?) and it contains reading comprehension, logical reasoning, math (anything else?).
He has never been tested except for the IQ test when he was younger. He is not familiar with "bubble multiple choice answer sheets" etc. ERB CTP does not have a sample test for this age group.
Ideally if there is another test similar in style to ERB CTP-4 (say, ITBS, Terra Nova etc), I could point out their sample questions to DS to show him what it is he needs to do during the test.
So, is ITBS similar to ERB CTP in style?
Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Our school uses the ERB-CTP-4, and the description of it being a "reasoning/achievement" test is fairly accurate (imo). I think that the best way to determine how long the test will take and how often breaks are given is going to be to ask the school (or other wherever) that will administer the test, because the ERB comes in parts, and how long it will take is going to depend on how many parts are administered. The test is given at our children's school over three days, and I think each part of the test takes around 2 hours for the typical student (I don't know this for certain because I've never been at the school during the time it was administered, but am going by what my kids have told me - and my ds, fwiw, has finished some parts of it in much less than the time given, but also used the full time on other parts). I am fairly certain that during the several hours the test was administered on some of the days, the students were given more than one subtest.

The test answers are written on a bubble sheet at the level my kids are testing at, but they are older - I don't know how the answers are given in early elementary grades.

My kids have also taken the TerraNova and in general I'd say the two tests are similar in what they test, but I don't know anything about the format of the questions on either. I'd be surprised if you could get sample TerraNova questions - I think they are held very confidential as well.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Thanks a lot, polarbear. I thik that I have to explain to my son that he needs to do seatwork for longer durations when taking this test. I will check with the schools that are administering this test about how many parts there are to the test and the duration.

My son took the CTP-4 last year at his school. As the others have said, it is a combination reasoning and achievement test. From his description of it, it sounded sort of like a combination of the CogAT and the ITBS, if you are familiar with those.

Thanks, Kai. I am familiar with ITBS, but will look up CogAT. There are test prep books available for all these tests except the ERB CTP4. If I have the time, I will pick up one of these prep books and go through some of the samples with my son. Thanks again for the help.