Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment CAT Achievement test

So I have found that Sylvan administers the CAT achievement test which is a nationally normed test. I need a 98 percentile rank on the 7th grade test for my DD12 to get into the gifted middle school. She is currently doing Geometry and getting an A. For a bit of practice we have been doing some 8th grade test examples from the NAEP. She knows all the material however it is so simple that she flies through it and makes silly mistakes. I am wondering if anyone knows how many she can get wrong and stay in that magic number of 98 percentile rank?

I don't know, but I would sign up for a free weekend trial of Aleks.com
http://www.aleks.com/free_trial

It's a great way to practice Math and learn 'the hard way' that it's SOOO worth it to slow down and check your work. It's really crafty. If you get 3 right answers on a topic, you get rewarded by being allowed to move on to new topics. If you miss for ANY reason, you are 'rewarded' by being given more examples in the same topic. That was enough to teach my son the value of checking his work.

What I love about this is that the positive reinforcer here is 'being alowed to learn new things' and the negative reinforcer here is 'being make to practice things I already know.' Do they know our kids or what?

Anyway - good luck on CAT. I dont' know that particular test, but hopefully someone here does.

Smiles,
Grinity

Not sure if you mean the Calif. acheivement test (CAT) or the Cognitive Abilities test (which some people call the CAT, but it's not an achievement, it's an ability test.) Once i know what test you mean, maybe we can offer a better answer.

Hi thanks it is the California Achievement Test....how many can she get wrong?

Sent you a PM with details.

Question: the test is broken down into a bunch of components. Do they mean "98th percentile in everything" or "98th percentile in a minimum number of areas"?

If this is the same test I am thinking of, I understand that it isn't the most highly regarded in that the administration requirements are quite low. I believe that the person administering the test only needs a high school diploma. I don't know if that means anything about the reliability or validity, but I know that our local schools don't give it as much weight as say the ITBS or SAT-10.

Is it cheap enough at Sylvan that you can do it and then go with another test as well if that one doesn't pan out in terms of her scores?

cricket2... Yes its pretty cheap. The gifted coordinator said "Any nationally normed math test" I am hoping they will not back out of that. I'm a bit frustrated with all the hoops.

Well she got her scores that she needed! Now to see if they really will accept them.

They accepted the scores! YIPEEEE

Wow, that was fast! Congrats!