Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment To bubble or not to bubble, COGAT response form

Folks,

My 3rd grader is again due to be run through a COGAT this spring. Last year as a 2nd grader the bubble response form drove her nuts....by her account she worried herself to distraction over getting the correct answer into the correct bubble. It got even more complicated as she wanted to go back and check her work for correctness....

Yesterday she had a very good question: "Why can't I just mark the answer in the book?" From perusing the riverside publishing website it looks like some of the COGAT materials are available in a "write your response in the booklet" format, while others aren't.

There aren't many kids actually taking the test, the books aren't expensive... What might you-all expect to be my district's argument AGAINST changing to the non-bubble exam or to allowing kids to work in the booklet and then transfer their responses to the bubble form?

Thanks,

1) less people-power to scores bubble forms than the book.
2) the humans who score from the book might be as error-prone as your dd.
3) this is the way it's always been done.

Good luck Wallawalla, glad you are here. Let us know how it goes, ok?
Grinity

I can't see them being flexible about this. Like Grinity said, the computer can score the scantron. One way to help ease DD's mind about filling in the wrong bubble is to let her use a "marker" (a piece of paper that covers up some of the other questions and allows her to put it just under the one she is on. Our school has the lower grades do this to make sure they are all in the right spot.

Another reason they can't write in the book is that some questions require mental math, without the use of scrap paper. There are even rules as to how many times the questions can be repeated, if at all, so, again, I can't seem them allowing it.

May be you can make her practice on www.ixl.com . She will get used to answering the test on the computer.