DD9 took a state-mandated reading assessment test recently that was clearly computer-adaptive. She was a little freaked out by the spelling section, where she was informed that she got a 7/9, which she didn't like. The words that she told me she thought she got wrong were quite hard--I won't use them here since that breaches test security, but equivalent to, let's say, "effervescent" and "paramour." She was rattled since she's used to everything being easy! I didn't know she was going to take this test and it doesn't matter anyway, but I'm curious about others' experience with gifted kids and CATs. I know my DH had issues with this when he took the GRE as a CAT when it first transitioned...he got to very hard questions very fast and as a result, he had difficulty with time management.

We are new to CATs, since DS6 is in kindy, but I will say that this is something I've been trying to intentionally prepare him for when I knew he'd be assessed, as well as before he had the WISC interview. (His pre-WISC comment helped me to realize how much I needed to prepare him for the fact that he shouldn't expect to breeze through all the activities: "So, I'll play some thinking games, get them all right and then can we pick up a new book to celebrate?")

What helped us was that he was familiar with a computer program that uses questions to help find levels for users. He'd seen how it had asked him questions and then started him on level X and asked his younger sister the same questions and started her on an easier level. This has been our point of reference to remind him that the questions will keep coming until he's unable to answer them so that they don't underestimate what he's capable of doing. (Not so easy for someone who's used to knowing everything that's typically asked!)

Which CAT was used? My DD's old school used the Scantron Performance Series, which tested out of grade level. DD ended up about 4 grade levels ahead on scoring for both reading and math. On testing days, she would come home with her eyes glazed over because it really forced her brain to work harder. (You should not worry about the number of items she missed. The adaptive process makes the questions harder with each corret answer until the program gets to a level where the student misses questions. You should receive a printout with a summary of the testing, a raw score, and/or a percentile rank. Once the student stalls out on the testing, the computer will begin the testing at that level the next time around.)

I agree with TX G Mom. My daughter has to take the NWEA twice a year (fall and spring) and she scores in the 99th percentile on almost everything. They should provide you with a score and a range that she falls in. I had to research and thanks to the wonderful people on this board, was given links that helped me figure out the actual grade range that her score was reflecting in. Hopefully you will be able to find the same information for your daughter.

It sounds like she was probably scoring outside of her grade level when the test shut off. I remember last year when I asked my daughter (2nd grade) how she felt she did on the Math section of the test. She told me she didn't feel like she did very well at all. I was trying to be encouraging and told her that as long as she gave her best effort, that was all that I could ask for. Then I asked her what seemed to confuse her on the test and she said, well, we it started asking me for something called square roots and I didn't really know what those were so I guessed. I asked her for an example and she said, it wanted to know the square root of 9, I asked her what she guessed and she said 3. I told her that was a correct guess and asked her why she selected the number 3 and she said because if you times 3 by itself it equals 9 and no other answer choice made sense like that.

She said she got the next one wrong though and the test shut off. When I got the score she was in the 99 percentile for her grade. Her RIT indicated that she would have still been in the 90th percentile if she had been in 4th grade (so two year difference).

So, the fact that she got some wrong is irrelevant, she was most likely in a much harder subject material then her current grade when the test shut off.

I'm not worried about the results at all, TBH, because she is as appropriately placed as she can be(FT gifted program). However, I was a little bothered by how the test affected HER--she was clearly a little distressed by the experience and it made me think that gifted kids should be given a major heads-up about CAT and how it works.

Oh sorry! I misunderstood your concern. My daughter has a little anxiety afterwards too (thus her telling me she didn't think she did so well). They do give ample notice at our school because they want the parents to make sure the kids are in attendance on test days, so I am not sure ample notice would alleviate the anxiety in kids who are probably a little hyper critical of themselves normally, if you know what I mean. But the school did give us links to practice sites, so I would perhaps ask your daughters school if they have any practice websites available to look at ahead of time. The practice site did allow you to enter based on the RIT score, so we got to see the tough questions that she had to answer ahead of time. I am not sure if that was a help or a hinderance though, as my DD shut down when she had trouble answering the first page of practice questions.

Well, interestingly enough, I have virtually no standardized test data on her at all other than her IQ test, where she did appear to kind of be a bust on one section (but maybe she just wasn't good at that skill), so I don't really know how she handles testing generally. However, she recently took another high-stakes state test which she was HUGELY anxious about because the school made a HUGE deal about it and so, blammo, test anxiety is ours! They made no fuss at all about this one for whatever reason. Weird. Anyway, I know she cares about performance. She has been asking and asking about her scores on the high-stakes test.