CAT standardized test...

[Violet]

Hi All, I decided that this year I would give my children the CAT to get an idea of where they are and get them used to testing. So, after doing a little research, I ordered the CAT Survey through Seton Testing Services.

I got the 3d and 5th grade tests and after taking a look at both, I'm a little surprised at how...well, easy they seem. Now, for my young 3d grader with many learning differences, I was thinking she would probably not be able to do much of any of it. Looking at it, however, I know she could do fine with the Language Arts sections and probably even fine with math applications and concepts. She'd struggle with math computation. This is a child who in school was on an IEP for many things. My 5th grade child could breeze through her test I believe.

I just assumed they would be harder? :001_huh: Is the CAT a lot easier than other tests like IOWA? I know when my oldest was in parochial school, they used the CAT. I'm certainly not complaining as I intend to use these scores to give to the school for the upcoming year, and I'm thinking they'll do fine.

Thanks.

Anita

[Ellie]

is an older publication? I don't know for sure how much of a difference that would make, but I know that some companies, such as CLP, so sell older tests.

[TracyR]

No. Its just deceptively easy . The one year I ordered the K CAT test for my oldest. Just to give me an idea of what she was learning , if there was anything I was missing .
I looked at the test and thought " oh this is easy ." I felt like after I got it scored it would prove that I had a genius or something .
Alot of the things in the test I knew she knew .
Little did I know when I got the test back there was ALOT on there that she missed . Granted she was 6 and this was the first test she ever took . But it showed me that she wasn't a test taker that's for sure . I went back and asked her the things she missed and she knew the answers . But for some reason it just didn't register with her when she took the test. There were some concepts we didn't do like rhyming at the time . And math , she was a year ahead in math .

So until you get the final results in , know it is deciveingly easy looking .

But I will say they are MUCH more simpler then the state testing that my daughter's have to take now . We are with the cyberschool and the state testing is just insane , it really is . I'd rather have my daughter's take the CAT any day .

[Violet]

is an older publication? I don't know for sure how much of a difference that would make, but I know that some companies, such as CLP, so sell older tests.

I think it might be an older version, but from the reading I've done, some writers suggest older tests were actually harder than the same tests today by the same company.

[Violet]

No. Its just deceptively easy . The one year I ordered the K CAT test for my oldest. Just to give me an idea of what she was learning , if there was anything I was missing .
I looked at the test and thought " oh this is easy ." I felt like after I got it scored it would prove that I had a genius or something . Alot of the things in the test I knew she knew . Little did I know when I got the test back there was ALOT on there that she missed . Granted she was 6 and this was the first test she ever took . But it showed me that she wasn't a test taker that's for sure . I went back and asked her the things she missed and she knew the answers . But for some reason it just didn't register with her when she took the test. There were some concepts we didn't do like rhyming at the time . And math , she was a year ahead in math .

So until you get the final results in , know it is deciveingly easy looking .

But I will say they are MUCH more simpler then the state testing that my daughter's have to take now . We are with the cyberschool and the state testing is just insane , it really is . I'd rather have my daughter's take the CAT any day .

I thought that, too, that perhaps it was just deceptively easy looking. I agree with your State testing comment. My 11 yo dd took the OAT in 3d and I remember her studying for it and the school put a ton of pressure on the kids. It seemed much harder than the CAT. I had considered having 11 dd do the Explore this year and she was doing practice for that, so that could have me also thinking the CAT is "easy," when, in fact, it's actually pretty grade appropriate. Now, with 3d grade dd, I can see that she would probably struggle with the 3d grade math computation, which is exactly where she is not at grade level. So, we'll see. I hope they do okay, and I hope it gives me some insights into where I need to help them more.

Thank you for your input!

Anita

[hose]

My kids took it last year and I thought they were very easy, too... well below grade level.

[GailV]

My older dd has taken the Iowa and the CAT. She thought the CAT was much, much easier (as did I), and has asked that we not use it again.

[jackie_roberts_1999]

My son and daughter have taken the CAT test that I ordered through CHristian Liberty press. I did think it was easy and they did score very well. Does anyone know is there somewhere like that you can get the harder standardized test? One you can administer yourself for them to grade??

[TracyR]

Not that I know of . The "harder" ones usually have to be tested by someone with some type of degree . Who the heck knows why it isn't anything to administer these .

Anyways in PA their state testing is called the PSSA's . Just insane . My girls had to use something called Study Island to prepare for them. The stuff they had to learn was just horribly hard for their age levels . Alot of it really took adult thinking skills . Its just insane and the time I had to take out of our learning to do this was just not worth it in my opinion . We could of been learning about more wonderful and interesting things .

[GailV]

I do the ITBS myself. I have a BS, which is the requirement. I registered as a tester with BJU.

Really, administering the CAT isn't much different than administering the ITBS. I'm not sure what's up with the requirement for a BS or above.

[Violet]

Not that I know of . The "harder" ones usually have to be tested by someone with some type of degree . Who the heck knows why it isn't anything to administer these .

Anyways in PA their state testing is called the PSSA's . Just insane . My girls had to use something called Study Island to prepare for them. The stuff they had to learn was just horribly hard for their age levels . Alot of it really took adult thinking skills . Its just insane and the time I had to take out of our learning to do this was just not worth it in my opinion . We could of been learning about more wonderful and interesting things .

I agree, that a lot of what I saw for the OAT was insane, too. It also required adult level thinking skills. I can't imagine this is good for kids.

Now, I have not considered the IOWA because the one place I looked it was way more expensive.

As I think about the CAT, though, I do see that even if it appears easy, it probably is fine regardless and is testing what it should for kids that age. I do think that kids are often pushed at early ages to do things they are not developmentally ready to do, which IMHO is such a stress for them.

Anita

[Violet]

Thanks, everyone, for your input!

Anita

[MommyInTraining]

http://www.familylearning.org/

[nestof3]

I had heard it is easier. I've used the IOWA for 9 years and plan to use the CAT this year for the first time b/c it's shorter.

I have never been surprised by the test results, know my children's areas of strengths and weakness, and only "test" b/c it's required by my state.

Thankfully, this year, I have one fewer to test. :)

[inashoe]

We get CAT-5 from familylearning.org

My son did CAT at the end of third grade, and then IOWA at the end of 4th grade.
They produced very similar results, had similar layouts, and were similar in length.

In future I will only do the CAT, and only from 4th grade onwards.
For the younger grades the parent needs to sit with the child and read instructions aloud.

You may think it is easy, but it reflects the standards expected of a child in PS.
Our family immigrated to the US and are very disappointed at the standards of the PS.
By homeschooling, you are able to give your child a more well rounded and far greater reaching education - more typical of what is taught in European schools.

[mchel210]

I thought they had been very easy. My 5yo took the K and only missed 1 question...and my 7 yo took the 2nd grade test and only missed one question. I was worried about my 7 yo as she should have taken the 1st grade...but we completed abeka 2nd so I bought the 2nd grade test.

My son took the 6 grade CAT and scored right in the middle...exactly perfect for 6 grade level. He missed a lot more.

I plan on using the SAT this year with my son for 7th