I have always done the Peabody test and love it. But with the older boys I think it would be good to do a “normal” bubble test so they can be more prepared. Especially if we start doing CLEPing this next year.
So does it matter CAT or IOWA? Your thoughts and opinions. Oh, and they are in 7th and 8th grade.
Is there another one you think is better? Cheapest place to get them?
My oldest son, 8th, took the SAT (Stanford Achievement Test) the last 3 years through a local umbrella program. This year, my two next oldest, 6th and 5th grades, also took the SAT.
It is a bubble test, but also has some writing as well. It took 2 days of testing, about 3 hours each day at a local church that hosted the testing.
You can administer this one yourself through BJU Press, but I was thankful to find the umbrella offering. Didn’t cost much more and it was more of a test-taking experience for them while seated with other students in a QUIET room and under the time constraints.
I got that wrong. No writing but instead a listening section that was administered grade by grade. The report I received back was very detailed and really helped me pinpoint some major strengths and weaknesses, which was my goal. HTH
We just switched to Peabody last year, and LOVED it. We had done Iowa until then for several years. It is timed, so if that’s a problem you might want the Stanford. You have to have a Bachelor’s degree to administer either of these. You can get them from Bob Jones University Press, and you return the test as well as the answer sheets.
Oh, about the timing; when we did testing I thought my daughter would melt down if she were timed. So they said to not time her and just put a sticky note on the answer sheet if it took longer than the time it would have taken if we had timed her. They said it had no effect on the score or percentile ranking. That makes me wonder why it is timed!
Anyway, BJU Press people are delightful to work with. They have people that will answer questions about the testing, and they are so so so nice.
Misty, you can watch a training video and file an application in order to administer the test. I know several Moms w/out degrees who have been able to become administrators for their children.
But yes, I think you could have someone else administer as long as they are willing to register with BJU. I know the Moms who did it at the umbrella we used went through BJU Press.
Ok so I tried – LDI – could you find out what your friends did in the spot where it says I need to either : put the information on my BA degree in or upload your information. I don’t have the 1st one (a degree) and when I hit the other option I don’t know what I would give them. And you can’t do anything without one of these options. Thanks
We’ve done the CAT Survey or CAT several times. The survey just has fewer questions per section. You can administer it without a degree. I get ours from
Tristan – that is also why we r doing the testing. To abide by the law. I just know for college, and CLEPing bubbles will be the norm and I thought maybe taking 1 before they get into it where I can’t explain things (not the test but the why’s of this type of test) as they go alone might be beneficial. Thanks for sharing. We don’t put much stock in the test either. I can tell you where our childrens weaknesses and strengths are also.