The California Achievement Test (CAT) is one of the most widely used of the student assessments for basic academic skills. The CAT provides educators, students and their parents with a measure of achievement and national comparison in reading, language, spelling, and mathematics.
For students needing special accommodations, Academic Excellences offers the complete online achievement testing in an untimed format. Like the timed version, this test provides a comprehensive assessment across reading, language, and mathematics. Tests are divided into multiple sections that can be easily administered by parents or educators. These tests can be taken over as many sessions as necessary based upon the schedule of the student and provide total flexibility.
Meeting most state and umbrella school requirements for annual testing, the California Achievement Test offered by Academic Excellence provides insight into students' scholastic progress by scoring grade equivalency, percentile ranking, and stanine. Click here for an explanation of the scores.
Benefits of utilizing Academic Excellence online achievement testing include:
◦ Reliable and up-to-date results based on biannual norming
◦ Freedom to test according to your schedule
◦ No bachelor’s degree required for test administration
◦ Flexibility to divide tests into multiple sessions, as needed
◦ Our tests do not expire
◦ Stress free testing with complete proctoring by the online system
◦ Immediate scores and results
◦ 24/7 access to tests and results
◦ Printable results
◦ Device friendly; access using desktop, laptop, and/or tablet with no scrolling necessary to take the test
◦ Professionally developed and produced with the permission of the original publisher
◦ Widely recognized and accepted by state and local educational agencies
Certificate of Completion: As an added value to our customers, Academic Excellence is pleased to provide a free, printable certificate of achievement to all students who complete an AE California Achievement Test. You can view a sample of the certificate here.
Premium Scoring: Receive additional scoring, such as composite scores, along with charts and graphs for easier analysis of test results. Click here to view a sample premium scoring report.
Practice Test: We understand that parents may have some reservations prior to the first time their students take an online test. As an option, we offer an additional practice CAT in order to acclimate students to the online testing process. This test is approximate 25% the length of the actual test, and provides only a count of the correctly answered questions. If this option fits your need, please select it above.
Recommendation Service: Academic Excellence's independent recommendation service is for home educators who would like to receive customized curriculum recommendations based upon the achievement test results. Academic Excellence is not affiliated with any curriculum publisher and provides objective, experienced feedback on curriculum. The Academic Excellence staff have been involved in home education since 1987 and have extensive experience with curriculum providers and the spectrum of homeschooling philosophies.
The resource recommendations from Academic Excellence are strategically selected to strengthen and improve competency and mastery in academic areas presented in standardized testing. These key selected resources make excellent "tutoring aides" and addenda to any curriculum. Our goal in developing the Academic Excellence recommendation service is to provide parents with user friendly, economical resources that strengthen students' academic achievement and testing skills; focus tutoring and teaching efforts; and facilitate preparation for and success in ACT, SAT, and college testing. All recommendations are based upon the student's test scores and our staff's extensive experience with home education. Each of the primary recommendations are provided in correlation to individual students' scores to questions and sections of standardized tests. Secondary resources are often challenging, educational games or less formal learning practices. Each recommendation is measured by ease of use by parents; levels of response, enjoyment, and success by students; and affordability. By targeting and addressing students' deficit areas with easy to use and economical tutorial resources, test scores, grades, and confidence elevate and improve. Recommendations in students' areas of proficiency keep students engaged, challenged, and progressing in all subject areas. We have found this to be an easy, economical way to ensure academic excellence and success.
Ordering Instructions:
◦ Student First Name - Enter the first name of the student to be tested in the space provided.
◦ Student Last Name - Enter the last name of the student to be tested in the space provided.
◦ Grade Level - If you are testing in the middle of school year, select the student's current grade level. If you are testing at the end of school year or between school years, select the next grade level for the student; not the student's past grade level.
◦ Premium Scoring - Now standard on all full tests at no extra charge.
◦ Add Practice CAT - Select if you would like to receive a practice online achievement test for your student.
◦ Recommendation Service - Indicate if you want Curriculum Recommendation Service.
◦ Add to Cart - Enter information for one student only, then select the Add to Cart button.
Once you have placed your California Achievement Test purchase with Academic Excellence, you will receive both an order confirmation and an email containing the user name and password to log into the Academic Excellence education portal. Please allow up to twenty minutes to receive this email and check your spam folder if you do not receive the email.
If you wish to purchase testing services for another student, or wish to make other purchases, select the Continue Shopping link after viewing your shopping cart.
Downloads CAT Brochure
This is our second time using this product for one of our kids, and the first for the other (First year and 3rd year kid). Navigating the test was easy for both of them, it has been made very easy to use.
My favorite thing about the product is the test results you get at the end. You get an assessment of the correct/incorrect answers measured against other test scores in the same grade levels so you can see your child's progress compared with other children their age. Levi on 21st Sep 2023
My 4th grader did great with her first time on computer testing. It’s was easy to navigate. Jessica Minton on 19th Sep 2023
This test was easy for my 13 year old to navigate and answer questions. She completed it and passed with flying colors. Highly recommend. Unknown on 19th Sep 2023
Both of my kids were so proud of themselves when they finished this exam. Unknown on 16th Sep 2023
We homeschool and even though our state doesn't require any testing, we opted to test just to see where our kids would fall. The test was easy to use, I like that it was untimed so my kids could pause when their brains were starting to hurt. We took Level 2 and Level 5 over the course of several days, either working on it for 30 min or an hour at a time.
Do be careful because once you enter a particular section, even if you don't answer any questions, it marks that section as complete (which they do warn you about). So that happened with the Level 2 test, where my son opened the spelling section but then decided he'd had enough for the day. He never did that section as it was marked complete and I didn't remember either.
All in all, decent test to see how your kids compare to the public school standards or give you a data point to check progress. I learned my older son was terrible at spelling so I added a spelling curriculum to our homeschool for him this year.
I did think some of the math tests were repetitive, especially for Level 2. My son was tired of doing problem after problem of adding and subtracting, especially as I know he doesn't have his basic math facts memorized so it can be quite exhausting. Unknown on 14th Sep 2023
This was our second time using Academic Excellence. I've found the untimed online test to work very well for my son. We're able to take it a little bit at a time, and I like getting the results almost immediately. I plan to stick with Academic Excellence each year given the ease of use. Unknown on 6th Sep 2023
This test was easy to navigate, and perfect for homeschooling. Because it wasn't timed, my kids were able to take their tests stress free. The online tests are graded instantly, and the premium grading is awesome for record keeping. Holly on 5th Sep 2023
Simple to use but had a good range of questions. A D on 31st Aug 2023
This testing site is the best I've found for my homeschoolers! I have one in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary. I especially appreciate that these tests are not timed; it really allows for students to work at their own pace without the anxiety that accompanies a looming countdown. I think the price is more than reasonable, the tests weren't terribly challenging, and I'm so glad I went with the in-depth premium scoring. If you're hesitant to use this testing provider, I highly encourage you to go for it! Zion Academy Homeschool on 31st Aug 2023
Thankful to have the option for this test. My kids always freak out but having one they don’t have to worry about the clock makes for a better testing experience. They finish in great time and their marks are way better than when they were in public. Just goes to show that testing doesn’t have to be scary! Krista on 24th Aug 2023