FAQ
General Questions About Our California Achievement Tests
1. What competencies do the California Achievement Tests cover?
2. Is the California Achievement Test a nationally recognized achievement test?
3. Does my state require achievement testing for homeschooling?
Ordering Our California Achievement Tests
1. When will I receive access to my test?
2. How will I receive access to my test?
3. What if I did not receive my email with my login information?
Administering Our California Achievement Tests
1. Is a special degree required for administering the California Achievement Test?
2. How long is required to take the California Achievement Test?
3. How long do I have to take the California Achievement Test?
California Achievement Test Results
1. What scores do you receive upon completion of the California Achievement Test?
2. When will I receive my scores and in what format?
3. How long will my scores be available in the Academic Excellence Education Portal?
Our Curriculum Recommendation Service
1. Is the recommendation service related to a particular program or curriculum provider?
2. Is the recommendations based upon my test scores?
3. When do I receive my curriculum recommendations?
Answers
General Questions About Our California Achievement Tests
Question: What competencies do the California Achievement Tests cover? (Back to Top)
Answer: Competencies covered vary by grade level. The following tables give details for each grade:
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Grade Level: 2
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Grade Level: 3
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Grade Levels: 4, 5, & 6
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Grade Levels: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, & 12
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Question: Is the California Achievement Test a nationally recognized achievement test? (Back to Top)
Answer: Yes. The California Achievement Test is one of the most widely used and accepted national achievement tests.
Question: Does my state require achievement testing for homeschooling? (Back to Top)
Answer: Please check your local state testing requirements to see if testing is required for your student.
Ordering Our California Achievement Tests
Question: When will I receive access to my test? (Back to Top)
Answer: Within twenty minutes of completion of your purchase.
Question: How will I receive access to my test? (Back to Top)
Answer: Upon completion of your purchase you will receive two emails. The first will be a receipt for your purchase. The second will have a subject "Welcome to the California Achievement Test" and it will provide your student login information for taking the test. You will need to go to the student portal website: https://portal.academicexcellence.com/ and use your student username and password, assigned by our system and provided in the Welcome email.
Question: What if I did not receive my email with my login information? (Back to Top)
Answer: First thing to do is check the SPAM folder of your email. If there is no email there, contact us at support@academicexcellence.com.
Administering Our California Achievement Tests
Question: Is a special degree required for administering the California Achievement Test? (Back to Top)
Answer: No. The online achievement test is designed to utilize technology to handle cumbersome testing procedures and guarantee a fair administration of the testing process.
Question: How long is required to take the California Achievement Test? (Back to Top)
Answer:
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Grade Level: 2 (2 Hours, 8+ minutes)
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Grade Level: 3 (2 Hours, 12 minutes)
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Grade Levels: 4, 5, & 6 (2 Hours, 45 minutes)
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Grade Levels: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, & 12 (2 Hours, 44 minutes)
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Question: How long do I have to take the California Achievement Test? (Back to Top)
Answer: The tests do not expire, which means the tests can be purchased in advance and used any time in the future. The various sections of each test can be spread out and taken any time, and the whole test doesn't need to be completed in one sitting.
California Achievement Test Results
Question: What scores do you receive upon completion of the California Achievement Test? (Back to Top)
Answer: The table below describes the standard scores for the achievement test. A composite score reflecting competency across all subjects is available for an additional fee. Please note that the practice CAT only provides the raw score.
| Score Name | Explanation of Score | |||||||||
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| Raw Scores |
Raw scores are the actual number of correct answers within a given test section, and are used to calculate the Grade Equivalent, Percentile, and Stanine results. They should not be used for any kind of comparison or statistical calculation since each test section varies in the difficulty and number of questions.
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| Grade Equivalent Scores |
Grade equivalent scores represent the grade level (year and month separated by a decimal point) of a student's ability compared to the median score of students at the same academic level. |
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| Percentile Scores |
Percentile scores are equivalent to the percentage of students from the norm group who received lower scores than the student. For example, a student with a percentile score of 73 means that the student did better than approximately 73% of the students in the norm group. Percentile scores do not represent the number of questions answered correctly.
Percentiles are useful for comparing a student's performance over several sections of the test. However, because they are not measured on an equal scale of units, they are not suitable for most statistical calculations. |
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| Stanine Scores |
Derived from the term STAndard score from a NINE-unit scale, stanines are based on the mean of the norm group (who are given the score of 5) and a standard deviation of 2.0. Scores are determined by the amount of standard deviation from the norm group, in approximately one-half standard deviation increments. The following table lists the meaning of each score:
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Question: When will I receive my scores and in what format? (Back to Top)
Answer: Test scores are always available from the test page, from the scores panel. From there, scores can be viewed or downloaded as a PDF. Additionally, scores will be emailed to you upon completion of the test.
Question: How long will my scores be available in the Academic Excellence Education Portal? (Back to Top)
Answer: Scores will be available in our system for a minimum of one year. Our goal however, is to allow parents and educators to track educational progress over time. Based upon this goal, your student's scores will remain in our system for as long as you order our testing service on an annual basis.
Our Curriculum Recommendation Service
Question: Is the recommendation service related to a particular program or curriculum provider? (Back to Top)
Answer: No. The Academic Excellence curriculum recommendation service is completely unbiased so that we provide recommendations on the best curriculum for your students without financial benefit to Academic Excellence.
Question: Are the recommendations based upon my test scores? (Back to Top)
Answer: Yes. All curriculum recommendations are based upon the student's test scores and our staff's extensive experience with home education.
Question: When do I receive my curriculum recommendations? (Back to Top)
Answer: If you have purchased the recommendation service, curriculum recommendations will be emailed to you upon completion of the achievement test.