Things You Need to Know Before Conducting a PAT Test

PAT stands for Progressing Achievement Test. It is an assessment test, that measures a student’s capability, understanding, learning, and progress over time.

Importance of PAT:

PAT is a pen and paper-based test. New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) has developed PAT to assess comprehension, vocabulary, logical and mathematical skills. PAT helps to track the learning growth of students at different levels.

• Assessment of Mathematics, listening, and comprehension at year level (3-10).
• Assessment of reading comprehension, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary at year level (4-10).

PAT uses the achievement scale to measure the magnitude of knowledge and skill for the ongoing learning of students. It assists in tracking the learning achievement according to class and age level of students. PAT score also illustrates the effectiveness of the teaching process, teaching methodology, and teaching techniques. PAT is a great assistant in judging the teaching-learning process through student’s achievement.

It helps educator to be introspective of their teaching style by evaluating student’s learning progress. PAT score provides a ground to take the next possible step regarding modification of teaching strategy and methodology for a better outcome.

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Test Administration:

PAT is applicable for both individual as well as group assessment. It is useful to retrieve individual progress information and learning growth assessment by group comparison. The time duration of PAT multiple-choice questions is 40 to 50 minutes.

Things to consider before conducting a PAT test:

Achievement Tests are the means to demonstrate student’s learning and proficiency in different subjects. PAT’s score has become more pronounced with the motive to excel every student. It aims to determine the current level of learning and possibilities to upgrade teaching methods, curriculum, and teaching strategies based on students’ scores. The following are important points to consider before conducting the PAT test:

• Reliability

Standardization of a test means creating a set procedure for a specific age group. While conducting the PAT test, reliability is a vital aspect to consider. A reliable test shows the same results on several repetitions. Reliability of the assessment test represents the extent of accuracy of the test to measure an individual’s learning ability and skill. Scores gained in a reliable test helps to assess the level of student’s learning and effectiveness of teaching methods. Giving students a consistent test environment and the same duration of time favours the reliability of the test. Practice tests are necessary to make the test format familiar to students. Subjecting users to several practice tests also reduces test anxiety and positively impacts reliability.

Conducting regular analysis on tests and eliminating insignificant questions contributes to reliable test construction.

• Validity

Validity is the extent of accuracy of a procedure to measure the assessment. A PAT test should contain questions and a format that measures the learning ability of the students. The content of a valid test should determine the aspects that strictly define objectives, which are learning ability, knowledge, skill, and effectiveness of teaching strategy.

• Flexibility

Before conducting a PAT test, there is a need to consider various requirements of students. The flexibility of a test offers freedom to learners to express their learning ability and acquired knowledge through various forms. The PAT test encompasses varieties of questions with equal weightage from different fields. Flexibility allows every student to demonstrate a learning experience through a test score. The flexibility of a test caters to individual differences, as different students are better in different fields.

• Fairness

An assessment should match the ability of the average learner. To assess the fairness of the test, it should undergo several practices to achieve accuracy. Some students take more time to solve a question while some are quick in doing calculations or reminding things. There is a need to set a perfect time duration within which an average student can complete the test. 

All these parameters reflect the nature of an exam. An efficient assessment test gives learners an equal opportunity and a fair environment to express their learning efficiency and capabilities. It is reliable and valid to produce desirable results. Before conducting the PAT test, students must know its importance and what does it aim at? Communicate the purpose and importance of the test.

PAT is an educational assessment tool, which is feedback-oriented. It evaluates the cognitive development of students in a learning environment. It is a resourceful method, that offers the possibility to bring progressive change in teaching style and methodology for great academic results.