FCAT Prep

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or the FCAT, is the standardized test used to measure student progress in Florida's primary and secondary public schools.

Your child's grade level in school determines which of the FCAT subtests (Reading, Writing, Math, and/or Science) he or she will take:

Students' results from the FCAT are compiled to generate a grade for each public school. Public schools receive a grade from A to F, depending on student performance and the degree to which the bottom 25% of the school has improved compared to its past performances. The higher a public school scores, the more funding it receives.

 See information on our test prep tutors for FCAT.

 To see a list of school grades for your county, click on this link: http://fcat.fldoe.org/mediapacket/2011/default.asp

The FCAT measures student achievement of the benchmarks in Florida's Sunshine State Standards. The benchmarks identify knowledge and skills that students are expected to acquire, with the underlying expectation that students also demonstrate critical thinking. First administered in 1998, the FCAT has become an integral part of Florida's public education system.

The FCAT is administered annually, on regular school days, by each school's own staff:

Florida's lawmakers have passed legislation to replace the FCAT with a series of standardized end-of-course exams. The process begins with the implementation of these math and science tests:

• Algebra 1 (baseline test in 2009-2010)
• Geometry (field test in selected schools in 2010-2011)
• Biology (field test in selected schools in 2010-2011)

Tests in U.S. History and Civics will be introduced in succeeding years.

Students will need to pass these exams in order to get the credits they need to graduate. As new end-of-course exams are introduced, their content will be removed from the FCAT. This will continue until all classes have end-of-course exams. (The 10th-grade math FCAT and 11th-grade science FCAT will be eliminated by 2011-12.)

Alternatively students may fulfill graduation requirements by submitting SAT or ACT scores:

There are three FCAT question types:

• Multiple-choice
• Gridded-response
• Performance task

FCAT Writing features an essay component as well as multiple-choice questions.

Although the FCAT is a timed test, the time allotted is intended to be sufficient for almost all students.

FCAT questions are categorized according to complexity:

• Low complexity: A question requires a simple skill, such as locating details in a text or solving a one-step problem.
• Moderate complexity: A question can ask the student to summarize a passage or retrieve information from a graph and use it to solve a problem.
• High complexity: A question may require a student to analyze cause-and-effect relationships or justify a solution to a problem.

FCAT Reading employs a wide variety of written material to assess students' reading comprehension as defined in the Sunshine State Standards. FCAT Reading is composed of about 6–8 reading passages, each with 6–11 questions. There are two types of reading passages:

• Informational
• Literary

Informational passages provide readers with facts about a particular subject and may include magazine and newspaper articles, editorials, and biographies. Literary passages may include short stories, poems, folk tales, and selections from novels.

The percentage of informational text students will encounter on the FCAT also increases as they progress through the grades. Likewise, the range of words per passage increases across the grade levels.

The FCAT focuses on these four content areas:

1. Words and phrases in context
2. Main idea, plot, and purpose
3. Comparison and cause/effect
4. Reference and research

As students progress through the grades, more emphasis is placed on higher-level thinking skills, especially reference and research.

FCAT Reading includes multiple-choice questions for all grades. However, for grades 4, 8, and 10, it also includes short- and extended-response questions which are worth more points. For example, a short-response task may require the student to describe how a character in a story changes or shows growth. An extended-response task requires a longer and more detailed response, such as a comparison of traits or actions of two different characters. Students are provided eight lines on which to write their answers for short-response questions and 14 lines for extended-response questions.

FCAT Math includes multiple-choice questions in Grades 3–10, gridded questions in Grades 5–10, and short- and extended-response questions in Grades 5, 8, and 10. Performance tasks require students to use their own words to write a detailed solution or describe an answer to the question. A short-response performance task may ask for an equation that represents a problem situation. An extended-response question requires a longer, more detailed response, such as constructing a graph.

Questions for Grades 3–6 are designed to not require calculators, and students in those grades may not use them. In Grades 7–10, 4-function calculators are provided to the students . Visually impaired students in these grades are provided with "talking calculators." A reference sheet of formulas and conversions is provided to students in Grades 6–10 during testing.

FCAT Mathematics covers five content areas. Students in Grades 3–10 respond to questions from each of these areas, but the emphasis on each area varies from grade to grade.

FCAT Science measures student achievement of the science benchmarks contained in the Sunshine State Standards at Grades 5, 8, and 11. Students are tested in four areas:

• Physical and Chemical Sciences
• Earth and Space Sciences
• Life and Environmental Sciences
• Scientific Thinking

FCAT Science includes multiple-choice and short-and extended-response questions at all three grade levels. Gridded response questions are also included at Grades 8 and 11. Some questions, scored with two- or four-point rubrics, require students to explain the scientific concept or process used to determine the answer and to provide the answer in their own words. A short-response question may ask the student to explain a scientific concept. An extended-response question requires a longer, more detailed response, such as describing the steps to use in an experiment. Certain answer spaces may include blank work space, charts, drawings, or lined answer space, based on what is required to answer the question.

Students in Grades 8 and 11 are provided with reference sheets that include important formulas and conversions and a periodic table of the elements. If any formula is needed in Grade 5, the appropriate formula is included. Although 4-function calculators are provided to students in Grades 8 and 11, use of calculators is not essential.

On FCAT Writing (now referred to as FCAT Writing+), students are asked to write an essay within a 45-minute testing session on a single assigned topic. For the purpose of scoring, four elements in the writing process are considered:

FCAT Writing prompts require students to respond with a narrative, expository, or persuasive essay.

• Grade 4: prompts require a narrative or expository response
• Grades 8 & 10: prompts require an expository or persuasive response

A narrative response tells a story, an expository response explains an idea, and a persuasive response attempts to convince a reader to agree with a given position.

The Writing test also includes multiple-choice questions with 3- and 4-answer options. The test includes:

• Writing samples that model student draft writing
• Stand-alone samples that provide a succinct context for measuring knowledge of conventions
• Samples that contain high-interest material and numbered blanks
• Writing plans that provide a prewriting structure

The FCAT is scored using a combination of electronic scoring for multiple-choice questions and hand-scoring for performance-based tasks.

Reading, Math, and Science scores:

• Achievement level: 1-5
• Scale score: 100-500
• Developmental scale score: 86-3008

Writing score:

• 1-6

If your child's achievement level improves from one year to the next, he or she has made progress. Your child is also making progress if his or her achievement level remains the same for two years in a row because the content assessed at the higher grade is more difficult.

• Students who score at Levels 3, 4, or 5 are performing at or above expectations and meet the requirements of the Sunshine State Standards.
• Students who score at Level 1 or 2 are performing below expectations and need additional instruction in content. The school and district have guidelines for making decisions about promoting students who score at Level 1.

If your child scores at Level 1 or 2 – or even Level 3 – call us to discuss the ways in which we can help him or her improve in school and on the FCAT.

FCAT scores are released at the end of the school year.

To graduate from a public high school in Florida, students must earn passing scores on the Reading and Mathematics Sunshine State Standards portion of the Grade 10 FCAT.

• Reading: 1926 (scale score of 300)
• Math: 1889 (scale score of 300)

After Grade 10, there are additional opportunities to retake the test and earn passing scores.

Alternatively students may meet graduation requirements with SAT or ACT scores:

• Only 60% of high school 10th graders pass the reading portion of the FCAT, leaving 40% who must retake the test in 11th grade.
• 3rd grade is the only year that a student can be held back for not passing the reading section of the FCAT.
• The FCAT became a graduation requirement in 2003.
• Students who do not pass the math and reading sections of the FCAT will not be issued a high school diploma from the public school system but will receive a Certificate of Completion which is not an equivalent. Non-passing students must obtain a GED to receive a diploma.
• High school students can do SAT or ACT test prep to get ready. A senior can graduate by receiving an SAT or ACT score which is comparable to the FCAT passing score:

• Legislation provides for a waiver of the FCAT as a requirement for graduation for students with disabilities whose learning can not be accurately measured by the statewide assessment. The IEP team may request a waiver.