Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

What should I know about the SCAT?
The SCAT is an above-grade-level reasoning test that assesses general reasoning skills in verbal and qualitative areas. Taking the SCAT offers your child the opportunity to gain eligibility for CTY’s summer and online courses. While reviewing your child’s scores, please keep the following in mind: 

• SCAT scores are used to estimate the potential for students to learn difficult material in specific disciplines and courses.
• Because the SCAT is not an intelligence test, scores cannot be used as a clinical tool for diagnosis. 
• Since the SCAT is not an achievement test, scores cannot be used to assess what a child has learned in school. 
• Because the SCAT is not a diagnostic test, scores cannot be used to designate strengths or weaknesses of any particular skills.

What does the SCAT measure? 
The SCAT measures a student’s verbal and quantitative reasoning ability. The verbal section measures his or her understanding of the meaning of words and the relationships between them, which is useful for success in writing, reading, literature, social studies, history, and languages. The quantitative section measures the ability to see relationships between quantities expressed in mathematical terms, which is useful for success in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and the sciences.

What are some factors that affect test scores? 
The results of any test indicate how the student performed under certain situations and at a particular time. On any given day, a student is likely to receive a score somewhere in their score range. If a child did not score as well as expected, it could be for one or more reasons:

• The difficulty of the above-grade-level test  
• A lack of familiarity with SCAT item types or standardized-testing situations (this is often true for younger students) 
• Illness, fatigue, anxiety, disinterest in the test, or distractions
• Limited number of items, item types, and time allowed

What about lower test scores? 
The above-grade-level SCAT is recommended for students who have scored at the top percentiles on tests designed for same-grade peers. Not all students will again score at the top percentiles when taking a test designed for students in higher grades. This does not mean that a child is not strong academically. Likewise, a high score does not necessarily mean a child will be identified as academically talented by his or her school.

INTERPRETING YOUR CHILD’S TEST RESULTS

Level and Form: There are different difficulty levels and forms of the SCAT. Difficulty levels are tied to a student’s grade in school. Research has shown that grades are more closely related to academic performance than students’ age. The “Level and Form” code is a record of exactly which test your child took on the indicated test date.
Raw Score: The raw score is the number of questions your child answered correctly out of 50. On each of the two subtests, there are 50 items that count toward the total raw score.
Scaled Score: CTY uses the scaled score to compare the performance of students taking various forms of the test and to determine eligibility for programs and awards. Scaled scores range from 400 to 514 depending on the subtest and level of the test.
Percentile: The percentile shows how your child’s results compare to a sample of students from the general population that are in a higher, comparison grade. For example, a 7th grade test-taker in the 63rd percentile compared to grade 12 means the 7th grader scored better than or equal to 63 percent of a sample of 12th graders. More specifically, it is estimated that this student may be able to reason better than or equal to 63 percent of 12th graders but not that they know more than or equal to 63 percent of 12th graders.

ELIGIBILITY LEVEL 

Please note that CTY summer and online courses have age and grade requirements and some have prerequisites. For more information, visit cty.jhu.edu. 

The scaled score requirements for students who test between July 1 and December 31 are:  

The scaled score requirements for students who test between January 1 and June 30 are: