You can place an order using
our secure
web order form, by
downloading a
printable order form and
sending it to us, or by
calling our toll-free number
(866-680-2228).
You must provide a valid
payment method for your
order to be processed.
If this is your department’s
first ACAT order, you will
need to provide information
about which discipline,
curriculum, and options (if
applicable) you have
selected. The selection can
be changed as departmental
needs evolve but may only be
changed once during any
administration year (June
through May) without
incurring a setup fee.
Information about the ACATs
available for each
discipline can be accessed
through the menu on the
left.
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How
do we choose an ACAT version?
There are several ways to do
this. The first is to model
the test after the
requirements of your major.
This will provide the best
assessment of the degree to
which students are meeting
the content mastery goals
implicit in your
requirements. Another
approach is to test the
broadest range of areas
which can be included. Often
departments will be able to
identify content areas
which, while not
constituting separate
courses, are being learned.
Psychology, Biology,
History, Business, and
Criminal Justice programs
must choose the number of
areas which will appear on
their ACAT (curriculum) and
specify what those areas
will be (content areas).
Finally, a pragmatic
approach dictates the length
of the test by the manner in
which it will be
administered. A test to be
given during a single class
period, for example, may
only contain 4 or 5 areas.
In all cases, the instrument
should be structured to
provide the kind of
information most likely to
be used by the department.
For assistance with making
your selection, please call
us toll-free
(866-680-2228).
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What
does the cost of the ACAT include?
The fee includes materials
for one examinee,
administration instructions,
scoring, and score reports.
The current list of fees, by
discipline and use type, is
below.
ACAT Price List For Administration June 2009
through May 2010
Discipline
Senior Outcomes
Pre-Testing
2 Year Institutions
Paper
Online
Paper
Online
Paper
Online
New
Renew
New
Renew
New
Renew
Agriculture
19.25
16.50
0.00
9.75
8.95
0.00
6.85
6.65
0.00
Art
11.35
9.50
0.00
6.85
6.65
0.00
Biology
19.25
16.50
0.00
12.45
11.50
0.00
6.85
6.65
0.00
Communication*
6.00
5.00
0.00
6.00
5.00
0.00
Criminal
Justice
19.25
16.50
0.00
12.45
11.50
0.00
7.50
6.65
0.00
General Business
13.45
10.00
0.00
8.30
7.50
0.00
6.85
6.65
0.00
Geology
10.35
8.50
0.00
6.50
6.25
0.00
History
16.95
14.40
0.00
9.75
8.95
0.00
Literature
in English
16.95
9.75
Political
Science
16.95
14.40
0.00
9.75
8.95
0.00
Psychology
19.25
16.50
0.00
12.45
11.50
0.00
Social Work
19.25
16.50
0.00
12.45
11.50
0.00
(*) The ACAT in Communication is being
offered at a reduced cost during the 2009-10 year while the initial
reference groups are being accumulated.
Authentication codes for the
ACAT Online purchased for administration after June 1, 2008 can be used
at any time until May 31, 2010.
After May 31, 2010, unused authentication codes can be renewed for an
additional year by paying a renewal fee. On renewal, PACAT will
provide new codes to replace expired ones. Additional codes must
be purchased at full price.
Because pencil and paper
ACATs are custom printed and
are unique to each
institution, we do not give
credits or refunds for
unused materials. Unused
ACAT Online authentication
codes, however, can be
renewed for a nominal fee.
All materials, used and
unused, are the property of
PACAT Inc. and must be
returned according to the
instructions provided.
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Are there
other costs or fees that we need
to know about?
A number of special services are
available to assist departments
with meeting their assessment
reporting and analysis needs. A
table of services and the fees
associated with each is
presented below.
Special Scoring and Other Optional Fees
Replacement or
Additional Score Reports. (2 are
included with the cost of the tests) - See note 1
$28.00
Score Data on
Digital Media.
(Available in June
for full year data only) - See note 2
$20.00
Individual Single Page
Student Score Reports. These may be requested either by students or by
departments. Price is per student. (These are in addition to the lists of student scores normally provided as part
of the basic score report.)
$15.00
Special/Early
Scoring. This fee provides scoring before
the normal weekly reporting period.
$45.00
Curriculum
Change (mid-year). Participating
institutions may change the content areas
which appear on their tests (flexible content
disciplines only) at no charge provided that
they have not administered the ACAT during the current testing year (June
1 to May 31). Otherwise, this
administrative setup fee must be paid in order
to make the change effective.
$100.00
Re-marking Answer Forms. If answer forms
cannot be scanned
electronically, the institution will be given the option of paying
to have the forms re-bubbled. No other adjustments will be made for answer
forms that cannot be read because the administration instructions
were not followed. Payment must
be received before the forms will be scored.
$3.30 per form
Rush Orders. Orders received
in less than 10 business days of the administration
date will be assessed an additional rush fee. If necessary,
expedited air shipment will be used and billed as an added shipping
cost.
$35.00
Note 1: PACAT Inc. maintains archives of score reports
beginning in
1989. Note 2: The
fee applies to each discipline and/or institution
code combination for which diskettes are
requested. For example, institutions using
multiple institution codes to track different
cohorts of students can expect to pay a separate
fee for each code. Each discipline requested is
also dealt with as a separate fee. Therefore, an
institution with two codes requesting data
concerning each of three disciplines can
anticipate paying the fees for six diskettes/CDs.
Requests must be submitted on a
Sample Request form which
includes an agreement to provide
appropriate security for the
sample. You can download a
printable form or
request one by telephone
(866-680-2228).
Once completed, you can send the request form to us
by mail or fax
(931-552-9167). PACAT
does not charge for samples. A
sample may be retained for up to
90 days after which it must be
returned to PACAT. Samples
are provided for the sole
purpose of departmental review
and may not be used or dispensed
as study guides. Copies must not
be made for any reason. We
reserve the right to fully
verify requests before providing
sample ACATs.
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Can we buy the test and just use
some of the questions?
The test and
its contents remain the property
of PACAT Inc. Because the ACAT
is a nationally standardized
instrument, we are unable to
customize it at the level of
individual questions.
Customization is done by
including the requested content
area components.
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Can
we change the
areas that appear on our test?
Because of the way
that different versions of the
test are identified
electronically for scoring, the
computers cannot differentiate
among ACAT versions used by the
same department during a single
testing year. Departments
changing a test configuration
should clearly indicate this on
their purchase order and provide
a complete list of areas to
appear on the new test including
areas not being changed. A
department wishing to change its
test configuration during the
testing year but after
administering it at least once
during the same year will be
charged an administrative fee
for managing the change. Please
refer to the list of
special
fees for the amount.
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Can we use different tests for
different groups of students?
Departments wishing to use
multiple versions of the ACAT
will be given multiple institution codes.
We must be
notified in advance that a
department wishes to exercise
this option. The department
should also provide 2 or 3 word
descriptions of the student
groupings that will be used to
identify their institution codes.
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Who uses the
ACAT?
The ACAT is
in use at 4
year
institutions
nationwide.
Participating
departments
cover a
broad range,
some
graduating
fewer than 5
majors a
year and
others
graduating
several
hundred.
Both public
and private
institutions
are
participants.
A
representative
list of
recent
participants
may be
viewed by
clicking
here.
A limited
number of
ACATs
(agriculture,
biology,
general
business,
criminal
justice) are
calibrated
for use at 2
year
institutions.
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How long does it take to get our
scores back?
ACATs are scored weekly. All
answer sheets received prior to
the close of business on
Thursday will be included in
score reports released the
following Tuesday. Special
scoring which does not conform
to this schedule can be
accomplished upon request for a
fee.
ACAT Online scoring will be
conducted in the weekly cycle
following receipt of
notification of completion and a
final roster from the
institution.
Score
reports
can be
sent by
US
Postal
Service
or by
email at
the
request
of the
department.
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Do we get individual student
scores on pretests?
The ACAT as a pretest is
designed to assess only an
overall cohort. If individual
scores
are
made
available,
there is a possibility of introducing an
inadvertent bias towards
students who perform poorly on
the ACAT. With this exception, the
same score report as that for
graduating seniors is sent to
departments. Departments
wishing
to
apply
for
an
exemption
that
will
allow
them
to
receive
individual
scores
on
pretest
should
contact
us
to
discuss
the
required
assurances.
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What
information
will
be
contained
in
my
score
report?
A variety of information can be included in your report to meet your data needs. You will receive 2 reports following the receipt of examinee responses for each administration. You will also receive 2 reports in mid-June containing your cumulative results for the June - May year. The reports can be customized individually and sent either to the same individual or to two different individuals. A sample score report can be downloaded as a PDF file for viewing.
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What are the "Standard Scores" on my score report?
The standard scores provide a means by which to compare your students' performance to that of a multi-year national sample. A standard score has a fixed mid-point or average, in this case 500. That does not change from one year to the next. The standard scores also have a fixed standard deviation of 100 points. The standard deviation allows us to determine percentiles. For example, 68% of the students in the national sample will score within 1 standard deviation of the average. Put another way, 68% of the scores on the test should fall between 400 and 600.
Each content area has its own multi-year reference group consisting of all students taking that particular content area subtest regardless of the overall test configuration used. The ACAT assumes that the content taught in a specific area is more or less independent of the required breadth of the curriculum offered. Because of this, in some disciplines, you will notice that the reference group size is different for each content area.
There is also an overall standard score and percentile on the report. This is the measure of the overall performance of your students compared to all students in the multi-year sample group taking a test with the same number of content areas. This score can be interpreted as a comparison to departments with similar curricular requirements for breadth. The applicability of this score depends to some degree on how closely a department's choice of test length and content matches their curriculum.
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What are the "Raw Percent Correct Scores" on my score report?
Some departments want to know how well their students are doing as a percent correct, much like the score that would result from taking an in-class exam. Care should be taken in interpreting these scores, however. The ACAT assumes that 70%-80% of the students in a department have learned 70%-80% of the material presented on the test. This will produce "ideal" scores of between 49% and 64% correct. While these might be considered low on an in-class exam designed to meet the goals of an individual course, they are well suited to a nationally administered instrument trying to assess much broader goals.
The raw scores are weighted on an item by item basis before being converted to standard scores. Therefore, it is not possible to derive one from the other given only the information contained within the score report.
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There are students missing from my score report. Where are they?
First of all, look at the top of the report. If is says that it is an interim report, it will contain only the scores only for the most recent group of students. The final report, released during the first half of June should contain scores for all students tested during the June-May testing year.
Some students fail to provide adequate information on their answer forms. Students must provide their names and a student ID number. Failing to provide a proper booklet number or test form number may also prevent scoring. In these cases, you should receive a "Scoring Exceptions Report" with your score report. This will list all answer forms which could not be scored and the reason why they could not be scored.
Finally, if none of the above applies to your situation, please call us toll-free (866-680-2228) and have ready the student's name and ID number used for the test administration. Occasionally, students incorrectly mark their discipline and/or institution codes and we will have to search for them manually.
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