For students to maximize their potential on the FCAT Reading Test, they need to know relevant strategies for taking the exam. While some test-taking strategies are across the board, e.g., get a good night’s rest before the exam, there are strategies that are explicit to the FCAT. If you want the best possible FCAT Reading scores for your school, every one of your Reading Coaches and teachers should score 100% on the following quiz and know why they selected a particular answer.

True	False
⟩	⟩		1. Reading tests assess more than a student’s ability to read.
⟩	⟩		2. The FCAT and the SAT are standardized tests; the FCAT is scored the same as the SAT.
⟩	⟩		3. On the FCAT, four 1-point questions have the same effect on a student’s score as one 4-point question.
⟩	⟩		4. In an FCAT reading passage, a good strategy is to first look at the questions.
⟩	⟩		5. It is not necessary to understand writing when preparing for FCAT reading. (Don’t waste preparation time understanding writing.)
⟩	⟩		6. Reading for details on FCAT passages, like reading for school, is important to improving scores.
⟩	⟩		7. If a section of the FCAT has four reading passages, the best strategy is to take them in order.

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Answers

1. Reading tests assess more than a student’s ability to read.
   True. Reading in school is all about comprehension and learning; reading on the FCAT is about a number of factors beyond comprehension and learning. In fact, for the FCAT the issue is not learning, but about simply understanding the writing. Our workshop explains this important nuance in detail and the relevant strategies to adapt class reading to test reading. Additionally, scores are greatly influenced by a student’s ability to distinguish between answers that both appear to be correct. The subtle difference between the “best” and an “awfully good” answer can dramatically influence a student’s score.
2. The FCAT and the SAT are standardized tests; the FCAT is scored the same as the SAT.
   False. SAT results come from a type of Number-Correct Scoring. In order to reach the number seen on a score report, two calculations take place. First, the raw score is calculated. This is the number of points you earned, based on the number of questions you answered correctly, minus a fraction of the number answered incorrectly. Questions skipped are not counted and no points are subtracted for incorrect Student Produced Response mathematics questions (grid-ins) on the SAT. The raw score is then converted to a scaled score (reported on a 200-800 scale) by a statistical process called equating. Equating ensures that the different forms of the test or the level of ability of the students with whom you are tested do not affect your score. (Source: The College Board).

   FCAT results come from Item Response Theory (IRT) Pattern Scoring. Number-correct scoring considers how many questions a student answered correctly in determining his or her score. In contrast, the IRT pattern-scoring method takes into account not only the student’s total raw score, but also which questions he or she got right and the psychometric characteristics of these questions. Basically, a student’s score is determined by how hard the questions are that a student gets correct. Again, the discussion is expanded in our workshop, as well as the impact of IRT pattern scoring on grades.

3. On the FCAT, four 1-point questions have the same effect on a student’s score as one 4-point question.
   False. IRT pattern scoring considers the fact that the questions are not necessarily equal in their characteristics. Therefore while two students with exactly the same raw score total will get the same scale score in number-correct scoring, it is very possible that even though they have the same raw score total, they answered different questions correctly, and that the questions were very different with regard to their characteristics. And they could have a different FCAT score. Again, this is explained in detail in our workshop, with the accompanying strategy to ensure that students can maximize their FCAT score.
4. In an FCAT reading passage, a good strategy is to first look at the questions.
   False. Okay, we read this everywhere, so why isn’t it right? Reading the questions first is a strategy that has been passed down from one generation of teachers to the next. There is no research evidence proving that it helps. Once teachers are trained to use the techniques provided in Stetson program, they agree that reading the questions first makes no sense. In fact, they often say that they can now see how reading the questions first may even hurt a student’s performance because it slows them down and wastes time. The test-taking strategies we introduce to participants have a proven record of raising reading scores because they help students become active, engaged readers with the confidence of knowing how to choose the best answer.
5. It is not necessary to understand writing when preparing for FCAT reading. (Don’t waste preparation time understanding writing.)
   False. It is necessary to understand writing when preparing for the FCAT reading test. Why? Because FCAT test writers are held to the standards of good writing. This means that normally a paragraph starts out with a topic sentence or idea. The topic sentence is followed by the first, second, or third main points and then details are added in between each point in order to explain the idea fully. Once one idea or concept has been described the paragraph is brought to a conclusion by usually summing up the main points or making a transition into the next paragraph. If students know this, then finding the topics or the main point or a second main point is much easier.
6. Reading for details on FCAT passages, like reading for school, is important to improving scores.
   False. Reading for details is for school; reading to answer the questions is a component of FCAT reading strategies. The answer to this question and its explanation are easy; the key is the “how” of it all, which is covered in our workshop. Keep in mind that the FCAT Reading Test is an “open-book” test which means students can go find the answers to detail questions quite easily. The test writers aren’t assessing how fast a student can go find the right detail. They want to know how well a student understands writing as a work of art.
7. If a section of the FCAT has four reading passages, the best strategy is to take them in order.
   False. The best strategy for addressing reading passages is to quickly scan the passages and begin with the one that appears the most interesting. Just make sure you don’t get mixed up on your answer sheet. FCAT reading passages will be difficult so why not start with one that is more interesting and one where you will more likely get a good start? For one thing this is a confidence builder, one of the important aspects of test taking that we describe in more detail in our workshop.