The School and College Ability Test (SCAT), is a standardized test conducted in the United States that measures math and verbal reasoning abilities in gifted children.

About

The SCAT is used by the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) as an above-grade-level entrance exam for students in grades 2–8. Students in grades 2-3 take the Elementary SCAT designed for students in grades 4-5. Students in grades 4-5 take the Intermediate SCAT designed for students in grades 6-8. Students in grades 6 and above take the Advanced SCAT designed for students in grades 9-12. There are 55 questions per section, 5 of which are experimental. The percentile ranks for the SCAT have not been updated since 1979. So, when your child takes this test, your child is being compared to a national sample of children who took the test in 1979. The equivalent test in the UK is the CAT4 test run by GL Assessment and consists of a battery of 4 individual tests; Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, Spatial Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning. CAT4 is used as an admission test and also by schools to determine potential (gifted or weaker children).

Qualification

Anyone who pays for the test may take it; there are no requirements for testing.

Scoring

Scoring is based on a three-step process in which a student’s raw score is scaled based on the test version and then compared to the results of the test scores of normal students in the higher-level grade. However, as these normal students took the test in 1979, percentile rankings may be different when compared to a more recent group of test-takers. The minimum scores required for qualification for the 2nd to 10th grade CTY summer courses are below: