Choosing the Right Practice Test

It’s one thing to know and have mastered the academic objectives for a particular grade level. It’s another thing to be able to demonstrate this knowledge on a test.

So, how do you help your child do his or her best on their next achievement test?

One option is to buy a book of drills. Some of these books are actually created by the publishers of achievement tests themselves. In these books, students complete page after of page of framed, multiple choice items. Practice, practice, practice is the strategy here. After a while, though, students can begin to say to themselves, “All right, already, I’ve got it. Can we move on to something else?” Their well-trained noses are smelling “busy work,” something we, as homeschoolers, try to avoid.

Another option, one that we provide, is a test simulation product. Our two book series, Achieving Peak Performance and the One Hour Practice Test aren’t designed to drill your student toward success. They are designed to introduce your student to how achievement tests work and how to show what you know in this context. They simulate the test experience before the student is faced with taking the actual test.

Why do we offer two series of books?

Achieving Peak Performance  is structurally more like the Terra Nova 3. The subjects are tested separately in a series of stand alone subtests. Stand alone, meaning that reading is tested separately from language which is tested separately from math, etc. The One Hour Practice Test is structurally more like the CAT6/Terra Nova 2. Reading and language are combined into two subtests. Math computation and math problem solving are combined to a lesser degree.

Which practice test should you buy?

For students in grades 1-3, both Achieving Peak Performance and the One Hour Practice Test work fine. They both provide a good test simulation.

For students in grades 4-12, again, the One Hour Practice Test more closely aligns with the CAT6/Terra Nova 2 Survey while the Achieving Peak Performance test more closely aligns Terra Nova 3. Please note that because there is not a One Hour Practice Test for grade 7;  Achieving Peak Performance grade 7 is therefore suggested.

Regardless of which practice test you use, both simulate an actual achievement test.

Students will learn to work under a time limit and experience responding to similar answers in a multiple-choice context. The academic content covered will be virtually the same.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE