ACER General Ability Test (AGAT)

administration: 
Group
timing: 
40 minutes - untimed
publisher: 
ACER
Country of origin: 
Australia
registration-level: 
B
age: 
Years 2 - 10
test-abbreviation: 
AGAT
test-abbreviation: 
AGAT
registration-level: 
B
age: 
Years 2 - 10
Country of origin: 
Australia
administration: 
Group
timing: 
40 minutes - untimed

The ACER General Ability Tests (AGAT) is a test of general intellectual ability, designed to assist teachers in their assessment of students' learning potential and overall aptitude.

Covering Years 2 to 10, the AGAT is a thoroughly researched and nationally normed assessment instrument. Each test includes verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning items, giving a comprehensive picture of students' general ability.

Key features

  • Provides a multifaceted estimate of students' general intellectual ability and aptitude using verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning items
  • Can be administered in a large group or individually
  • Includes test booklets that target specific year levels and cover a wide range of year levels (Years 2 to 10)
  • A common scale for all nine tests giving teachers the flexibility to match test level to ability and monitor development over time
  • Percentiles and stanines that allow for comparison with a national norm group at different year levels
  • Scale scores for different strands (verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning) that allow for identification of relative strengths and development needs
  • Up-to-date norms -- collected in September 2007.

Benefits

  • Identify students who could be selected for extension programs
  • Identify students who may need special diagnostic assessment
  • Compare results on AGAT with curriculum based assessment
  • Provide information that may be used in setting realistic goals and planning effective programs of work
  • Locate areas of weakness and strength for individuals or within a class
  • Monitor the development of a range of students' reasoning ability over time
  • Provide an indication of learning potential.

The AGAT manual provides detailed instructions for administering and scoring test forms, technical information on the development and research conducted on the tests, a CD with administration instructions in pdf format, score keys and norm tables.

  • nine reusable test booklets.
  • two answer sheets.