Important note: From late November 2024, only the digital version of PAT: Reading Vocabulary tests will be available for sale. Schools can continue to purchase answer sheets and upload these to NZCER Assist, but the test booklets (as they are part of the older Reading Comprehension booklets) will no longer be available. Marking keys will remain available.
PAT: Reading Vocabulary is designed to assess students’ ability to understand the words they read. Each question is based around a key word that is printed in bold and embedded in a short sentence. The students’ task is to choose a synonym that best represents the meaning of this word from a list of five plausible alternatives.
An effort has been made to choose alternatives that are higher frequency (more common) than the key word. This can mean the correct alternative is not necessarily the best possible synonym, but it should be the best synonym of the five alternatives provided.
The words used in the test have been selected to represent the 10,000 most frequently used word families in the English language, drawn from both the New Zealand Component of the International Corpus of English (School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 1999), and the British National Corpus (BNC Consortium, 2001). These corpora sample language from a wide variety of sources.
Features of PAT: Reading Vocabulary
- Features seven vocabulary tests, each aimed at a year level between Year 4 and Year 10 (inclusive).
- Each test can also be used at adjacent year levels to suit particular groups of students in different schools. An adaptive test version is also available online.
- Deliverable digitally as a standalone, adaptive test through NZCER Assist that only takes 20 minutes to complete.
- Through NZCER Assist, schools can access comprehensive reporting on student progress at student, class, school and Kahui Ako level.
- Has a qualitatively described measurement scale to assess progress, with scale scores supplemented by stanines. Student results can be compared with those of a national reference group at specific year levels.
- Tests can be administered at any time during the school year.
Ordering paper tests
Tests can only be purchased by schools or parents/caregivers of homeschooled children with a current exemption certificate.
If you can't shop for tests online you can contact us at sales@nzcer.org.nz
For more support, contact our team at assessmentservices@nzcer.org.nz or check out our solutions and knowledge centre.