Did I choose the correct Kindergarten CAT test?

[Gwenny]

I'm currently giving my Kindergarten son the CAT5 complete battery level 10 test and it seems too hard for his grade.  I've used the CAT test for both of my older children from K-8 grades and always found the test very easy.  There are sections of this test that my youngest is finding very difficult to answer.  At the end of K, he reads CVC words and some 4 letter words well, but the test words are quite a bit more difficult.  He is unable to read words on this test like please, people, white, picture, afraid, would.  It also asks the child to read senteces like, "Mother Bear is waiting for Baby Bear."  Do these seem difficult, or have 6 year olds become much smarter in the 10 years that I last administered this test?

[ScoutTN]

Are you required to test? If not, I would skip any standardized testing until at least age 9 or 10.

They may have shifted the test material? Does the website have info or a helpline? 

[Ellie]

He's not supposed to be able to answer everything correctly.

ITA with Scout about the testing.

[kirstenhill]

I agree with the posters above that testing in K isn't super helpful, unless it is a requirement for you.  Besides the fact that on any standardized test some questions are "above level" of what is typical, I wouldn't be surprised if that test was designed with balanced literacy or even whole word reading (Cat/5 is an older test, and potentially when reading not based at all in phonics was more the trend).  Those words strike me as words that kids would learn in reading books where students are taught to memorize words - they would be typical for K vocabulary.  A student who learns phonics is going to seem at the beginning like they are making "slower" progress because they can't read "mother" or "bear" - but as you probably know, in the long run their reading should far surpass a student taught with whole word/sight word/"balanced" methods.

[Renai]

I think @kirstenhill hit the nail on the head. Those are sight words, and are taught as memorized words, not as phonetically based (although there are rules for those words). I wouldn't worry about him not reading those yet, he'll get to it. And no, kids aren't smarter, they're just taught to memorize a lot. I've tutored so many 3rd to 5th graders who couldn't read because of memorization and not reading.