Response to Literature:  A one hour and 10 minute test in which students read a short story and respond in writing to various questions concerning the story.  The student is evaluated in terms of his or her understanding of the story in terms of symbolic meaning and asked to go “beyond the text” to predict or make inferences.

Reading for Information:  In this 45 minute test, the student reads relatively short non-fiction passages in subject areas such as science or history and responds in writing to questions concerning the passages.  The primary difference between Response to Literature, the student is writing in an open-ended fashion while in Reading for Information the student responds in writing in short answer essay form.

Mathematics:  Mathematics is a two session test, each session lasting one hour and fiveminutes, administered over a two day period. . Unlike most teacher-made tests or norm referenced tests the student is not involved in such things as solving equations but rather using mathematical knowledge in new and different ways.  For example, in one recent question entitled “Hit and Run”, the students accompany Detective Watson and use their math skills to determine such things as the speed of the errant vehicle, compute the number of possible combinations of an incomplete marker number, and engage in a mathematical forensic examination to determine whether shards of glass found in the back seat and floor area are vehicle window glass or glass from a bottle (as the suspect claims).  When mathematical formulas are needed to complete operations, they are supplied to the student. 

Science:  The science section of the CAPT requires student preparation in a highly specific manner.  Well before the CAPT begins, the State’s CAPT vendor, The Psychological Corporation, sends the school materials to be used in a science experiment that must be conducted before the students sit for the CAPT science test.  Therefore, it is imperative that each student who will take (or re-take) the science examination participates in the experiment. The topics covered in the science test are general scientific concepts such as heat transfer, specific gravity, etc.

Interdisciplinary Writing:  This is a two-session test of 55 minutes duration for each session.  It is administered over a two day period.  Basically, students are asked to read material dealing with controversial subjects such as acid rain, global warming, genetics (cloning), etc.  The material is selected from newspaper editorials, and various magazines.  The important factor is that the material has been selected to represent varying opinions regarding the subject.  Based on the readings, the student is asked to “take a stand” and reference their argument or defense to specific material supplied – not to any other source that may have previously been read either in a class or outside of class. 

Editing and Revising:  This 25 minute test combines some of the elements found in the ERB Writing Mechanics and Writing Process test.  Because of its brevity, it is usually convenient to pair it with another test.  (CAPT legislation limits the number of minutes in each school day that a student can be engaged in CAPT testing; therefore, other tests cannot be combined.

Supplementary:  Each Connecticut high school is assigned a supplementary test in one of the areas described above.  Supplementary tests are “beta” versions or experimental versions containing questions or formats the test designers may use the following year or later in the testing program. 

For more information on the CAPT exam, please visit the Connecticut State Department of Education link at the top right corner of this page.