FCAT Tutoring – Florida Students

Download Printable Summary of the Florida FCAT 2.0

Get Your Child Ready for the FCAT

TutorJam’s FCAT Tutoring Programs start with a free academic assessment with an Academic Director. Our flagship FCAT Tutoring Program is available for $179.99/month which includes regular one-on-one tutoring, academic mentorship, bi-monthly progress reports, learning profiles, and parental conference calls.

Understanding the FCAT

The State of Florida is undergoing a transition in their student assessments. A new assessment, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test 2.0 (FCAT 2.0) is being phased in and replacing the existing Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). The FCAT 2.0 is aligned to the curricular framework provided by the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards; the assessment is referred to as a criterion-referenced test in that it is testing that students are learning the criteria of the curriculum.

These assessments are a requirement of state and federal law. Under the No Child Left Behind Act all schools are required to be teaching 100% of their students to levels of proficiency. This can be seen through the measures of a criterion-referenced test that monitors students’ progress at gaining proficiency with the skills laid out in the curriculum. Individual student performance, including areas of strengths and weakness can be seen through these annual assessments. Areas where educators need to focus instruction on individual or whole grade levels can also be seen. And, school’s progress at helping all students achieve the standards is observable.

Format of the FCAT

For students taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT 2.0) in grades 3-8, the Reading and Mathematics portions will ask questions in multiple-choice and gridded-response (in mathematics) formats. The Mathematics test may require the use of measurement in metrics or customary measurements, and generally rulers are provided.

A change from previous years on the Reading Assessment of the FCAT 2.0 is an increase in the number of reading passages. There are more historical and classical works on the new test version. There is also a greater number of questions calling for students to make inferences and use prior knowledge.

Preparing for the FCAT

The FCAT 2.0 that students take in grades 3-8 are based on the learning standards laid out in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS). The tests are given over two days of testing in 80 minute sessions. Each test has a slightly different number of questions. There are between 50-55 on the Reading and Mathematics Assessments and approximately 60-65 on the Science Assessments.

The End-of-Course exams for Algebra I, Geometry I, Biology I have approximately 65 questions (multiple-choice and fill-in response) to be answered. The U.S. History exam has 30 questions; however the length of the test will increase in coming years.