Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much does CSU/UC MDTP test and scoring services cost?

A: MDTP provides testing booklets, answer sheets, and scoring services to teachers at California precollegiate schools  at no charge. The California Academic Partnership Program (CAPP) funds the precollegiate portion of our program.  If your school is not in California then view the pages under the "Schools not in California for licensing information.

MDTP makes every effort to keep its costs minimal so that we may fill all of the requests we receive. In order to accomplish this goal, we ask that teachers only order the quantity of answer sheets and class information sheets they actually need. Of course, we are happy to allow a few extra sheets for each class. Teachers should reuse test booklets when possible. It is important to store test booklets in a secure location.

Online versions of some MDTP tests are available through Daskala and include immediate scoring and extensive online reporting with the ability to reorganize data and drill down to more information than what is available in printed reports. Daskala charges a fee of $1/student per test for the online administration and reporting.

Q: When and how often may I test my students? May I test my class even though the rest of the school is not testing?

A: Teachers may test whenever you choose. You are not obligated to wait for school-wide testing, if such testing occurs at your school. As the classroom teacher you decide when to use the test, MDTP send printed test results reports printed reports to the teacher.

We encourage you to test your class as often during the year as you feel necessary to determine the best instructional path for your students. Some teachers use the tests at the beginning of a course to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the class and to determine where additional review is needed. Other teachers use the tests as pre- and post-tests. When used this way, both pre- and post-test printouts can be used in individual student conferences to show the student how much growth has occurred. Some teachers give the tests about two-thirds of the way through the year so that time is still available to review and correct any misinformation.

Q: How can I find out how my class compares to the rest of the district (county, state)?

A: MDTP does not provide school, district, county, or statewide data for such comparisons.

Q: Why not?

A: MDTP tests are criterion-based tests constructed to measure student skills and knowledge of particularly selected concepts and skills. Normed tests are constructed to compare achievement levels of groups of students, but have little useful information about individual readiness of particular concepts. Tests that attempt to do both generally must compromise each area.

Q: Who can place orders for materials?

A: Any teacher at a California precollegaite school or an outreach program serving precollegiate students can place an order with any MDTP regional site office . We suggest you use the site in your geographical area to lessen the time and costs needed for shipping materials between you and MDTP. The California K-12 School section of our web pages includes information about our services, materials, contacts, and a list of the service areas for each site.

Q: Who does MDTP send the test results to?

A: MDTP requests that the students' current teacher fill out the class information sheet for each class period the test is administered to. This ensures that the test reports are returned to the students current teacher. If a teacher wants aggregated reports for their classes, then that can be requested. If reports are needed by school administration or another school, such as a middle school student moving on to a high school, then aggregated results for students in the feeder school can be requested from the regional site for that purpose. See the MDTP Dissemination Policy.

Q: Is it all right to use these tests for student placement?

A: Although MDTP tests are designed to provide diagnostic information to teachers and students, many teachers find them useful in developing good placement recommendations. When used for this purpose, it is essential to give full consideration to other measures of student achievement, such as course grade and teacher recommendation. The tests should never be used to exclude students from a college preparatory mathematics program or as the sole criterion for placement decisons.

Q: What is the cut-off score for each test?

A: There is not a cut-off score for MDTP tests. Since their purpose is diagnostic in nature, any discussion of cut-off scores is meaningless. An examination of most exams, however, will reveal that the reported critical level of each topic is approximately 70% of the number of items in the topic. It is important to look at each topic sub-score and not the total test score. Students with similar total scores can have different levels of preparedness. A review of the MDTP sample test results demonstrates this.

Q: Since we have a Scantron scoring machine at our school, once we have the test booklets and the correct key for a particular test, why should we send answer sheets to an MDTP site for scoring?

A: Teachers, schools, and districts are not authorized to score MDTP tests. MDTP tests are copyrighted and the universities do not grant schools the right to score MDTP tests. MDTP is funded to provide teachers diagnostic testing information to help them prepare their students for success in mathematics courses.

Since the total number correct on any of the tests conveys only minimal information about student performance, not letting MDTP score the test prevents you and your students from receiving the diagnostic information available -- namely, where your class and individual students need more work.

Don't forget MDTP does NOT charge for its scoring service -- there is no cost to you or your school. MDTP scoring sites operate all year long, not just during the school year. MDTP's goal is to score answer sheets and return the test results to you within two working days. This does not include the shipping time to and from our sites, also during peak scoring seasons we may need additional time. 

IPlease make sure the class information sheet is completely filled out according to the instructions sent with it so we may process your answer sheets promptly.

The university has licensed with 2 vendors, Datawise and Edusoft and granted them the right to score MDTP tests for schools that are their clients. Each of these systems has MDTP answer sheets (Keys and Topics) preloaded. Schools and teachers are not permitted to enter their own keys. Each system send MDTP text files so that the project can print test result reports that are sent to the teachers.

The university has licensed with Daskala and granted them the right to provide online testing and reporting for some MDTP tests to any accredited precollegiate school in California. Daskala charges a fee of $1/student per test adminsitered for the testing and reporting service. MDTP works with schools to facilitate the use of its tests, see the Daskala MDTP page for more information.

Q: How long does each test take?

A: The suggested times are on the front of the tests, they range from 45 minutes to 90 minutes. Remember these are only suggested times. We consider them to be minimum time limits for the tests. Teachers should make sure all students take the test under the same constraints. We strongly recommend that students take any test in one sitting. Additional time should be considered for students that need special accomodations.

Q: Which test form should I use?

A: MDTP tests are available at six basic levels, Readiness for Prealgebra or the course immediately preceding a first year course in algebra (PR), Readiness for Algebra (AR series), Readiness for Second Year Algebra (EA SR series), Readiness for Geometry, (GR series), Readiness for Mathematical Analysis (MR series), Readiness for Calculus (PC or CR series). There are also test forms that test Readiness for Integrated Second Year (IS), Integrated Third Year (IT), and Beginning Calculus (BC). The AR, EA, GR, and SR test forms are available in Spanish or English versions. The Spanish and English versions of a test form e.g., AR45A00 and AR45A00S, can be combined within one class set. The List of Available Tests on the Materials and Services page of our web site lists the tests available at each level. 

Each class set can only contain Spanish and English versions of one test form.  Class sets may not contain multiple test forms, e.g.,  GR45A93 and GR45A06.  Each test form has a unique answer key.  The entire class set will be scored with the key for the test form that corresponds to the test type bubbled in on the Class Information Sheet.

Q: Can my students use a calculator when taking a test?

A: Calculators may not be used at the Prealgebra level.  At the Algebra Readiness level, MDTP tests are available in two versions, one that prohibits the use of a calculator and one that requires the use of a calculator.

Above the Algebra Readiness level test forms are available in two versions. One that allows the use of a calculator but does not require it and one that requires the use of a calculator. Note: The diagnostic value of the results may be reduced if students use calculators on versions that allow calculators but do not require them. Teachers may allow students to use calculators, but graphing calculators and calculators with ``Solve'' keys should not be used on those test form.

The Beginning Calculus test form is the only one that requires and permits the use of a graphing calculator.