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California Critical Thinking Skills Test

CCTST Family of Tests measures critical thinking skills

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The California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) is an educational assessment that measures all the core reasoning skills needed for reflective decision-making. The CCTST provides valid and reliable data on critical thinking skills of individuals and of groups.  It is designed for use with undergraduate and graduate students. It is available in many languages and its OVERALL skills score can be benchmarked using one of many percentile comparisons. Clients most commonly use the CCTST for admissions, advising and retention, studies of curriculum effectiveness, accreditation, and the documentation of student learning outcomes.

For assessment specs, administration, metrics reported, and more, scroll down. Contact us by using the “Request A Quote” button to ask a question. Or phone us at 650-697-5628 to speak with an assessment services client support specialist.

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Higher Education

CCTST is calibrated for undergraduate and graduate level college students across the full spectrum of disciplines and fields of study.

Administration

Administered online with a secure, user-friendly, multi-lingual, WCAG Level AA Compliant interface. 

Support Materials

User Manual includes all needed information about administering the assessment and interpreting the resulting individual and group scores.

Assessment Specs

55 minutes timed administration; 40 engaging, scenario-based questions

Deliverables

Group graphics with statistical summary of scores; Excel spreadsheet of responses to all custom demographic questions, and all scores for each person tested. Optional individual score reports for administrators and/or test takers.

Results Reported

Metrics include scores for 8 critical skills, plus an OVERALL rating. Population percentile scores are available for benchmarking.

Scoring

All of the CCTST metrics are on a 100-point scale with a corresponding qualitative rating (Superior, Strong, Moderate, Weak, Not Manifested).

Languages

Available in English, Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian-Bahasa, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese languages.

METRICS

CCTST provides 8  cognitive skill scores to focus future development and training. Items are drawn from a scientifically developed and tested item pool.

  • OVERALL Critical Thinking Skills– Sustained use of critical thinking to form reasoned judgments

  • Analysis – Accurate identification of the problem and decision-critical elements

  • Interpretation – Discovering and determining significance and contextual meaning

  • Inference – Drawing warranted and logical conclusions from reasons and evidence

  • Evaluation – Assessing credibility of claims and the strength of arguments
  • Explanation – Providing the evidence, reasons, assumptions, or rationale for judgments and decisions

  • Induction – Reasoned judgment in ambiguous, risky, and uncertain contexts

  • Deduction – Reasoned judgment in precisely defined, logically rigorous contexts

  • Numeracy – Sustained use of critical thinking skills in quantitative contexts (quantitative reasoning)

Reports

The California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) Report Package includes an individual test-taker report for each person assessed and group summary reports for each group and sub-group in the sample.

Reports are generated immediately after the conclusion of testing and are available for clients to download making real time assessment possible. Read more about how our customer support specialists work with clients to select their reporting options on our Services tab or contact us for a consultation.

Group Analytics

  • Clients can generate and download Excel spreadsheet files of all scores (OVERALL, Percentile ranking and all cognitive score metrics). At the option of the client, these also include the responses to custom demographic questions added by the client to the assessment profile, and percentile scores corresponding to the external comparison group selected by the client.

  • Presentation-ready tables and graphic representations of the score distribution for OVERALL critical thinking skills and for the additional cognitive skill metrics.

  • Customers who have added custom demographic questions can generate sub-group reports for these variables, or for specific testing sessions or time periods.

Optional Individual Test-Taker Reports

  • An overall score of critical thinking skills (OVERALL Score). OVERALL is reported on a 100-point scale accompanied by a qualitative rating (Superior, Strong, Moderate, Weak, Not Manifested), and a comparison percentile score.

  • Scores for each cognitive skill metric. These metrics are scored on a 100-point scale and are accompanied by a categorical interpretation of the strength of the score indicating areas of strength and areas for future development.

  • The Individual Test Taker Report can be pushed to an email address of the client’s choosing (for example, to an admissions office email, institutional assessment email, dean’s office email, etc.).

  • The client controls whether individual reports are made available to the test-taker.

Need to expedite your project?  We can have your first online testing assignment available for your students within 24 hours. Request a Quote or get started by calling 650-697-5628 and speaking with one of our assessment specialists today.