Special Tertiary Admissions Test
Test Development
The test items included in STAT are developed by teams of test writers at ACER. The items are rigorously scrutinised by panels of test writers to make sure that they are worthwhile and valid tests of candidates' skills and that they are clear and unambiguous. When the team of test writers is satisfied that the items are appropriate and precisely focused, the items are trialed with an comparable group of candidates to ensure that they function as expected.
All forms of the STAT are developed annually and are statistically linked by shared items, to each other and to tests from previous years. Equating enables the direct comparison of candidates' scores for any one year and across years.
For example, a score of 160 in the verbal component of a STAT test paper in 2004 represents the same level of performance as a score of 160 in the verbal component of the 2002 test paper.
STAT scores are reported as a mark between 100 and 200, with separate scores given for the verbal and quantitative components of the test, as well as the overall STAT score. Reports are sent directly to participating institutions. ACER cannot release scores to individual candidates.