Q What does EAA stand for?

A EAA stands for Educational Assessment Australia.

Q Is EAA a commercial organisation?

A No, EAA is a not-for-profit organisation wholly owned and operated by the University of New South Wales (UNSW). EAA provides schools and parents with comprehensive and independent assessments of student achievement.

Q What is ICAS?

A ICAS refers to the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (formerly the Australasian Schools Competitions & the International Competitions for Schools). ICAS provides accurate and easy-to-interpret assessment information.

For parents:

• a report detailing their child’s results and comparing the performance with other students in the same state, region or country who did the test.

For schools:

• reports detailing each student’s performance and comparing it with the school’s cohort and also with the performance of other students within the same state, region or country who did the test.

ICAS are the only assessments covering six core learning areas; Mathematics, Science, English, Writing, Spelling and Computer Skills. Each test item is constructed by subject experts and reviewed by practising teachers, to ensure it is engaging and relevant. Our Assessment Frameworks make clear links between the ICAS tests and the Australian state and territory syllabus documents. This gives teachers and parents’ confidence that ICAS is a meaningful learning experience for all students.

Q What subjects and year levels are tested?

A The following subjects and year levels are offered in Australia and New Zealand. Please see PDFs linked below for specific information on the ICAS offered in other countries.

Q What are labels A, B, C, D etc on the ICAS test booklets?

A ICAS are used in a growing number of countries in the Asia Pacific region as well South Africa. As different countries have different year-level names to those in Australia it is simpler to code the ICAS booklets as A, B, C, D etc and provide a key to identify the relevant year-level for each country.

Q Why does EAA address mail outs and reports to the Principal, the secretary or the (ICAS Subject) Coordinator, when name details are collected on the entry form?

A A generic contact helps avoid materials going astray if previous contacts are no longer at the school. This also helps avoid unnecessary reprints if a name is spelt incorrectly or staff changes. However, having a current and specific coordinator’s name at school on our database enables EAA to contact the relevant person quickly and easily should the need arise to do so.

Q Where can I see the ICAS terms and conditions?

A Terms and Conditions for ICAS and ICAS-GAT can be downloaded from the Terms page of this website or Download the 2008 ICAS terms and conditions (49 kB PDF) directly.

Q How much does each ICAS test paper cost?

A To assist parents and schools, EAA is committed to maintaining the lowest possible entry fee. For the current entry fees and other subject information, please refer to the ICAS test details PDF for your country at www.eaa.unsw.edu.au/etc/icas OR download your country's ICAS test details PDF from the list below:

Q My school has never participated in ICAS before. Can we enter?

A Yes. Register with EAA to participate in ICAS. Download a registration form from the list below:

• Registration Form – Australian schools
• Registration Form – New Zealand schools
• Registration Form – International schools

Q How do we enter?

A Entries can be accepted only from schools on an official EAA entry form (sent to schools in the ICAS Entry Information pack in early February), or Login at www.eaa.unsw.edu.au/entries to enter securely with your EAA school code and password. Schools are encouraged to consider entering full cohorts in ICAS.

Schools that enter full cohorts in English, Mathematics, Science or Writing are eligible to receive additional reports that track their students’ progress over time. Email info@eaa.unsw.edu.au to request these additional reports. Schools that enter full cohorts in two or more subjects will also receive invitations to conferences and professional development activities free of charge. Email pd@eaa.unsw.edu.au to receive more information about what’s planned for 2008.

For more information please refer to the 2008 ICAS terms and conditions.

Q What Year Level should a student enter?

A Students must sit only the paper for the Year Level in which they are currently enrolled.

Q We’ve misplaced our school’s ICAS entry forms. How can we enter?

A Australian, New Zealand and Pacific schools - Login at www.eaa.unsw.edu.au/entries to enter securely with your EAA school code and password.
Please contact us if you do not know your school password. Your password will be emailed to your registered school administration email address.

International schools – Please contact your EAA country representative for entry forms.

For more information please refer to the 2008 ICAS terms and conditions.

Q What happens if my class can’t participate in a particular ICAS on the set date?

A In special circumstances, permission may be given to a school to participate in the ICAS on an alternative date. All requests for an alternative ICAS sitting date must be requested in writing by the school principal no later than two weeks before the official sitting date. Schools that sit on an alternative date may not be eligible for medals. Contact EAA Customer Service.

For more information please refer to the 2008 ICAS terms and conditions.

Q We have already sent our schools' entry form(s) in. Can we make additional entries?

A Yes. Providing the ICAS entries closing date has not passed, you can make additional entries. Dispatch of test materials after the closing date will incur a postage and handling fee.

Australian, New Zealand and Pacific schools - Login at www.eaa.unsw.edu.au/entries to enter securely with your EAA school code and password.
Please contact us if you do not know your school password. Your password will be emailed to your registered school administration email address.

International schools – Please contact your EAA country representative for entry forms.

Please see your country’s test details PDF for closing dates for entries:

Q When will we receive our test papers?

A Australian, New Zealand and Pacific schools, please login to your Order History to see an up to date status of your entries and expected delivery dates. ICAS test materials are delivered by courier to your school’s reception and must be signed for.

International schools – Please contact your EAA country representative.

Q Can I enter my child into ICAS independently of his/her school?

A No. Entry into ICAS is school-based only. EAA or the EAA’s country representative is unable to accept parent requests to enrol their child into an ICAS subject unless the child is being home schooled in a registered home school.

Q My child’s school has closed entries for an ICAS. Can I enter independently of the school

A No. Entry into ICAS is school-based only. EAA or the EAA’s country representative is unable to accept parent requests to enrol their child into an ICAS subject.

Q Can my child sit an ICAS in the year level above (or below) his/her school year?

A No. Students must sit the ICAS paper for the year level in which they are currently enrolled for that subject. Students must only attempt one year level paper.

Q Can I make a combined payment for all ICAS entries from my school?

A Yes.

Q Can I pay by credit card or Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)?

A Yes. Australian, New Zealand and Pacific schools, login with your EAA school code and password to Enter ICAS Online . Online entries have payment options for credit cards or cheque as well as EFT details provided on check-out.

Q I would like to pay by cheque. Who should I make the cheque payable to?

A Australian, New Zealand and Pacific schools should make cheques payable to:

Educational Assessment Australia
Postal address:
PO BOX 8020
Alexandria NSW 2015
Australia

International schools – Please contact your EAA country representative for payment details.

Q Who writes ICAS papers?

A Questions used in ICAS papers are written by experienced classroom teachers and subject matter experts. These assessment item writers utilise a wide range of materials and resources to ensure the questions are current, relevant and engaging for the student.

Q What is the review process for choosing questions?

A All items are peer reviewed by an external panel. This panel consists of practising classroom teachers and subject matter experts (including university academics). This panel considers the validity, reliability and currency of each assessment item. Once ratified by the external panel, the questions are placed in tests. All tests maintain a balance of items taking into account the difficulty of the questions and the strands, topics and skills tested.

Q How can a student or school prepare for the test?

A See the Prepare section of this website for information about the ICAS subjects and sample questions are available to give an indication of the skills and knowledge being assessed.

Past papers can also be purchased online or an order form can be downloaded to place an order via fax or mail.

Q How do I know that ICAS is relevant for my child?

A Each ICAS subject has been carefully researched by EAA staff so that the test content is relevant to what is taught. For Australian schools, all ICAS assessment items are mapped to the curriculum of each state and territory. EAA staff review curriculum documents on a regular basis to ensure that subject content in ICAS is relevant to your child’s schooling. Our 'assessment framework' guides show details of how this works for each ICAS subject.

Q What information will I get about my child’s achievements?

A Parents and students will receive a report from EAA, distributed by the school. This report provides accessible diagnostic information about the student’s performance and highlights any strengths or weaknesses.

Q What information will I get about the students in my class?

Schools will receive a report providing accessible diagnostic information about individual and year level strengths and weaknesses. Schools also receive detailed analyses of individual and year level responses in order of item difficulty.

Q Why does EAA re-use some questions from previous year’s papers and why do the same questions appear in various papers?

A At the School and State level we draw comparisons between each year level to see how different cohorts progress over time. In order to do this we need to know how much more difficult one test paper is over another. By comparing the information obtained from a few questions that appear in two different papers we can get a good indication of the relative difficulty of each paper. This process is called 'equating' and is applied to test papers across year levels (called Vertical Equating) and also across calendar years (Horizontal Equating).

Q Where will results be sent?

A All reports and certificates are sent to the school in the first instance. Results are available online; however, parents and students will need their TAP ID to login. The TAP ID is printed on the student reports. The TAP ID is valid for all ICAS subject results.

Q When will we receive the results?

Results will be sent out to schools between 6-8 weeks from the sitting date of each subject. Writing and Spelling are hand-marked and will be delivered to schools within 8-10 weeks of the sitting dates.

A Australian, New Zealand and Pacific schools, please login to your Order History to see an up to date status of your entries and expected delivery dates.

International schools should contact their EAA country representative.

Q Are the results available online?

A Yes. EAA has created a secure, interactive site that allows you to view and analyse your school and student data.

Schools - Login with your EAA school code and password to access your results online. Please note the results are available only to participating schools, their principals and the ICAS subject co-ordinators.

Parents and Students – Login with your TAP ID which is printed on the student reports. Your TAP ID is valid for all ICAS subject results, except for ICAS-Writing results which are not available online.

Q Can I get my child’s results over the phone?

A No. Due to privacy laws, results or student details are not disclosed over the phone.

Q Can I get my child’s results directly from EAA?

A No. Results are dispatched directly to the school. Please see your school for individual student results.

Q Can I get copies of test booklets for this year’s ICAS tests?

A Past papers for ICAS English, Mathematics, Science, Writing and Computer Skills are available for purchase online or by order from October onwards.

Q What is the grade distribution for High Distinction, Distinction and Credit certificates?

Please download the ICAS Awards PDF (83 kB) for information about awards and percentiles.