Administering the Test
Before you give any IPT test for the first time, you should read the Examiner’s Manual. This manual gives detailed instructions about administering and scoring the test. Each time you administer the IPT Oral Test, you will need a test booklet (one per student), the Test Pictures, and a pencil.

Let’s take a look at the IPT I–Oral English Test, Form G Test Booklet.

Click here to see a sample of the IPT I–Oral Spanish Test Booklet.

Your first goal is to make the student feel comfortable in the testing situation. (Avoid testing a student who is clearly in distress.) Before the testing begins, the examiner and student may converse in any language as a natural part of transitioning the student to the test situation. However, when the examiner and student are seated and ready to begin testing and the examiner reads the introduction from the test booklet, it is important to use the test language only: English in the IPT English tests and Spanish in the IPT Spanish tests. It is also important to follow the examiner script exactly.

Look at the sample items in the test booklet. These questions are designed to make the student feel comfortable and become familiar with the testing format. These sample items must be given in English on the English test and Spanish on the Spanish test. Once you have completed the sample items, go on to the operational test questions.

All the instructions you need are printed in the IPT test booklet. Everything you should say is noted under “Examiner says/Preguntas” on the left side of the page. Ask the student the test item exactly as it is printed in the test booklet. Acceptable responses are noted under the “Student responds/Respuestas correctas” column on the right.

All student responses are scored as either “Correct/Correcto” or “Incorrect/Incorrecto” as you test. The correct answers are listed in the “Student Responds/Respuestas correctas” column. If the response is correct, check the “Correct/Correcto” box and move on to the next question. If the student does not give the correct response even after the prompt has been repeated or a supplementary prompt has been used, the check the “Incorrect/Incorrecto” box and move on to the next question. Take care to stay on the correct line when scoring the student responses.

Each test item is testing a specific oral language skill. In some test items, the student’s ability to say a complete sentence or ask a question is being tested. In these cases, the whole sentence is shown as an answer in the “Student responds/Respuestas correctas” column. The student must answer with a complete sentence for credit. In other items, the student may complete his or her answer with any logical response that does not require a complete sentence. In these cases, the student only needs to say the portion of the answer indicated in the “Student responds/Respuestas correctas” column.