The PAA or Prueba de Aptitud Académica is an

educational assessment Educational assessment or educational evaluation is the systematic process of documenting and using empirical data on the knowledge, skill, attitudes, aptitude and beliefs to refine programs and improve student learning. Assessment data can be o ...

that is used to help universities across

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

select incoming students. More specifically, it is a standardized test for university admissions. It is offered by College Board Puerto Rico y America Latina (CBPRAL), part of the College Board. The PAA is not a translation of the

Scholastic Aptitude Test The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

used in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and it is developed independently from the SAT, even though the PAA measures the same constructs as the SAT. While the CBPRAL is based in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

, the PAA is delivered in a range of Spanish-speaking countries.PAA website, CBPRAL: https://latam.collegeboard.org/page/paa The third generation of the PAA assesses students on three components: Verbal Reasoning, Mathematical Reasoning, and Indirect Writing. Scores on each section range from 200 to 800. The fourth generation of the PAA, launched in Puerto Rico in December 2017, assesses three components: Reading and Writing, Mathematics, and English as a Second Language. A 200- to 800-point scale is used for each component. This use of scaled scoring for a

test score A test score is a piece of information, usually a number, that conveys the performance of an examinee on a test. One formal definition is that it is "a summary of the evidence contained in an examinee's responses to the items of a test that are r ...

is typical of many assessments, as it facilitates score reporting after

test equating Test equating traditionally refers to the statistical process of determining comparable scores on different forms of an exam.Kolen, M.J., & Brennan, R.L. (1995). Test Equating. New York: Spring. It can be accomplished using either classical test ...

. Research has supported the

reliability Reliability, reliable, or unreliable may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Computing * Data reliability (disambiguation), a property of some disk arrays in computer storage * High availability * Reliability (computer networking), a ...

and

validity Validity or Valid may refer to: Science/mathematics/statistics: * Validity (logic), a property of a logical argument * Scientific: ** Internal validity, the validity of causal inferences within scientific studies, usually based on experiments ** ...

of the PAA.

References

{{Reflist Entrance examinations Standardized tests