A teacher refers a third grader for a gifted program funded under the Education Law. The district informs the parents, and they do not approve the diagnostic tests. What follows?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4452. Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Gifted Education and Professional Practice, performance indicator c
The federal definition of gifted and talented students names an area that New York's definition of gifted pupils does not list. Which is it?United States Code, 20 U.S.C. 7801(27), text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Gifted Education and Professional Practice, performance indicator d
In Sternberg's triarchic theory, which kind of giftedness goes with the componential part, the one that focuses on academic proficiency and is tested most often?Wikipedia, "Triarchic theory of intelligence". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Gifted Education and Professional Practice, performance indicator b
Show all 42 questions (39 more)
Foundations and professional practice, continued
New York's Education Law defines gifted pupils as those who show evidence of high performance capability and exceptional potential in areas such as general intellectual ability, special academic aptitude and which third area?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4452. Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Gifted Education and Professional Practice, performance indicator c
The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, founded by Julian Stanley at Johns Hopkins University in 1971, identified its participants by what?Wikipedia, "Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Gifted Education and Professional Practice, performance indicator b
Subject to the availability of funds, the Education Law authorizes the State Education Department to help districts meet the needs of gifted pupils. Which help does it name for teachers and administrators?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4451. Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Gifted Education and Professional Practice, performance indicator e
Which psychologist at Teachers College, Columbia University, worked with gifted children in New York City and wrote "Children Above 180 IQ", published in 1942?Wikipedia, "Leta Stetter Hollingworth". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Gifted Education and Professional Practice, performance indicator a
Development and characteristics 7
A first grader meets a kind of logic puzzle she has never seen and works out its rule on the spot. In Cattell's terms, which ability is she using?Wikipedia, "Fluid and crystallized intelligence". Framework section: Competency 0002, Development and Characteristics of Students, performance indicator a
A girl who was the top student at her neighborhood school enters a selective program, where everyone is as able as she is, and her academic self-concept drops. Which effect, described by Marsh and Parker, is this?Wikipedia, "Big-fish–little-pond effect". Framework section: Competency 0002, Development and Characteristics of Students, performance indicator b
An underachieving gifted student says that her grades depend on luck and on which teacher she gets, never on what she does. In Rotter's terms, what does she show?Wikipedia, "Locus of control". Framework section: Competency 0002, Development and Characteristics of Students, performance indicator g
Hollingworth observed that children with IQs above 180 often had adjustment problems. One source she saw for them was a lack of what?Wikipedia, "Leta Stetter Hollingworth". Framework section: Competency 0002, Development and Characteristics of Students, performance indicator b
Technically, what is a child prodigy?Wikipedia, "Child prodigy". Framework section: Competency 0002, Development and Characteristics of Students, performance indicator a
Terman set out to disprove the belief of his day that gifted children were sickly and socially inept. What did his study find about the children?Wikipedia, "Genetic Studies of Genius". Framework section: Competency 0002, Development and Characteristics of Students, performance indicator d
Which personality variable reflects the extent to which a person is inclined towards effortful cognitive activities?Wikipedia, "Need for cognition". Framework section: Competency 0002, Development and Characteristics of Students, performance indicator c
Assessment and education plans 7
A district wants a measure of abstract reasoning for students who are new to English. Which test is non-verbal and asks the student to identify the missing element that completes a pattern?Wikipedia, "Raven's Progressive Matrices". Framework section: Competency 0003, Assessment, Evaluation, and Differentiated Education Plans, performance indicator c
After diagnostic screening under Part 117, qualified district staff prepare a written report on each student screened. What must the report include?Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, 8 NYCRR 117.3, text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Framework section: Competency 0003, Assessment, Evaluation, and Differentiated Education Plans, performance indicator e
Diagnostic screening identifies a new entrant as possibly gifted. Under Part 117, to whom must the student be reported, and how soon?Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, 8 NYCRR 117.3, text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Framework section: Competency 0003, Assessment, Evaluation, and Differentiated Education Plans, performance indicator b
New York's Part 117 requires diagnostic screening of every new entrant to find students who are possibly gifted, among others. If it cannot be done before the school year, by what date must a new entrant be screened?Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, 8 NYCRR 117.3, text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Framework section: Competency 0003, Assessment, Evaluation, and Differentiated Education Plans, performance indicator b
On a deviation IQ scale, a score of 115 is one standard deviation above the mean. How many standard deviations above the mean is a score of 130?Wikipedia, "IQ classification". Framework section: Competency 0003, Assessment, Evaluation, and Differentiated Education Plans, performance indicator e
The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking were originally scored on four scales. What does the fluency scale count?Wikipedia, "Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking". Framework section: Competency 0003, Assessment, Evaluation, and Differentiated Education Plans, performance indicator a
Under the Education Law, how does the identification of a pupil for a gifted program funded under it commence?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4452. Framework section: Competency 0003, Assessment, Evaluation, and Differentiated Education Plans, performance indicator b
Learning environments and communication 7
A gifted student who arrived speaking Mandarin has kept up her first language and reached a high level in English. Which New York recognition is for high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in English and one or more world languages?New York State Education Department, "NYS Seal of Biliteracy". Framework section: Competency 0004, Learning Environments, Social Interactions, and Communication, performance indicator h
A middle school sorts its students into separate year-long classes by ability. A fifth grade teacher forms small reading groups that change every few weeks. In which two ways does the first practice, tracking, differ from the second?Wikipedia, "Tracking (education)". Framework section: Competency 0004, Learning Environments, Social Interactions, and Communication, performance indicator b
A student gives quick, correct answers to questions that need no novel ideas, as on a standardized multiple-choice test, but stalls when asked for many possible ideas. Which term, coined by Guilford, names the first kind of thinking?Wikipedia, "Convergent thinking". Framework section: Competency 0004, Learning Environments, Social Interactions, and Communication, performance indicator d
A teacher communicates high expectations to every student in a cluster class. Which psychological phenomenon holds that high expectations lead to improved performance?Wikipedia, "Pygmalion effect". Framework section: Competency 0004, Learning Environments, Social Interactions, and Communication, performance indicator a
A teacher of the gifted wants independent projects to run on intrinsic motivation and not on prizes. Which three needs do Deci and Ryan say drive self-initiated behavior?Wikipedia, "Self-determination theory". Framework section: Competency 0004, Learning Environments, Social Interactions, and Communication, performance indicator c
Bloom's taxonomy has an affective domain as well as a cognitive one. Which list gives its five levels, from basic awareness to complex values?Wikipedia, "Bloom's taxonomy". Framework section: Competency 0004, Learning Environments, Social Interactions, and Communication, performance indicator c
In cluster grouping, four to six gifted or high-achieving students are assigned to an otherwise heterogeneous classroom of their grade. What marks the teacher who instructs that classroom?Wikipedia, "Cluster grouping". Framework section: Competency 0004, Learning Environments, Social Interactions, and Communication, performance indicator b
Planning and instruction 7
Before a unit on ratios, a teacher gives a short task to find what each student already knows. What is the purpose of such a pre-assessment?Wikipedia, "Differentiated instruction". Framework section: Competency 0005, Planning and Instruction, performance indicator f
Carol Ann Tomlinson describes differentiated instruction as ensuring a match with the student's readiness level, interests and preferred mode of learning. A match of what?Wikipedia, "Differentiated instruction". Framework section: Competency 0005, Planning and Instruction, performance indicator d
In Understanding by Design, planners look first at the desired outcomes at the end of the study and only then design units, assessments and instruction. What is this practice called?Wikipedia, "Understanding by Design". Framework section: Competency 0005, Planning and Instruction, performance indicator e
Midway through an independent study, a teacher reads her students' research logs and changes the coming mini-lessons in response. Which kind of assessment is she carrying out?Wikipedia, "Formative assessment". Framework section: Competency 0005, Planning and Instruction, performance indicator k
Under New York's section 100.4, public school students in grade 8 must have the opportunity to take high school courses in which subject, along with at least one other area?Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, 8 NYCRR 100.4, text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Framework section: Competency 0005, Planning and Instruction, performance indicator f
Under section 100.5, a New York student may earn up to 6 1/2 units of diploma credit without completing the units of study. Besides an oral examination or special project, what score on the State assessment does that take?Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, 8 NYCRR 100.5, text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Framework section: Competency 0005, Planning and Instruction, performance indicator f
Which skills of Bloom's taxonomy does the idea of higher-order thinking treat as needing more cognitive processing than the learning of facts?Wikipedia, "Higher-order thinking". Framework section: Competency 0005, Planning and Instruction, performance indicator i
Gifted services and collaboration 7
A pupil has been designated as gifted and placed in a program funded under the Education Law. What must the local school authorities do for the parent or guardian?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4452. Framework section: Competency 0006, Gifted Services and Collaboration, performance indicator a
A small district has too few identified pupils to run its own gifted program. With whom does the Education Law let its board contract to provide the program, with the approval of the commissioner?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4452. Framework section: Competency 0006, Gifted Services and Collaboration, performance indicator f
Before State funds for the education of gifted pupils are paid, what must a school district submit to the commissioner?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4452. Framework section: Competency 0006, Gifted Services and Collaboration, performance indicator d
The Education Law lets the commissioner establish an advisory council on the education of gifted pupils, with at least ten members. Whom must the council include?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4453. Framework section: Competency 0006, Gifted Services and Collaboration, performance indicator h
Under the Education Law, the services to gifted pupils that a district pays for with its State apportionment include identification, instructional programs, planning, inservice education and what else?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4452. Framework section: Competency 0006, Gifted Services and Collaboration, performance indicator g
What must a New York school district certify to the State Education Department in order to receive gifted and talented program aid?Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, 8 NYCRR 142.3, text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Framework section: Competency 0006, Gifted Services and Collaboration, performance indicator g
Which resource for families does the Education Law authorize the State Education Department to develop, maintain and distribute?New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws, Education Law section 4451. Framework section: Competency 0006, Gifted Services and Collaboration, performance indicator b
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the six selected-response competencies of the NYSTCE Field 064: Gifted Education Test Design and Framework, May 2018, authorized for distribution by the New York State Education Department (https://www.nystce.nesinc.com/content/docs/NY_fld64_objs.pdf, read 2026-10-14): 0001 to 0006, each 15 of the 90 selected-response items. The bank holds 7 for each, 42 in all. Every fact was read on 2026-10-14 in the public page the question names: Article 90 of the New York Education Law (sections 4451 to 4453) on the State Senate site, the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education (8 NYCRR 100.4, 100.5, 117.3 and 142.3) and 20 U.S.C. 7801 as published by the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School, the New York State Education Department page on the Seal of Biliteracy, and Wikipedia articles that carried no warning banner that day. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
Here is an NYSTCE Gifted Education practice test of 42 original questions, spread over the six competencies that CST (064) tests with selected-response items. This unofficial page has no tie to the New York State Education Department or to Pearson.
Read the full guide
What the real test asks
Six competencies share the 90 selected-response items equally, 15 apiece, in the framework dated May 2018. One written analysis of a gifted student's profile completes the test.
What this page covers
Sixteen of the 42 questions quote New York's own law: Article 90 of the Education Law, which defines gifted pupils, and the Commissioner's Regulations on screening new entrants, grade 8 acceleration and credit by examination. On the clock, 63 minutes for these 42 matches the minute and a half per item that the framework allows.
Article 90 of the Education Law is three short sections, 4451 to 4453. Ten questions here come from them.
Questions and answers
Which topics does the NYSTCE Gifted Education exam test?
Foundations of gifted education and professional practice; the development and characteristics of gifted and talented students; assessment, evaluation and differentiated education plans; learning environments, social interactions and communication; planning and instruction; gifted services and collaboration. The written response draws on all of them.
How is the Gifted Education CST scored?
The selected-response items make 80% of the total score and the written response 20%, the framework says, and the test's page gives 520 as the scaled score that passes. This page counts right answers and gives no pass or fail.
How much time do you get for the NYSTCE Gifted Education test?
Three and a quarter hours of testing inside a three-and-a-half-hour appointment. The framework expects the selected-response items to take up to 135 minutes and the written response up to 60, and you set your own pace.
Where do these Gifted Education practice questions come from?
From public sources: New York's statutes and regulations and reference articles, each named under its question. The questions are this site's own, set against the framework, and nothing was taken from the real test or its study guide.