National Achievement Test

The National Achievement Test is an annual examination given to both Grade Six and Second Year students in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. The students' knowledge and mastery over the subjects Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

, Science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

, Filipino

Filipino language

This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...

, and Araling Panlipunan

Social studies

Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the American National Council for the Social Studies...

is measured using a multiple choice type test. The examination is administered by the Department of Education's National Education Testing and Research Center (NETRC.

History

The NAT used to be called the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) for the grade school level and the National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT) for the high school level. Both were successors of the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), an examination administered to gauge the competency of students entering college. The NCEE was abolished in 1994 through Executive Order no. 632 by then education secretary Raul Roco and was replaced by the NEAT and NSAT.
When the Department of Education Culture and Sports (DECS) was officially converted into the Department of Education (DepEd), NEAT and NSAT were also abolished and replaced by the National Achievement Test. Both the public and private elementary schools take this exam.