In addition to the SATs, SAT IIs, LSATs and GREs, the company that developed the Scholastic Aptitude Test thinks a computer literacy test would be a valuable asset to educators and employers.
The Educational Testing Service announced this week that it will begin offering a sample version of the new exam to colleges and offices that want to test the technical skills of students or employees.
The test questions range from asking students to retrieve and catalog information from e-mails to designing a specific search of a database using search terms known as Boolean commands.
The Information and Communication Technology Literacy Assessment is a simulation-based test that will evaluate students on their knowledge of skills programs like Microsoft Access and Microsoft PowerPoint.
The most useful aspect of the test, according to ETS spokesman John Fitzpatrick, is the critical thinking component.
"This gets at the cognitive proficiency" of students, he said, and the ability of test takers to "use technology as a tool to arrive at solutions."
"It's not a test that every student will need to take, per se," he acknowledged, but noted that there has been "an overwhelming interest" in the exam among community college administrators.
He added that institutions might use the test to evaluate third-year students' research skills before they finish a major, or a company might want to test the computer skills of potential employees.
The ICT test would not use any multiple choice questions and would consist of 16 online tasks over two hours.
But the test is not without its critics.
"It seems to me that an awful lot of people in high school are already very computer literate," English Associate Chairman Stuart Curran said, adding that the University already has plenty of resources for students who arrive without necessary computer skills.
"I'm amazed at how resourceful a typical undergraduate can be," he said, describing current technologies as "a culture students share with each other."
"I don't see a point of it," he said. "Technical facilities shouldn't keep people from getting ahead."
The test will become available to institutions nationwide starting next semester, and the regular cost will be about $25.
Fitzpatrick said that many colleges have already expressed an interest in giving the test to students, especially the community colleges that helped develop the ICT across the California Community Colleges.
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