FCAT anxiety: Can students handle even tougher tests?

Now, Florida high-school students must pass the reading and math sections of the 10th-grade FCAT to graduate. Most seniors who have the credits and grade-point average do manage to pass FCAT. And the number of students who miss out on a diploma solely because of FCAT has dropped in recent years. Last year, more than 151,000 seniors earned diplomas, while about 4,700 failed to because of low FCAT scores.

But thousands of students do have to take the exam several times, particularly to pass reading. In the class of 2010, 43 percent of the students failed the reading FCAT the first time they took it.

Students who struggle repeatedly on FCAT can use the state's test-waiver option, substituting acceptable scores on the two national college-admission exams, ACT or SAT, for a passing score on Florida's test. And an increasing number of Florida students have used that waiver in recent years.