Assessments are so important at EdPlace, as they really impact your ability to make progress and maximise your practice. Our assessments are not about succeeding or failing, but rather helping you to understand what you know, where you need to improve, and how to make the most of your time. They're designed to be easy-to-use, fun activities that are automatically marked and cover the full range of topics you will learn at school. As with all EdPlace resources, they’re written by teachers who are used to putting students like you through their paces, so you can be confident that they will test exactly what you need to know to be successful at school.
We currently offer 4 different types of assessment at EdPlace:
- Combined Subject Assessments (specifics here);
- Termly Benchmark Assessments (specifics here);
- Catch-Up Assessments (specifics here);
- End of Year Assessments (specifics here).
If you'd like to explore one of these types of assessments in more detail, please click on the links above to read the summary published upon their release. If you'd like to learn more about the EdPlace assessment technology in general and how it works, you may like to review this article.
Now, let's take a look at each of these assessments in more detail so that you can understand how and when to use them.
Combined Subject Assessments
- What are they?
These assessments do exactly what they say on the tin, they:
- Combine all 3 core subjects, English, maths and science;
- Enable you to identify the subject area where you most support;
- Are 30 questions in length, with 10 questions focused on each subject area;
- Take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
- When should I complete one?
We recommend that you complete this type of assessment at the start of your journey with EdPlace or at a big milestone like a new school year so that you can gain an understanding of the subject you would benefit from focusing your practice and efforts on improving most.
- What do I need to know before I complete one?
This is a big picture assessment designed to help you identify which subject you would benefit from more support in. They’re available to all student users (free or paid) for this very reason. After completing the assessment, to gain a much clearer picture of which topics are proving a bit of a challenge, we’d recommend completing a subject assessment. From here, you can use the thousands of activities on EdPlace to support your learning.
Termly Benchmark Assessments
- What are they?
A big challenge throughout the academic year is knowing how you are performing in relation to what is expected for your year group, other students and what your teacher hopes. We've created three assessments, designed to allow you to ‘check-in’ periodically, and give you the information you need to accurately track your progress through the school year.
- When should I complete one?
These assessments are designed to be completed at the end of each academic term - winter, spring and summer. The topics and questions covered in these assessments reflect the types of questions that students will learn about at school in each of the three terms of their current academic year.
- What do I need to know before I complete one?
These assessments vary in length based on the age of the student - 20 questions in Key Stage 1, 30 in Key Stage 2 and 40 in Key Stage 3. We recommend it takes between 10 (KS1), 15 (KS2) or 20 (KS4) minutes to complete each assessment. We've added a timer to provide guidance, and you'll be informed in the follow-up report if you completed the assessment within or outside the recommended time limit, but it won't play any other role in your assessment.
Catch-Up Assessments
- What are they?
First introduced in response to the March 2020 school closures, these assessments are designed to support you to understand your current academic levels after your learning has been disrupted for an extended period of time. They test the expected understanding of the full range of National Curriculum topics for the previous academic year. These assessments proved so useful that they're being used as part of the National Tutoring Programme, a government-funded initiative to help disadvantaged students catch up (to learn more about this, please click here).
- When should I complete one?
The need for catch-up may occur at any point in your academic journey, so these assessments are there to help with this and can be used to help boost confidence levels along the way. If you miss some school, or if you need a boost before beginning a new year, these assessments can be just the ticket to uncover where you need that little bit of extra support, helping you to feel really confident.
- What do I need to know before I complete one?
Like the Termly Benchmark Assessments, these assessments vary in length, 20 questions at Key Stage 1, 30 at Key Stage 2 and 40 at Key Stage 3. Remember, the questions covered reflect the expected understanding of the previous academic year, so it may be necessary when assigning activities afterward to look at the year below your current one for some revision work.
End of Year Assessments
- What are they?
These assessments are designed to support you to understand your academic level once you have completed the full school year. They test the expected understanding of the full range of National Curriculum topics for the academic year you have just completed.
- When should I complete one?
The clue is in the name here! We really recommend that you use these assessments only once you have completed a full school year. Sitting this in the last half term or the summer holidays will mean you’ve given yourself the chance to cover all of the relevant topics so you can get a really accurate measure of your understanding.
- What do I need to know before I complete one?
Like our Catch-Up and Termly Benchmark Assessments, the End of Year Assessments also vary in length depending on your year group: 20 questions at Key Stage 1, 30 at Key Stage 2 and 40 at Key Stage 3. You’ll also notice that these assessments are accompanied by the use of a timer, as with all our assessments the suggested length alters depending on your year group. Please note, the timer really is just there as a guide to help you monitor your work rate, the assessment will not time out should you exceed the suggested time.
We hope that this information will enable you to choose the right assessment at the right time to support your learning journey with EdPlace. Over time, we will continue to add to and expand this range, so please check back for updates when new assessments are released. If you need any further help with this or have any questions or suggestions, please contact our friendly Customer Support Team via email at help@edplace.com - we are here to help you get the most out of using EdPlace!