Diagnostic Testing

Please read these points first……they are REALLY important.

1. There are four tests. These cover Maths, English, Literacy and Wordbuilding.

2. You can do these diagnostic tests at any time, but make sure it is at a time when your child is rested and able to give the tests their best efforts (N.B. you can disregard the A.C.E. website advice that says to avoid testing on Mondays and Fridays)

3. Some tests can take quite a long time (such as the Maths), especially for older students.  It may be wise to allow them to take a break if they are starting to tire while completing the tests.  Each test has an option that enables a student to leave the test and then “Continue testing later,” resuming from where they left off.

4. Be aware that for the spelling (Wordbuilding), words will be marked incorrect if students use capital letters where they are not required or if they insert unnecessary punctuation marks (e.g. full stops).

5. As a general guide, start your testing according to the following table.
5-6 years   Start testing at Level 1
7-11 years   Start testing at Level 2
12-14 years   Start testing at Level 3
15+  Start testing at Level 4

Note (i): If a child makes mistakes immediately in a test, drop them down a level to begin. If a test is clearly too easy, start them one level higher. However, it is important that we see what they can and can’t do – it is not about them “getting everything right”.
Note (ii):  Please don’t be overly sensitive about them “liking” or “not liking” this testing process. Few students like being tested, but if we are to do the right thing by them, it is important that we have a one-time, good look at exactly what they do and don’t know. If they don’t like doing it, have them sit it in several sessions, but make sure the outcome is a genuine reflection of what they do and don’t know, as we will base our recommendations upon the results.

6. When you get to the Diagnostic Testing site, click on the button marked “REGISTER” and set up your own account, with your own username and password to do these tests. (It is an international site, separate from us, so don’t try and log on with the HSNZ username and password we have given you.)

7. Don’t worry about any imperial measurements and U.S. currency in the Maths tests. We know they are there, and your child may freely skip those questions.

8. NO HELP is to be given with the tests. If a child cannot read a question or does not understand it, we need to see that. Also, NO CALCULATOR is to be used with the Maths. (Pen and paper may be used however.)

9. The test results will come back to your email inbox. Please collate them (so that all four tests for each child are on one page), paste them into a Word document or similar,  and forward a copy of those results to us at office@hsnz.org.  Please do not send us each individual tests in a separate email, as mobile phone images or in Google Docs. They need to be in a simple form we can work with.

10. If, after completing the testing you get an email or some other form of followup from an organisation called "Accelerate", feel free to ignore it. That is an Australian-based homeschooling organisation who are looking for New Zealand-based "customers".