We are pleased to release the Year 8 Term 3 tests.
‘Achievement’ tests and ‘Applying Your Knowledge’ tests
As in Year 7 Term 3, we are proposing two types of test which, between them, assess the full range of knowledge and skills students should have developed by the end of Term 3.2 Week 3 in Year 8.
The Achievement Test is designed to assess students’ knowledge of a principled sample of phonics, vocabulary, and grammar (PVG) features. 50% of the features are from Year 7 Term 1.1 – Y8 Term 2.1 Week 3 inclusive. 50% are from Y8 Term 2.1 Week 5 – Y8 Term 3.2 Week 2 inclusive.
The ‘Applying Your Knowledge’ test brings together the PVG strands in a more holistic assessment of listening, reading, writing and speaking. This aims to assess students’ ability to apply their knowledge in a fuller context through listening and reading comprehension, semi-structured written production, reading aloud and oral picture description.
Completing tests remotely
Given the current situation, we are providing ‘pen & paper’ tests which can be completed by students either in class or at home. Word documents with clickable tick boxes and embedded links to Vocaroo are provided so that students can email their responses to teachers in one document. Pre-recorded audio files, with instructions and pauses built in, are provided for teachers to disseminate alongside the test papers.
The timings for each subsection are given on the test papers. We expect that the listening, reading and writing parts of both the achievement tests and the applying your knowledge tests can be comfortably completed in 50 minutes per test. Therefore, we recommend setting both tests over the course of the full week.
Note – as there are speaking elements in both the achievement and the applying your knowledge tests, both using Vocaroo, it may make sense for students to do the achievement AND applying your knowledge speaking elements at the same time.
Paper copies of the assessments have been uploaded to the Resource Portal:
Here, you will find, for each language:
- the Achievement Test
- the mark scheme
- the transcript for the listening sections of each test
- accompanying audio recordings, in mp3 format
- excel score logs, with a short instruction guide
- a practice test containing example questions and rubrics that closely mirror those used in the real test.
Related NCELP links:
