The purpose of Sumdog’s diagnostic tool is to place children at the right level based on their ability so that we can personalize questions for each child. Once children have completed the diagnostic, they will be given a skill to focus on when playing games on Sumdog. They will then gradually work through a skill plan aligned with their standards/curriculum as they play games.

You will be able to get a snapshot of your child’s ability by viewing their diagnostic results. The diagnostic result will show you an age-related placement level. This shows you which level your child is working at based on the standards/curriculum assigned to them by their school or you.

During the diagnostic, games will run as normal. Children will be asked some very easy questions and tricky questions. Please ask them not to worry as the learning engine will understand, and place them in the correct level.

During the diagnostic, children will answer a range of questions from your child’s standards/curriculum. If your child’s account is linked to a school, the standards/curriculum will be set by the school. If your child’s account is not linked to a school, you can change which standards/curriculum your child will work through. This will determine the types of questions your child is asked.

Children will start by answering questions 1 or 2 grades/year groups before the grade/year group on their profile. The system will look for around 80% accuracy in each skill before progressing the child onto the next skill or grade/year level. If a child has below 80% accuracy in a level the system will move them down a level to see if they are able to answer the questions and so on.

If the child does not get 80% accuracy in any of the levels the system will place them in a level according to their answers and accuracy. On the other hand, children will progress up the levels in the standards/curriculum when they have reached around 80% accuracy.

Your child’s starting level can only be changed by your child’s school if your child’s account is linked to a school.

Click here for instructions on how to view the diagnostic results for your child.

The diagnostic will be automatically assigned to children with new Sumdog accounts and it will appear on their dashboard as ‘Getting to know you’ and pupils should press ‘Start’.

If your child has been set other work, either by you or their teacher (assessments/challenges/competitions) they may have to select training mode from their ‘Tasks’ menu.

Click here for instructions.

The diagnostic result will show you an age-related placement level for your child. This shows you which level your child is working at based on the standards/curriculum assigned to them. If your child’s account is linked to a school, the standards/curriculum will be set by the school. If your child’s account is not linked to a school, you can change which standards/curriculum your child will work through. Click here for instructions on how to change your family’s standards/curriculum.

Each Grade level within the standards/curriculum is made up of a number of skills, ordered according to the order they are usually taught in school. The diagnostic tool will work out how far your child has progressed through the skills in their standards/curriculum. For example, if the diagnostic result shows that your child is placed at ‘Grade 3.2’ we believe they are working at a level, around 20% through third-grade skills.

In the American Standard, the diagnostic score will correlate with the standard Grade level. For example, a Diagnostic score of 2.60 means your child is working on skills at around 60% through the 2nd-grade standards.

Diagnostic test score of 0.00

If your child has received a diagnostic score of 0.00, it does not mean that they have failed to answer any question correctly.

A 0.00 means that the child will be starting at the beginning of the skill plan as they did not get a minimum of 80% accuracy in the easiest skill to progress further in the diagnostic.

During the diagnostic, children will be asked between 10 to 200 questions. The number of questions will depend on their answers, accuracy and grade level. Kindergarten-age children, for example, will be asked fewer questions than grade 6 aged children as they would not know all the harder skills and would therefore not progress to higher level questions.

You might have children in the same class and grade/year who are asked a different number of questions. This will be due to their accuracy. As all children progress at different levels Sumdog will look at the children’s answers and accuracy during the diagnostic.

Once your child has completed the diagnostic, they will be given a grade/year level corresponding to their ability. When they start playing the games the questions asked will be according to their ability level. Each child will then progress through the skill plan according to their level. Click here for more information about what the diagnostic results mean.

Children will also be rewarded with their first pet when they have completed their diagnostic.

No, the starting level for the diagnostic will depend on the child’s grade/year level on their profile. For example, if you have a Grade/Year 6 aged child they will start the diagnostic with grade/year 3 or 4 questions. While a younger child in grade/year 2 will start at the beginning.

This is done so that children in higher levels will not get bored with the easy questions at the start. Also, the younger children will not get frustrated if the questions are too hard.

If your child’s account is linked to a school, the standards/curriculum will be set by the school. If your child’s account is not linked to a school, you can change which standards/curriculum your child will work through. Click here for instructions on how to change your family’s standards/curriculum.

The diagnostic tool aims to place children at the right level based on their ability so that we can personalize questions for each child. Sometimes, this means that a child will be placed in a Grade below their actual Grade/Year group. This is so that they can practice and master skills from lower Grades before moving to the harder skills in the next Grade.

If your child’s account is linked to a school, your child’s teacher may restrict your child so that they can only work on skills from a certain Grade. If your child’s account is linked to a school, you will not be able to restrict your child’s Grade.

If your child is finding the questions too hard at the start, don’t worry if they answer the questions incorrectly our system will notice and bring the skill level down.

If you would like your child to start on easier questions you could change their grade level on their account profile. If your child’s account is linked to a school, you will not be able to change your child’s Grade. If you need to change your child’s Grade, you should contact the school.

If your child rushed through questions or had help in the diagnostic, they might be placed in an incorrect level. If your child’s account is linked to a school, you should ask your child’s teacher to re-set their diagnostic. If your child’s account is not linked to a school, click here for instructions on how to reset their diagnostic.

Note: If your child is rushing through the diagnostic questions you could remind them that they will earn coins for each correct answer. Therefore, rather than trying to finish the game before their friends they should take their time and answer the questions as accurately as possible. The more coins they earn the more they can spend in their House.

If your child is finding a question too hard don’t worry, rather than helping them with the question let them answer it the best they can.

If the child has had help with a tricky question this might cause the system to think that the child understands that skill and thus placing them in a higher level which will result in them having harder questions later or when they are working on their skills.

This will happen if the child failed to answer the first few questions correctly or if they have gotten below 80% accuracy in the first skill set in the diagnostic.

If your child’s account is not connected to a school account, click here for instructions on how to reset their diagnostic.

If your child’s account is connected to a school, you will not be able to reset your child’s diagnostic. If you think your child’s diagnostic score is incorrect, please contact your child’s teacher and they will be able to reset it for you.