The purpose of Sumdog’s spelling and grammar diagnostic is to place students at the right, level based on their ability, so that we can personalize questions for each student. Once students have completed the spelling or grammar 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 curriculum as they play games.

During the spelling and grammar diagnostic, students will be asked between 10 to 200 questions. The number of questions will depend on their answers, accuracy and year level. For example, Grade 1 students will be asked fewer questions than Grade 6 students, as they would not know all the harder skills and would therefore not progress to higher level questions.

You might have students with the same class and year who are asked a different number of questions. This will be due to their accuracy. As all students progress at different levels, Sumdog will look at the student’s answers and accuracy during the diagnostic. As a result, you might see some students in your class who completed their spelling or grammar diagnostic within about 80 questions, while another student might be at 170 questions. This difference would be due to their varying levels of accuracy.

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

No, the starting level for the spelling and grammar diagnostic will depend on the student’s Grade level on their profile. For example, Grade 6 students will start the diagnostic test with Grade 3 or 4 questions, while younger students in Grade 2 will start at the beginning.

This is done so that students in the higher levels will not get bored with the easy questions at the start. Similarly, this is to prevent the younger students from getting frustrated with the questions being too hard.

Click here for information on to change a student’s year level.

Once your students have completed the spelling or grammar diagnostic they will be given a year level corresponding to their ability. When they start playing the games, the questions asked will be according to this level and focus skill.

Each student will then progress through the skill plan according to their level.

If your students are finding the questions too hard at the start, there is no need to worry. If they answer the questions incorrectly our system will notice and the skill level will be brought down.

If your student had rushed through questions or had help in the diagnostic they might be placed in an incorrect level. If you find that they were placed in a level too low or too high, you can reset the diagnostic test for them. Here is how.

Note: If your students are rushing through the spelling or grammar 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.