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The assessment is a great way to identify gaps in knowledge, therefore informing the most targeted, effective tutoring. It can also help you place your child in the correct school, where they are sure to thrive.
These are the questions we hear so often from parents who contact us and the questions that our Academic Assessment is designed to answer. Parents know the commitment and investment school entrance exams require and the strain they can put on the whole family. They want to check that their child is a good candidate and will not be unduly pressured to reach the standard required by some competitive Independent schools. Our Academic Assessment generates a wealth of data that answers these questions and more.
Following the Assessment, we can give you clear guidance on which schools will be in the right banding for your child, including aspirational options. We can also clearly pinpoint where your child needs to improve and where they are on track, with targeted solutions for any development areas.
Mentor Education is one of a few education consultancies licenced to offer assessments by CEM, created in partnership with Cambridge University’s Education Research Department. CEM assessments are used by over 70% of Independent Schools in the UK (and many International Schools) as the exam board for their admissions tests. Also sometimes known as INCAS tests, many schools use them to track their pupils’ progress annually. The CEM test allows scoring against peers in the UK, as well as international students on the British curriculum.
Reasons we particularly like the CEM test include:
For British children the Mentor Education Assessment generates a diagnostic profile of a child’s reading, spelling, Maths and mental arithmetic, Verbal and Non Verbal Reasoning, facilitating full literacy and numeracy acquisition. Combined with Mentor Education’s 40+ years of experience and up to date information on independent school admissions, we can signpost future schools and provide an action plan for school entrance campaigns such as 7+, 11+ and 13+.
For International children planning to enrol into British schools, Mentor Education Assessments help compare their academic performance against their peers in the British Education system. This helps navigate parents to the correct British schools to target. With CEM being used in many admissions tests in top British independent schools, there is an added benefit of forecasting the chances of successful results in admissions tests.
Mentor Education Assessments are carried out in modules that a student can work through in any order and take breaks in between.
The Modules include: Reading, Spelling, Mathematics, Mental Arithmetic, Developed Ability (Reasoning) and Attitudes to Learning.
All modules are adaptive which means that the questions become increasingly harder or easier, depending on how many questions the student is getting right or wrong. Thus, the assessment never feels too difficult or too easy and is usually an enjoyable, stress free experience for students. The level of sophistication in the test algorithms gives really accurate and detailed feedback for each pupil.
One of key aspects of Mentor Education Assessments is the useful way that test scores are presented. There are two main ways each module’s results are shown:
Age Equivalent Scores these provide an age at which the student is performing in each module relative to their actual age. See example below:
Assessment | Student Age (Years:Months) | Age Equivalent Score (Years:Months) | Age Difference (Years:Months) |
---|---|---|---|
Reading | 11:1 | 11:5 | +0:4 |
Word Recognition | 11:1 | 12:8 | +1:7 |
Word Decoding | 11:1 | 14:2 | +3:1 |
Comprehension | 11:1 | 9:9 | -1:4 |
Spelling | 11:1 | 12:9 | +1:8 |
Standardised Scores this provides a score relative to an average score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. This means that 68% of all pupils will have a score between 85 and 115 Pupils below 70 or above 130 are exceptional and are in the bottom or top 2% of the pupils sitting the assessments respectively. See example below:
Assessment | Average | Standard Score | Comparison |
---|---|---|---|
Reading | 100 | 102 | Average |
You will receive a detailed report of the results of the Academic Assessment approximately 5 working days after the assessment date. The report will give you a detailed breakdown of their performance in each module as explained above. Furthermore, we will also provide practical ways to support your child’s attainment in each area, relevant to their recent performance on the test.
If there is a particular reason for the Academic Assessment, we can expand on the test scores to answer specific questions that you have. For example, we can suggest schools for you to visit which correlate to your child’s academic potential, either for primary or secondary school. We can also band their results relative to popular schools if we know them sufficiently well.
This assessment is not intended to be used to provide a diagnosis of specific learning difficulties such as Dyslexia. However, the comprehensive nature and quality of the information provided in Mentor Education Assessment can provide a great deal of contextual information about a pupil for an SEN practitioner to utilise.
At Mentor Education, we never tutor for the sake of it and if following an Assessment we can see your child is on track and performing in line with their potential we will be honest about this and recommend that no tutoring is necessary for the time being.
To conduct a Mentor Education Academic Assessments you will need:
The Mentor Education Assessment costs £495 and this includes the cost of the test itself and a full report including:
You can book an assessment on our website, or contact our team who will guide you through the process.
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