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    Setting the Sparx Reading Test
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        Setting the Sparx Reading Test

            Article summary

            Students will need to sit the Sparx Reading Test (SRT) to find their initial reading age before they can complete homework.

            Setting the SRT

            You can set up a test by following these steps: 

            1. Go to More > Reading Test

            2. Select your class

            3. Untick any students who are absent or who you don't want to sit the test

            4. Click Create Test 

            5. Choose which test you would like students to sit either Form 1 or Form 2.

            6. Choose to start the test immediately or schedule it

            7. Choose how long you want the test to be live for

            8. Click Create Test

            NB: Students only need to sit one test. We recommend sitting Form 1 at the start of the year and then Form 2 at the end of the year. The two tests are similar in design but have different questions.

            This video shows the steps listed above:

            The SRT should take between 20-30 minutes. It is made up of vocabulary and comprehension-style questions. Students will see a different number of questions as the test is adaptive, but the number of questions will be between 45 and 83.

            The test can be set for a maximum of 9 hours but incomplete tests can be resumed for up to 3 weeks (See Resuming a reading test).

            Following the SRT students will see a short training book to introduce them to the platform. Students can complete this at home if necessary.

            Note: There is no audio during the SRT so students will not need headphones to complete the test.

            Identifying which students need to sit the SRT

            To see if a student needs to sit an SRT for their onboarding you can go to:

            • More > Reading test where you'll see a "Test ever completed" status. Anything other than a tick here means a student needs to complete the test.

            • More > Student Manager and view the Account status. Any student who is not showing "Account setup" needs to sit an SRT.

            • Reporting > Sparx Reading Test Report, where you'll see an entry for each test a student has completed, or an empty row if they've yet to complete one.

            Resuming a Reading test

            If a student runs out of time and doesn’t complete the test within the time you set, they will show as having Partial progress. You can re-open the test for these students by going to the Resume tests tab and setting a new expiry time. This will allow them to continue part way through the test instead of having to start again from the beginning.

            If you would rather them start the test again, then you can follow the original steps above to set them a new test.

            Setting the Sparx Reading Test again

            You can re-set the SRT at any point if you wish to see a new set of results for your students. You can see all SRT results for a student on the Sparx Reading Test Report.

            NB: If a student's reading age result from the SRT has changed this will not affect their Sparx Level or the books that they are offered. Book choice is informed by the reading age estimate on the Insights page.


            However, if you notice a big discrepancy you can always manually override a student's Sparx Level (more information here: Changing a student's Sparx Level. 

            If you think you may have set the wrong Form of the Sparx Reading Test please see the article: What happens if I have set the wrong form of the SRT?


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