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29 March 2024

How to best prep your child for an assessment test

Published
By Majorie van Leijen

How can your chance of getting into the school of your choice be increased?

It is assessment time. At a lot of schools, this is the first step towards enrollment of a child in the next school year. Although other factors, such as waiting list, sibling preference and luck may influence your chances too, it is a good idea to enhance your options to the fullest. But how?

First of all, there is no need for your child to be a future Einstein. "We are not looking for A+ students," explains school faculty at a leading school in Dubai. "We cater to a wide variety of students. Some of these students go to Oxford, other might not go to university at all."

The importance of the assessment test is to determine where to best place a child, explains the assessment officer at the same school. "During the test we monitor raw knowledge, and we try to see how this knowledge can come best to its right in our school." 

An enrollment test for a child already in school is totally different from the test for the three-year old. Whereas basic knowledge, such as proper English and a certain level of mathematic skills, is expected from somebody who has gone through some years of education, a toddler is more examined by social behavior.

"Potty training, making eye contact, following commands, ability to socialize and the ability to say goodbye to the parent are elements that are considered during an assessment test with a KG student in coming," explains the assessment officer.

For many parents, the assessment test of a child going to school for the first time is a concern. Up to that time, the child has spent most of the time at home. Some children find it difficult to respond to their first time away from mom or dad, and this might influence the test results.

"My son hasn't gone through a nursery, so I am very concerned about the outcome of an assessment test. I am afraid that children who have gone through nursery will perform better than my child, and this will affect his chances of getting into the school," says Kinana Homsi-Mardini, a Syrian mother of a three-year-old.

"Nursery does benefit the child, but it is not required," explains he assessment officer. "It is an experience where the child learns how to interact with others. They learn how to become independent and gain confidence. However, there are many children who do well without the experience of going through nursery."

During an assessment test, the set up of a class room is recreated. There are other students and a teacher, who will ask the students to do certain things. "Off course, these assessments are carried out by qualified people," the assessment officer says.

Kinana says she does not worry about her son becoming independent. "He is the most social kid you can imagine. He wants to talk to others all the time!" "But," she tells, "there was one child crying her eyes out when her mom was leaving, and I think this was shocking for my son. This may have influenced his behavior during the test."

"We do have the possibility of a reassessment," says the assessment officer. "Sometimes the there are certain circumstances that may have influenced the test results."

Furthermore, potty training is not expected at the time of the assessment. "We realize that at that time, this might not be accomplished yet. However, we advise the parent to focus on this aspect up to the actual enrollment of the child. We cannot easily deal with a class of maybe 20 children when they are not independent in this concern.

The best a parent can do before an assessment is to prepare the child to become more independent," concludes the assessment officer. "Sometimes a child is happy to embrace new social contacts. That is great. But if the child is very attached to the parent, it might be difficult to be in the classroom for the first time."

Although most assessment tests are expected to be similar, this website did not receive proper feedback from other schools in the UAE.

[Image via Shutterstock]