English ESL / EFL Placement Examination / Test for Student Banding

This is an exam used for placing a large number of students into the correct level based on their ability in English language.

It is used two times every year to band adult ESL/EFL learners at a large teaching convention in Thailand; about 80 adult students are placed into level appropriate classes based on this test. They are placed into 5 classes based on their score, as follows:
• less than 50% is beginner;
• 50 to 59 is pre-intermediate
• 60-69 intermediate
• 70 to 79 upper-intermediate
• 80 plus advanced

In years prior to this method, we used an online placement test from one of the very well known institutions. It cost a fair bit of money per student and it wasn't successful as once we started teaching we had to move weak/strong students around. I believe the online test was too short and not broad enough.

Once we started using this paper test, we didn't have any problems and didn't need to move students around from any of the groups we created.

It is a long test. There are 100 questions. Although it's a little painful for the students to take, and time consuming to mark, it's worth spending this time before you start to bracket students well. It's better than being stuck with teaching a mixed group of students at opposite poles in terms of ability or having to move people to different groups after you've started teaching (or continue teaching them when they either don't understand or know it all already). A student answer sheet is included and the teacher's answer key (when cut out) can be placed over the students work for quick marking of the multi-choice sections.

There are 4 key sections. Each section starts easy (beginner) and progresses to being difficult (advanced) so as to capture what people can and can't do:
* Reading: There are 4 reading comprehensions (25 multi choice questions)
* Dialogue: (25 multi-choice questions, including restaurant dialogue and idioms
* Vocabulary: (25 fill in the blanks from a box questions)
* Grammar: (25 cloze questions on preposition of place, past simple, past of modals, relative clauses, if/unless/in case, and negative questions.

An marked up copy of the exam is also included.

The exam is in Word format and is completely editable.

There is of course the obvious weakness that this test doesn't include listening and speaking. That's understood. At the conventions we sometimes briefly check listening and speaking after we have banded the students to check they hadn't fallen into a group that they were not comfortable with, but there's seldom need for this.

I hope it is helpful to you.


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You might also like these:


→High School Grade 12 Upper Intermediate ESL English Exam with Revision exercises Worksheet.


→Bundle of 6 ESL / EFL Upper High-School Exams 2 * Grades 10, 11 and 12.


→High School Grade 10 Lower Intermediate ESL English Language Exam.

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Thank you!