Finding the Right Level – Australia, HK, USA and Canada
If you’re unsure which level to pick and you don’t want your child to resit the Placement Test, here’s our light touch assessment you can do with your child.
- Reading: Using the table below, have your child read the example words aloud and stop when they get two wrong (e.g., if they make two errors on Level 9, stop there). You might want to skip the ‘far too easy’ levels.
- Spelling: Then, working backwards, check if they can spell words from that level and previous levels. Keep going until they get 100% correct — then start them at the level after (e.g., if they make two errors on Level 9, three on 8 but no errors on Level 7, place them on Level 8).
| Part 1 – Basic Code – First Year of School | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Target Sounds and Spelling Choices | Example Words | |
| 1 | s m c t g p a o | sat, mop, tap, cog | |
| 2 | r l d b f h i u | rag, fib, hid, lug | |
| 3 | v w y z j n k e | vat, win, zip, ink | |
| 4 | ll ss ff zz | bell, huff, buzz, mass | |
| 5 | sh ch th wh | shall, then, chum, which | |
| 6 | ck ng qu x | pack, sung, quick, flex | |
| Part 2 – Advanced Code – Around Year/Grade 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Target Sounds and Spelling Choices | Example Words | |
| 7 | Words with a more complicated pattern VCC (Vowel, Consonant, Consonant) CCVC and CVCC words |
stop, drum, gift, dress | |
| 8 | ee ea y e | cheek, beach, merry, being | |
| 9 | i igh y ie i_e | blind, thigh, spy, tried, drive | |
| 10 | o oa ow o_e | hotel, boast, pillow, alone | |
| 11 | a ai ay a_e | lady, chain, fray, grape | |
| 12 | oo ew ue u_e | spoon, grew, blue, fluke | |
| Part 3 – Complete the Code – Around Year/Grade 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Target Sounds and Spelling Choices | Example Words | |
| 13 | r rr wr | risky, carrot, wrung, hurry | |
| 14 | oi oy | point, toilet, employ, ahoy | |
| 15 | ph f ff | dolphin, shelf, offend, feast | |
| 16 | ow ou | drowsy, allow, crouch, ground | |
| 17 | c ce s se ss | pencil, fence, sixty, rinse, stress | |
| 18 | u oo oul | full, bully, shook, should | |
| 19 | ar a | sharp, parcel, grasp, chant | |
| 20 | ir er ear ur or | squirt, berth, early, blurb, world | |
| 21 | or au aw al ore | horse, pause, scrawl, stalk, swore | |
| 22 | air ear are ere | hairy, scare, there, chairs | |
| 23 | j dge ge g | wedge, fridge, surgeon, giant | |
| 24 | ch tch tu | child, charm, blotch, fracture | |
| 25 | sh ci ti | splash, shrunk, gracious, direction | |
| 26 | s si | unusual, leisure, illusion, abrasion | |
