Finding the Right Level – Rest of the World
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.
Note, this assessment is for the curriculum assigned to people living outside Australia, Hong Kong, USA and Canada.
- 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 |
| 1a | s a t p | sat, pat, tap sap |
| 1b | i n m d | sit, nip, man, din |
| 2a | g o c k | tag, cop, kid, kit |
| 2b | ck e u r | rack, rug, sock, deck |
| 3a | h b f l | him, back, fan, log |
| 3b | ff ll ss | huff, hiss, hill, kiss |
| 4a | j v w x | jam, van, wet, fox |
| 4b | y z zz qu | yell, zip, buzz, quick |
| 5a | ch sh th ng | much, shell, them, sing |
| 5b | ai ee igh oa | rain, queen, light, toast |
| 6a | oo (zoo) oo (book) ar or | shoot, hook, shark, pork |
| 6b | ur ow oi ear | blur, clown, point, beard |
| 6c | air ure er | chair, mature, flower, tower |
Part 2 – Advanced Code – Around Year/Grade 1
| Level | Target Sounds and Spelling Choices | Example Words |
| 7a | CVCC & CCVC words | help, speech, moist, thump |
| 7b | Polysyllabic words | treetop, driftwood, starlight, shelving |
Note: these words only need to be read, not spelled. |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Target Sounds Only for Reading | Example Words | |
| 8a | ay ou ie ea | play, ground, dried, speak | |
| 8b | oy ir ue aw | destroy, thirty, true, straw | |
| 8c | wh ph ew oe au | whisper, elephant, threw, tomatoes, August | |
| 8d | a_e e_e i_e o_e u_e | brake, concrete, smile, joke, prune | |
| 9a | i (fin vs find) o (hot vs cold) c (cat vs cent) g (got vs giant) |
quit, wild pocket, frozen picnic, fireplace dragon, magic |
|
| 9b | u (but vs put) ow (cow vs blow) ie (tie vs field) ea (eat vs bread) |
drummer, octopus power, yellow magpie, cookie dream, meadow |
|
| 9c | er (farmer vs her) a (hat vs what) y (yes vs vy vs very) ch (chin vs school vs chef) ou (out vs shoulder vs could vs you) |
tower, herb cashew, wander yoyo, cloudy coach, chemist, drench |
|
Note: Back to both reading & spelling these words. |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Target Sounds and Spelling Choices | Example Words | 10a | ch tu tch | cherub, picture, switch |
| 10b | f ff ph | fish, fluff, dolphin, photo | |
| 11a | j dge ge g | jazz, bridge, cabbage, giant | |
| 11b | r rr wr | robot, carrot, wrench, hurry | |
| 12 | s c ce ss se | socks, pencil, bounce, kiss, house | |
| Part 3 – Complete the Code – Around Year/Grade 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Target Sounds and Spelling Choices | Example Words | |
| 13 | sh ci ti | brush, special, station, freshly | |
| 14 | ai a ay a_e | stain, apron, tray, whale | |
| 15 | ee ea y e | sleep, dream, twenty, she | |
| 16 | igh i y ie i_e | bright, blind, fly, fried, smile | |
| 17 | oa o ow o_e | groan, hotel, crow, joke | |
| 18 | oo ew ue u_e | tooth, threw, glue, prune | |
| 19 | u oo oul | helpful, firewood, should | |
| 20 | ar a | market, banana, carpet, raspberry | |
| 21 | or au aw al ore | report, launch, draw, seashore | |
| 22 | ur ir er ear or | burst, birthday, germ, heard, artwork | |
| 23 | ow ou | crown, ground, frown, hound | |
| 24 | oi oy | boiling, destroy, decoy, foiled | |
| 25 | air ear are ere | airship, pear, scarecrow, where | |
| 26 | s si (zh) | treasure, television | |
