New Group Reading Test in detail

The table below provides a detailed overview of each test within the New Group Reading Test series.

Test	Age	Content	Area of Assessment
Test 1	Age 6 (Year 1 / Primary 2)	Short phonic exercises: initial sounds supported by pictures, ‘sounds like’, initial sounds (single phonemes and digraphs), final sounds + Sentence completion items + 1 short passage with multiple choice comprehension questions	Phonic knowledge Decoding ability Sight word knowledge Comprehension (retrieval, simple inference and writer’s use of language)
Test 1B	Age 7 (norms from 5:00 to 7:11) Y2** P3 Y3 (NI)	Short phonic exercises; rhyming; final letter sounds; initial letter sounds 18 sentence completion questions 1 comprehension passage and 10 questions	Phonic knowledge Decoding ability Sight word knowledge Comprehension (retrieval, simple inference and writer’s use of language)
Equivalent form tests 2A/2B	Age 7–9 (Y2–Y4 / P3–P5)	20 sentence completion items + 3 short passages with 10–11* context comprehension questions 17–18* reading comprehension questions	Vocabulary Grammatical knowledge Inference skills Deduction skills
Equivalent form tests 3A/3B	Age 10–13 (Y5–Y8 / P7–S2)	20 sentence completion items + 4 short passages with 12–13* context comprehension questions 19–20* reading comprehension questions	Vocabulary Grammatical knowledge Inference skills Ability to recognise Authorial intent Deduction skills
Test 3C	Age 10 to 13 (norms 9:00 to 13:11) Y5 to Y8 P6 to S2 Y6 to Y9 (NI)	20 sentence completion questions 4 comprehension passages with total of 32 questions	Decoding ability Sight word knowledge Comprehension (retrieval, context comprehension, inference and deduction, organisation of texts, writer’s use of language, writer’s purpose and viewpoints)
Test 3D	Age 9 to 11 (norms 8:00 to 11:11) Y4*** to Y6 P5 to P7 Y5 to Y7 (NI)	20 sentence completion questions 4 comprehension passages with total of 32 questions	Decoding ability Sight word knowledge Comprehension (retrieval, context comprehension, inference and deduction, organisation of texts, writer’s use of language, writer’s purpose and viewpoints, social, cultural and historic tradition)
Equivalent form tests 4A/4B	Age 14–16 (Y9–Y11 / S3–S5)	22 sentence completion items + 4 short passages with- 13–14* context comprehension questions 20–21* reading comprehension questions	Vocabulary Grammatical knowledge Inference skills Deduction skills Ability to recognise authorial intent Ability to deal with figurative and idiomatic language Other higher order reading skills
Test 4C	Age 13 to 14 (norms 12:00 to 14:11) Y8**** and Y9 S2 and S3 Y9 and Y10 (NI)	20 sentence completion questions 4 comprehension passages with total of 34 questions	Decoding ability Sight word knowledge Comprehension (retrieval, context comprehension, inference and deduction, organisation of texts, writer’s use of language, writer’s purpose and viewpoints, social, cultural and historic tradition)

*Exact number of questions depends on test used.
**Maybe used with children at the end of Y1 if they are ready to tackle the content
***Difficulty at level 3 but standardised with pupils in Y4 (to circumvent any ceiling effect at level 2)
****Difficulty at level 4 but standardised with pupils in Y8 (to circumvent any ceiling effect at Level 3)

New Group Reading Test in detail

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