Pre and post assessments
Diagnostic sets of around 10 questions for Early Stage 1 to Stage 5, designed to assess student learning prior to and after a period of explicit teaching.
Assessment access
NSW public school staff can access the Pre and post assessments (staff only) and supporting documents.
Purpose of the assessment
Pre and post assessments are small sets of questions used to measure learning prior to and after a short period of explicit teaching to inform next steps. They align to syllabus outcomes and the National Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions. Each set has 2 assessments of 5 to 15 paired questions ranging in difficulty and targeting likely misconceptions. A question in the pre-test relates to the same question number in the post-test, assessing the same skill with similar difficulty. They are designed to provide teachers and students with immediate feedback on a student’s current understanding across two points in time that can support monitoring of student learning and reflective teaching practice.
They are designed to:
- identify student skills and understanding before and after explicit instruction
- support the planning of learning activities (pre-test)
- assess effectiveness of teaching and learning approaches (post-test)
- provide immediate feedback on students’ current understanding
- monitor learning progress.
Support
For additional support, email online.assessments@det.nsw.edu.au
Last modified date
25/08/2026
Business unit contact email
Executive director
Jason Miezis
Executive director’s business unit
Teaching Learning&Student Wellbeing